We must go veggie to protect the planet

The following letter was published in the Independent

7 September 2017

Dear Sir,
After the devastating Hurricane Harvey the US is now bracing for Hurricane Irma. It is obvious that Mother Earth is in a precarious state because of decades of abuse. In pursuit of short-term gains we have put in jeopardy our lives and lives of future generations.
One of the biggest causes of climate change is billions of animals raised for human consumption. Deforestation, the degradation of soil, the massive amount of chemicals seeping into rivers and oceans all are a result of billions of intensively reared animals. Such is the insatiable demand for animal feed that poor countries are roped in into growing soya to export to European countries at great environmental cost. Our planet is simply not big enough to sustain a human population of 9 billion and an animal population of 120 billion to feed it. A return to a plant-based vegetarian and vegan diet will replenish the planet and restore it to robust health but we are running out of time.