For any environmental strategy to be considered even remotely effective at a global scale, the reality of people’s desires must form part of the calculus.

If an environmental strategy relies on people radically changing their habits in order to be effective — no matter how true the science or noble the cause — it’s doomed to failure from the start. It’s a strategy that’s as delusional as the Catholic Church’s conviction that abstinence can solve social problems. In other words, preaching about the “sinfulness” of certain behaviours might convince a small few to consider an alternative, but not nearly in the numbers or time frame that;s necessary to solve the problems that it intends to.

So for companies that take the concept of “hedonistic altruism” into consideration, such as those that make plant-based meats and other animal protein alternatives, even though there’s much to criticize about the marketing claims and strategic partnerships that they make, they can at least be applauded for attempting to provide products that confer benefits to the world by working with human nature, rather than against it.

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Photo by Martin Parr