Protein Landscapes: The political geography of the production and consumption of animal proteins

Introduction

Despite the devastating effects of the meat-dairy industry on climate and environment, the production and consumption of animal-based protein is at historically high levels. I refer to this as the protein paradox.

The Challenge of Change

Why are we collectively unable to reduce our reliance on meat and dairy? From the extant literature, we know that changing diet is difficult, especially as the consumption of meat and dairy is culturally normalized in many societies.

The literature also reveals that the meat-dairy industry has an outsize influence over consumers and governments. These explanations, however, ignore the uneven geographies of production and consumption, and how they intersect with the political contestation of meat and dairy, entwining with processes of spatial and political polarization.

Research Questions

PROTEINSCAPES thus asks: how can the protein paradox be explained through the political geographies of the production and consumption of animal protein?

Research Objectives

The research team will pursue:

1. A quantitative study of the protein paradox and landscapes of production and consumption across all EU countries.
2. An in-depth qualitative case study of the politics of consumption in the Czech Republic, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Portugal.
3. A cross-national comparative study of the role of geography in the political contestation of the transition away from animal protein.

Theoretical Framework

By extending and connecting theory on the geography of transitions and political-spatial polarization to advance a new political geographical approach to study transitions to sustainability, and by advancing the concept of protein landscapes—produced at the intersection of territories, identities, and materialities—the project will further our understanding of why the transition away from animal protein is so difficult.

This understanding is the necessary first step in disentangling the wicked problem of the protein paradox.