"Go Vegetarian" - The Standard Misquotes Me!

I should have seen it coming. It was always going to be an irresistible headline. I was saying we all need to eat less meat and dairy because of the associated carbon emissions and health risks. But the Standard's headline writers turned that into "Council's Green Advice to Staff: Go Vegetarian".

Oh well - at least they published the story. The fact is that the livestock industry produces an estimated 18% of the world's carbon emissions. That's partly because cows burp methane, but mostly because of the industrialisation of the meat supply chain. We use huge quantities of fossil fuels to grow grain to feed cattle, to pump water for cattle to drink, to transport meat huge distances in refrigerated trucks and ships, and to power open fridges and freezers in supermarkets.

And of course meat and dairy, key staples of what is now known as the Western Diet, are driving the obesity epidemic. The best thing we could do, if we want to improve our health and save the planet, is to cut down on meat and dairy consumption.