Desmond Bellamy, PETA Australia
Sir David Attenborough, the world’s most famous naturalist, has just addressed the United Nations Security Council to say it’s ‘too late’. Climate change is coming, and will cause massive disruptions and suffering. With the destruction we have wreaked on nature, he said, civilisation could ‘quickly break down’.
Australia’s lack of commitment on cutting emissions has been noted by other countries. It’s too late to start building massive infrastructure, we can’t all afford electric cars, yet there is something each of us can do every day.
Animal agriculture is a huge part of the problem. According to the International Journal of Climate Change, animal agriculture is the largest contributor to greenhouse gases in Australia – 50 per cent of our emissions come from the livestock sector.
We can substantially cut emissions three times a day, with our knives and forks and shopping dollars. Cut out the meat, dairy, and eggs and each of us will appreciably cut Australia’s greenhouse emissions and on average save around 200 animals every year from a miserable life and agonising death. And our children and grandchildren will still have a planet that can sustain them.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
