One of the most respected discussion programs on the BBC, Newsnight, focused last night on the statement made by Yvi de Boer, the head of the UN climate agency, who recently said: “The best solution would be for us all to become vegetarians”. The UN official was responding to criticism that measures to tackle climate change are partly to blame for the rise in food and energy costs because they use food crops to make alternatives to gasoline.
According to the report Livestock’s Long Shadow –Environmental Issues and Options, published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 2006, livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems. Urgent action is required to remedy the situation. And surely cutting meat consumption is the best way to do that. Feeding the 60 billions of animals bred into captivity worldwide takes a lot of resources that could be diverted to feed the world’s hungry. For those who need help, this website can help with a 30-day pledge. I took the vegetarian plunge earlier this year, after years of semi-vegetarianism (I used to eat fish occasionally) and I have to say, it’s very easy and in fact you end up having more variety on the plate.
