We Might Eat Humans Someday Thanks to Climate Change — OK Whatever

In fact, it’s something that’s already being experimented with — but with animal cells, not human ones. 

The keeping and eating of livestock is responsible for almost 15% of global warming emissions thanks to the methane the animals produce and the carbon released through land clearing and fertilizer usage. 

The thinking goes that if a majority of humans switch to eating artificially grown animal products, we might be able to undo some of the damage we’ve already done to our planet. 

But we still have a long way to go before in vitro animal products hit grocery store shelves, which is why scientists are continuing to entertain ulterior solutions — or at the very least, coping methods — to prepare for the future. 

Last fall, the suggestion of eating human flesh came up once more at a gastroenterology summit in Stockholm, Sweden. Swedish scientist Magnus Söderlund asked the audience if they could imagine eating their fellow Homo sapiens if our worst case predictions for the future came to be.

Could we get used to the taste of our own meat? he asked. Might we even be able to overcome our revulsion of cannibalism? 

Cannibalism, of course, is nothing new. Scientists are even pretty sure Neanderthals ate one another, after researchers found nibbled-on bones from 100,000 years ago in a cave in France.