Ingrid Newkirk, PETA Australia
People are deeply upset about what’s going on in Australia: kangaroos trapped in barbed-wire fencing while fleeing fires, cows and sheep being cooked alive, and an estimated one and a quarter billion or more animals now killed in the conflagrations.
Now shooters are being ordered to gun down thousands of camels. There is a long-term fix for this horror. The prolonged heat and drought have extended seasonal wildfire periods, we’re facing mass extinctions, rising sea levels, and record-breaking temperatures.
It’s imperative that we take personal responsibility for the protection of our planet, and by far the easiest way is to stop eating animals and go vegan.
The UN stated that meat consumption must decrease by as much as 90 per cent for us to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change. This requires zero governmental initiative and no promises from giant corporations – it just means choosing to leave animals out of our shopping trolleys.
You’re right of course.
Even if everyone were vegan, we would still need to cull tens of thousands of feral camels annually – nothing to do with meat consumption, just for the protection of vulnerable semi-arid ecosystems supporting scores of threatened species from the destructive habits of an over abundant feral animal. Feral animal control is just basic land management.
Yes. I must say, it was a tenuous affiliation, but at my age I would say and do anything for a vegan girl.
I am not aware that the UN has made any such statement about meat consumption. The 90% figure appears to come from university research in the UK on actions needed to prevent climate change harm from farming, including a 90% reduction in UK beef and pork consumtion. The Guardian reported the researchers found the was no silver bullet to avoid farm emissions, “But dietary and technological change [on farms] are the two essential things, and hopefully they can be complemented by reduction in food loss and waste.” They noted about a third of food produced today never reaches the table.
The researchers found “…a global shift to a “flexitarian” diet was needed to keep climate change even under 2C, let alone 1.5C. This flexitarian diet means the average world citizen needs to eat 75% less beef, 90% less pork and half the number of eggs, while tripling consumption of beans and pulses and quadrupling nuts and seeds. This would halve emissions from livestock and better management of manure would enable further cuts.”
The Guardian reported “… in rich nations, the dietary changes required are ever more stark. UK and US citizens need to cut beef by 90% and milk by 60% while increasing beans and pulses between four and six times. However, the millions of people in poor nations who are undernourished need to eat a little more meat and dairy.”
The high impact of pork and beef reflects the widespread use of feed lot production . CSIRO report on climate change also notes the need for changes in farming practices. The UK report notes the need for education and taxation to reduce average meat consumption. Some people do need to reduce their meat consumption, but as meat increasingly becomes a premium product, Australia’s more sustainably produced grass fed beef and sheep meats will become a very valuable export. Removing that livestock would only leave large areas of land that are not suitable for agriculture, with the domestic animals displaced by feral and native animals, without the animal husbandry CSIRO advises is needed to manage emissions from manures