this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2026
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Climate

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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades: Graph of temperature as observed with significant warming, and simulated without added greenhouse gases and other anthropogentic changes, which shows no significant warming

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world: IPCC AR6 Figure 2 - Thee bar charts: first chart: how much each gas has warmed the world.  About 1C of total warming.  Second chart:  about 1.5C of total warming from well-mixed greenhouse gases, offset by 0.4C of cooling from aerosols and negligible influence from changes to solar output, volcanoes, and internal variability.  Third chart: about 1.25C of warming from CO2, 0.5C from methane, and a bunch more in small quantities from other gases.  About 0.5C of cooling with large error bars from SO2.

Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:

Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.

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[–] olafurp@lemmy.world 7 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

I read the summary and I half agree. They draw the conclusion based on the insects not being consumed directly but if they would be it's a whole another ball game.

The thing is that nobody has tried to make protein bars from processed finely ground insects and marketed it as keratin protein bars. Maybe even fried bug-nuggets and just call them nuggets to save money or anything else that is not just directly eating tiny crispy legs that get stuck in the teeth.

If there's a protein bar with bugs and chocolate that's cheaper than whey bars I'd buy it every now and then. If it would be sold in a fast food shops in a homogeneous fried blob I'd also try it out of curiosity.

[–] ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 7 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

Chirps (chips made of powdered cricket) exist, but they never took off. People have tried a lot of ideas, its moreso that consumers havent really shown much motivation towards insects as a protein

Keratin protein bars is one of the better ideas Ive heard. Even still a lot of people wouldnt touch it if they saw it was insect-derived protein on the label

[–] olafurp@lemmy.world 3 points 9 hours ago

Yeah, people don't want it if they know it has bugs in it. That's why you have to put it under some alias such as the Latin name under ingredients only. Putting "it has bugs" on the label is pretty much the opposite of what you should do because then you only target like 0.1% of the population.

Later on you could make an "organic" version "with real insect keratin" or whatever.

[–] silence7@slrpnk.net 4 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

There are huge cultural barriers to direct intentional human consumption of insects in the US and Europe. I will be very surprised if this can actually be achieved

[–] Croquette@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 hours ago

I think that the cultural barriers can be overcome with a pricing strategy. If the bug nuggets can be a lot cheaper than normal nuggets for example, people would be more willing to try it and adopt it.

[–] Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

For cost and emissions, I think the nascent field hasn't matured correctly.

The insect farms I see are farms out in rural areas where they truck in feed and truck out protein. A better model would be urban light industrial, where a city can divert grocery store spoiled vegetables to the urban insect farm. Just a few collection points and short distance for big payloads of human food grade waste. Perfect for hungry insects. Easy for an EV truck to do.

Passive house style building with photovoltaics reduces emissions to nearly nil. Insects grown can be processed on site into powders, then further onto food processors with minimal transportation because the entire supply chain is local, and its a waste stream being converted to productive use.

[–] MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

The rural areas are where you run-into the least NIMBY-ism, full-stop. Insect Protein still has a rep in the food and high-brow agriculture world akin to Nuclear Energy or Strip-Mining.

[–] Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 4 points 21 hours ago

Oh, well if there is nimbyism at play we should just all lie down and accept our fate.

[–] MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

A lot of vague, even seemingly-intentionally-obscured links here, many of which don't fully support claims or mention crucial aspects of the issue that this Analytics Consultancy glosses or ignores. Crucially:

...yeah, replacement won't be enough, and with global warming pushing the ideal climes for various crops(particularly, nutritious staples) further away from the equator, people stuck closer to the equator need every locally-doable option they can get.

The single biggest failure the Western World keeps hitting with this is how to turn a profit, or how to get past the point on the Bell-curve where it goes from expiriment or novelty to recouping start-up investment costs. Lots of stigma in Western Markets to overcome.

EDIT: sorry all, I had thought I saw "Science Daily" in there and some other filler sites that annoy me to no-end, but still, these are mostly opinion-pieces and editorials.

