Climate Change deniers sometimes come up with bizarre and unpleasant claims to discredit the organisations and individuals campaigning for climate action. One recent claim targeting the World Economic Forum claimed that WEF had declared that humans would have to eat faeces and drink urine to fight climate change. Let’s look at the claim in detail.
Web and Social Media Posts
A viral video said that the World Economic Forum (WEF) had purportedly declared that humans would have to eat their own faeces and drink urine to fight climate change.
This claim can be seen in the below YouTube video and this web article.
Also, in June 26 article, The People’s Voice also talks about the same phenomenon. The article’s headline was “WEF declares humans must eat feces and drink urine to fight climate change”. The article was shared more than 100 times in two weeks.
The article can be read here.
We decided to do a fact-check on these claims.
Fact Check
Since The People’s Voice article does not present any evidence to substantiate its claims, we searched for any instance on the WEF website or reputed mainstream media to locate if such a global mandate to consume human waste had been made recently by the WEF. However, we could not find any such results.
As per a USA Today report, WEF spokesperson Yann Zop says, “The World Economic Forum never made such a statement that ‘humans must eat faeces and drink urine to fight climate change; these are false claims to discredit the important work that the World Economic Forum does on serious global challenges.” More can be read here
Furthermore, the video and article create a misleading image of the World Economic Forum. The WEF is a Swiss-based international organisation created to engage “the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas,” according to its website.
However, looking at the comments to the viral video, many users had assumed the statement to be true; hence a lot of anger and hate was directed towards the WEF.
However, we decided to look into this statement.
Poop as a food? Can it be real?
The article says “human faeces “, biosolids”, or something else, is simply the next step in the progression of things. And the WEF has been intent for years on bringing human poop to the table. Japanese researchers were funded in 2012 to create a commercial product that the researchers were calling the Shit Burger.”
We discussed this with Dr Saluka Jayakody (MBBS, Medicine). Dr Jayakody adds states, Humans need nutrients to meet their daily calorie requirements. However, animal poop is a digestive product containing very low nutrients, which can’t fulfil the daily calorie requirement and can lead to health issues.
Exposure to animal faeces has been associated with diarrhoea, soil-transmitted infections, trachoma, environmental enteric dysfunction, and growth faltering. Few studies have evaluated control measures, but interventions include hygiene promotion. Also, when there is a portion of food, the taste and smell should be liked, but it does not happen here.
Furthermore, Climate change has already become a severe threat to food production, but there are many ways to overcome it. Sustainable farming is one such method.
A sustainable farming system doesn’t have to be only organic agriculture. There are more methods that overlap in many principles that are sustainable in the long run and maybe 100 per cent organic or at least from the biggest part.
The following ten sustainable farming methods and practices are just a few examples of how we can achieve much more sustainable agriculture.
For more such info, visit here,
The Harris-Benedict formula is one method used to estimate your basal metabolic rate (BMR). By definition, BMR is your rate of metabolism (the conversion of calories and oxygen to energy) at rest. It is the minimum level of energy required to sustain vital functions such as breathing, digestion, and circulation. It depends on a person’s weight, height, age, gender, and activity level. You can calculate MBR through this.
According to the health hub guidelines, an average man’s recommended daily calorie requirement is 2,200 and 1,800 for a middle woman. Our body needs food to obtain energy, build building blocks for our body, and get substances that help control body processes.
Returning to the misleading article, it says, “In the near future, beer will have an extra ingredient – our own urine.”
Nowadays, we indeed have to face a water crisis due to climate change, and the United Nations reveal that only 0.5 per cent of the water on Earth is useable and available freshwater. And there are already projects in several parts of the world, such as NEWBrew: Singapore, which had introduced a beer made with sewage water and urine; however, the recycled water more than adheres to international standards of safe drinking water, but it is also clean enough to be used in beer brewing.
Dr Jayakody explains that human usage of water is 1.5ml per kg per hour, and we have more than 8 billion people on Earth now. Over the past twenty years, terrestrial water storage, including soil moisture, snow, and ice, has dropped at a rate of 1 cm per year, with significant ramifications for water security (WMO). However, still, we still have mitigation measures for water usage. Nonetheless, it is essential to note that these recommendations need to be implemented immediately.
Water solutions
Wetlands serve as a buffer against extreme weather events (UNEP). They provide a natural shield against storm surges and absorb excess water and precipitation. Wetlands provide water storage and purification through the plants and microorganisms they house.
Water supply and sanitation systems that can withstand climate change could save the lives of more than 360,000 infants every year (New Climate Economy report).
Climate-smart agriculture using drip irrigation and other means of using water more efficiently can help reduce the demand for freshwater supplies (UNEP).
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Conclusion
According to our investigation, there is no evidence of the World Economic Forum saying that all humans will have to eat faeces and drink urine to fight climate change, and WEF officials deny these fabricated claims.
Title:Did WEF say that humans must eat Feces and drink Urine to fight Climate Change?
Written By: Fact Crescendo TeamResult: False
