Apr
2010
So You Think You Can Be a Meat-Eating Environmentalist?
“There is no doubt that reducing consumption of meat, especially red meat, is one of the most effective things the individual can do to reduce their greenhouse gas pollution. Producing meat turns vegetable protein very inefficiently into animal protein, using large amounts of energy and water in the process. Secondly, meat production takes place a long way from the main population centres, so large amounts of fuel energy are needed to transport meat to urban consumers. Thirdly, meat products need to be cooked to be safe to eat, generating more greenhouse gas pollution. Ruminant animals also produce large amounts of methane a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, in the process of digesting grass. So overall, meat production in general and beef production in particular is a serious contribution to greenhouse gas pollution and hence global warming.” ~ Professor Ian Lowe, 2005. President of the Australian Conservation Foundation and Author of ‘Living in the Hothouse’ Scribe Publications 2005.