On 29th December 2015, The Independent published the following letter from AIA Patron, Nitin Mehta MBE, about the effects of meat-eating on climate change.
Dear Sir,
The article by Tom Bawden (24 Dec), regarding the potential of mass migration and human suffering due to global warming makes sobering reading. What is often overlooked is that the biggest causes of global warming is the methane gas produced by billions of farm animals raised for meat. Almost 40% of world’s fresh water resources is used up in raising these animals. Animals are voracious consumers of water. Over grazing is turning huge swathes of the Earth into deserts. Almost 40% of worlds cereals are fed to these animals rather then feeding the poor. The billions of tones of waste produced by these animals seep into our waterways causing massive pollution and acid rain which destroy trees. Unless human beings turn away from a meat based diet to a plant based diet, a catastrophe awaits us.
The solution to solving the global warming crisis is not with international treaties but with each one of us.
Let us be the change we want.
Nitin Mehta MBE
Croydon
Animal Interfaith Alliance 