JOHN Lucy writes that five hundred litres of methane may emerge daily from 1.4 billion cattle, Personal emissions costing the Earth, Points of view, July 11.

He has missed out that that is from each one of the cattle, so making a total emission of 700 billion litres each day.

It is on record that cattle and sheep emit 37 per cent of the total methane generated by human activities and that methane has about 25 times the global warming impact of CO2.

I certainly advocate the reduction in the consumption of animal products, from a health point of view and to reduce the damage caused by production of these products.

The inefficiencies of producing meat are well known with seven units of vegetable protein needed to produce one unit of animal protein.

Farmed fish is little better with up to four times the quantity of wild fish being fed to the farmed fish. Why not eat the wild fish instead?

We cannot alter the natural emissions from volcanoes, spontaneous generated forest fires, wild animals and rotting vegetation.

One of the major points in reducing the global warming is to reduce the snow and ice melt from the Siberian tundra.

Yes we do need to reduce emissions from all origins, not building more and/or closing fossil fuel-fired power stations is positive as is investing in producing power from renewable energy sources.

Paul Harding

Alphington

Exeter

(via thisisexeter.co.uk)