Meat and dairy put strain on the planet
AN important new report from the United Nations has said we urgently need to move away from meat and dairy-rich diets to ensure our planet's survival.
Pretty scary, but it is amazing how much of a difference we can make protecting our environment and saving it for our children and future generations just with our knife and fork. This major report says that the greatest cause of greenhouse gas emissions is food production and the use of fossil fuels.
However, while we move away from using damaging forms of energy and transport, food production will have to increase as the world's population gets bigger. The UN is now concerned that production of food will become the main cause of climate change and environmental degradation.
Meat and dairy put an enormous strain on the environment as they are an incredibly inefficient way to feed us — the report says livestock consumes half of the world's crops; crops that could be fed to people.
It also says agriculture accounts for 70 per cent of global freshwater consumption, 38 per cent of the total land use and 19 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. This is clearly unsustainable, and we must take collective responsibility. The easiest way to do this is cutting out or cutting down on meat and dairy in your diet.
Justin Kerswell
Viva!
Wilder Street, Bristol
2 Comments
by Will, Mid Devon
Sunday, June 27 2010, 1:28PM
“Ed - you are right that world population is a big problem - particularly populations in developed countries that consume far more than their fair share of all resources, including food. We waste thirty percent of the food we harvest, much of it thrown away because it has passed it's so-called "sell by" date, or does not conform to over-fussy size or shaperequirements. More is wasted supporting excess body weight in our over-fed western populations whilst people are still starving in third-world countries. WQe all need to wake up to the fact that it is mostly us in the developed countries that are leading unsustainable life-styles - why pick on Ayatollahs, Hindus and Roman Catholics (although the RC objection to birth control is of course ridiculous)?
And as far as our own consumption of meat and dairy products we should follow the maxim Eat Less, Eat Better, Eat Local.”
by Ed, Exeter
Saturday, June 26 2010, 12:31PM
“What puts a strain on the planet is the gross over population which requires consumption at an unsustainable rate. Your correspondant would spend time better by writing letters to the Pope, Ayatollahs, leaders of the Hindu peoples, and all other religious leaders, and world goverments, requiring them all to call for compulsory sterilisation of all families in the world with more than two children. The World's population has tripled since 1950. If this trend is allowed to continue, whether people consume meat, milk or grain will become irrelevant.”