GLOBAL THREAT FROM LIVESTOCK

29 December 2015

The article by Tom Bawden (24 December) on mass migration and human suffering due to global warming makes sobering reading. What is often overlooked is that the biggest cause of global warming is the methane gas produced by billions of animals raised for meat.

Almost 40 per cent of the world’s fresh water is used up in raising animals. Animals are voracious consumers of water. Over grazing is turning huge swathes of of the earth into deserts. Almost 40 per cent of the world’s cereals are fed to these animals rather then feeding the poor. The billions of tonnes of waste produced by these animals seep into our waterways causing massive pollution and acid rain which destroys trees. Unless human beings turn away from a meat-based diet to a plant based diet, a catastrophe awaits us. The solution to the global warming crisis is not with international treaties but with each one of us. Let us be the change we want.

Nitin Mehta
Croydon, Surrey