References

Methods and Supporting Data

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https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.13646

Biteau, C., Bry-Chevalier, T., Crummett, D., Ryba, R., & St. Jules, M. (2025a). Bugs in the system: The logic of insect farming research is flawed by unfounded assumptions. npj Sustainable Agriculture, 3(1), 9. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44264-024-00042-0

https://www.nature.com/articles/s44264-024-00042-0

Biteau, C., Bry‐Chevalier, T., Crummett, D., Loewy, K., Ryba, R., & St. Jules, M. (2025b). Have the environmental benefits of insect farming been overstated? A critical review. Biological Reviews. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.70076

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/brv.70076

Biteau, C., Bry-Chevalier, T., Crummett, D., Ryba, R., & St. Jules, M. (2024). Is turning food waste into insect feed an uphill climb? A review of persistent challenges. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 49, 492-501. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2024.06.031

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235255092400191X?via=ihub

Bosch, G., & Swanson, K. S. (2021). Effect of using insects as feed on animals: pet dogs and cats. Journal of Insects as Food and Feed, 7(5), 795-806. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.3920/JIFF2020.0084

https://brill.com/view/journals/jiff/7/5/article-p795_20.xml

Faes, N. (2022). AgriTech: Insects as feed. Bryan, Garnier & Co. https://medias.bryangarnier.com/marketing/pdf/Alternative_Proteins_July_Final.pdf

Ffoulkes, C., Illman, H., O’Connor, R., Lemon, F., Behrendt, K., Wynn, S., Wright, P., Godber, O., Ramsden, M., Adams, J. & Metcalfe, P. (2021). Development of a roadmap to scale up insect protein production in the UK for use in animal feed. WWF & ADAS. Link to source: https://www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2021-06/the_future_of_feed_technical_report.pdf

Guiné, R. P., Correia, P., Coelho, C., & Costa, C. A. (2021). The role of edible insects to mitigate challenges for sustainability. Open Agriculture, 6(1), 24-36. Link to source: https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/opag-2020-0206/html?lang=en&srsltid=AfmBOooE_SOQUs-NtWG_pv1Xx7uwZeR-Aobg04eNkxVymX7Of1FcaT0I

Halloran, A., Hanboonsong, Y., Roos, N., & Bruun, S. (2017). Life cycle assessment of cricket farming in north-eastern Thailand. Journal of Cleaner Production, 156, 83-94. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.04.017

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652617307163?via=ihub

Javourez, U., Tiruta-Barna, L., Pizzol, M., & Hamelin, L. (2025). Environmental mitigation potential of waste-to-nutrition pathways. Nature Sustainability, 8, 1-10. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01521-z

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-025-01521-z

Kampmeier, G. E., & Irwin, M. E. (2009). Commercialization of insects and their products. In Encyclopedia of insects (pp. 220-227). Academic Press. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-374144-8.00068-0

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Lange, K. W., & Nakamura, Y. (2023). Potential contribution of edible insects to sustainable consumption and production. Frontiers in Sustainability, 4, 1112950. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2023.1112950

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainability/articles/10.3389/frsus.2023.1112950/full

Leipertz, M., Hogeveen, H., & Saatkamp, H. W. (2024). Economic supply chain modelling of industrial insect production in the Netherlands. Journal of Insects as Food and Feed, 10(8), 1361-1385. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1163/23524588-00001036

https://brill.com/view/journals/jiff/10/8/article-p1361_5.xml

Malila, Y., Owolabi, I. O., Chotanaphuti, T., Sakdibhornssup, N., Elliott, C. T., Visessanguan, W., Karoonuthaisiri, N., & Petchkongkaew, A. (2024). Current challenges of alternative proteins as future foods. npj Science of Food, 8(1), 53. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-024-00291-w

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41538-024-00291-w

Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science, 360(6392), 987-992. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq0216

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Schiemer, C., Halloran, A. M. S., Jespersen, K., & Kaukua, P. (2018). Marketing Insects: Superfood or Solution-Food? In A. Halloran, R. Flore, P. Vantomme, & N. Roos (Eds.), Edible insects in sustainable food systems (pp. 213-236). Springer. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74011-9_14

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[–] carrotfox@piefed.social 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Literally zero need to eat insects. Plants have everything we need.

[–] Kowowow@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'd much rather eat bugs than pants alone if I had to give up meat

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

eat [...] pants

Awright Bart Simpson

[–] Kowowow@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 day ago

The swipe typing can be a cruel mistress

[–] stupidcasey@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

But now I can't eat ze bugz and like it

[–] PapaStevesy@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Yeah, secondary producers are called that for a reason, they'll literally never ever ever be more efficient than primary producers.