Two observations to start …
Firstly, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from industrial and agricultural activities are contributing to the heating of the planet and the consequent climate disaster that is unfolding.
Secondly, livestock farming is a major emitter of Greenhouse Gases.
So meat free and dairy free diets must be urgently taken up on a global scale if there is to be any chance of avoiding the worst outcomes of climate breakdown, biodiversity loss and extinction of species.
But vegans are still only a small percentage of the population.
Why is this?
The reason may be a combination of facts and feelings. Perhaps vegans have to work harder to make the issues more widely known. And if they are known then we have to explain more clearly that although change is required, it is not cult-like and legalistic, but the individual is in control of a fulfilling, reasonable and science led lifestyle. And Passionately so!
– o –
The connection between climate breakdown and meat eating was highlighted in an article this week about the UK’s methane hotspots [1].
Methane is a powerful GHG, producing over 80 times more warming than Carbon Dioxide when it is first emitted.
The following quotes from the article show the urgent need to reduce Methane emissions be reducing meat consumption.
“The UN Environment Programme says a 45% reduction in methane by 2030 would avoid nearly 0.3C of warming by 2045”
“The analysis found a strong correlation between methane emissions and areas of the UK where high numbers of cattle are farmed for dairy or beef”
“Farming, in particular, is a big contributor to the UK’s methane problem but does not report its figures”
And if there is doubt about the scale of the problem …
“… modelling has also been criticised by academics, who argue it underplays the amount of methane being released”
In conclusion, the approaching climate breakdown caused by GHG emissions will be unimaginably bad for life on earth.
Some of the consequences are already set in, but not all. There are steps we can take to avoid the worst outcomes if we act now
Therefore it is not only desirable, but necessary that livestock farming must be phased out. Vegan lifestyles will need to be adopted across the world. Too radical? We are now at the point where this has to happen if life on earth as we know it is to survive in all its richness and diversity
