Sir, – Owen Brooks (October 5th) takes Mary Robinson to task over her comments making it clear that we, worldwide, need to eat less meat.
However, it is not necessary to propose a vegetarian or vegan diet but rather a switch from ruminant meat, such as beef, lamb, goat, to non-ruminant, such as pig and chicken, etc. This change would result in a minimum reduction of 75 per cent in equivalent carbon footprint and have the added benefit of a return of huge swathes of land to the feeding of people rather than animals.
As rural populations move into cities, as is happening across the world, they move to a cash economy, resulting in a substantial increase in the use of meat. In most of the developing world, this increased meat production is derived from cattle, causing a substantial increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
Whatever the political, commercial and social difficulties, it is essential, for the good of the planet, that this switch to non-ruminant meat production is made as soon as possible. – Yours, etc,
PATRICK DAVEY,
Dublin 18.