‘‘We don’t tell people what to do’’: An examination of the factors influencing NGO decisions to campaign for reduced meat consumption in light of climate change Linnea I. Laestadius a, *, Roni A. Neff b,c,d , Colleen L. Barry b , Shannon Frattaroli b a Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1240 N 10th Street, Milwaukee, WI 53205, USA b Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 North Broadway St., Baltimore, MD 21205-2179, USA c Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe St. Suite W7010, Baltimore, MD 21205-2179, USA d Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205-2179, USA 1. Introduction Diets high in animal products, particularly red meat, have been found to be high in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions relative to more plant-based diets (Carlsson-Kanyama and Gonza ´ lez, 2009; Stehfest et al., 2009; Gonza ´ lez et al., 2011). Accordingly, reducing meat consumption represents a valuable climate change mitiga- tion strategy (Berners-Lee et al., 2012; Westhoek et al., 2014). Recent research suggests that reducing ‘‘ruminant meat and dairy consumption will be indispensable’’ for preventing global average surface temperatures from rising by more than 2 8C above pre- industrial levels (Hedenus et al., 2014). Further, a move away from meat-intensive diets in the West would reduce chronic disease rates (Scarborough et al., 2012). Despite these benefits, there has been seemingly little action by national governments to bring about meaningful reductions in meat consumption (Bristow and Fitzgerald, 2011; Dagevos and Voordouw, 2013). In the absence of government action, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can play important roles, both raising awareness of the need for dietary change and advocating for policy reforms on this issue. To date, however, many NGOs also appear to be hesitant to develop either dedicated public education or policy advocacy campaigns aimed at reducing meat consump- tion in light of climate change (Laestadius et al., 2013). With a few notable exceptions, environmental NGOs in particular have encouraged only small changes to meat consumption and have only promoted those changes in minor ways rather than establish- ing dedicated campaigns on the issue (Laestadius et al., 2013; Freeman, 2010; Bristow and Fitzgerald, 2011). Given continued high rates of meat consumption in Western nations, as well as the importance of individual behavior change to climate change mitigation more generally (Semenza et al., 2008), it is important to understand why NGOs have not undertaken more Global Environmental Change 29 (2014) 32–40 A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 23 April 2014 Received in revised form 28 June 2014 Accepted 10 August 2014 Available online Keywords: Climate change Meat consumption Policy Public education Decision making A B S T R A C T To date, efforts by non-governmental organizations to encourage reduced meat consumption in light of climate change have been quite limited, particularly among environmental non-governmental organizations. This study sought to examine the factors influencing non-governmental organization decisions to establish and sustain dedicated public education and/or policy advocacy campaigns on this issue. More specifically, a grounded theory approach was used to examine environmental, food-focused, and animal protection non-governmental organizations in the U.S., Sweden, and Canada. Results indicate that the relatively limited degree of engagement is primarily attributable to the fact that few non- governmental organization staffers felt that addressing meat consumption within a climate change context was a part of their core missions. Reduced meat consumption was also seen as an issue with limited social and political appeal. Further, many environmental non-governmental organizations appeared to be reluctant to mount campaigns explicitly encouraging personal behavior change of any type. Cross- non-governmental organization collaboration or the creation of additional non- governmental organizations with missions focused on this specific issue may be needed to increase the level of campaigning on this issue. ß 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 414 227 4512; fax: +1 414 227 3002. E-mail addresses: llaestad@uwm.edu, linnea.laestadius@gmail.com (L.I. Laestadius). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Global Environmental Change jo ur n al h o mep ag e: www .elsevier .co m /loc ate/g lo envc h a http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.08.001 0959-3780/ß 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.