MEATLESS MONDAYS TO HELP TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE

The impact of the meat industry on global warming has started to receive some attention in recent years.

Now the Belgian town of Ghent, located in the First World War killing fields of Flanders, is promoting life through its ‘Meatless Thursdays’ campaign.

The Ghent City Council says it is the first town in Europe and probably the western world to try to make the entire place vegetarian for one day every week.

The idea behind the campaign is to reduce Ghent’s impact on the climate.

If everyone in Derby followed suit and didn’t eat meat for one day every week it would make a big impact on CO2 emissions. Ghent is slightly smaller than Derby, but it’s been estimated their campaign could save as much CO2 in a year as taking half a million cars off the road.

This isn’t that surprising when you consider the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization’s 2006 report, which revealed that the livestock industry generates 18% of greenhouse gases – more than the entirety of world transportation, which accounts for 16%.

This is because the principle greenhouse gases - methane, carbon dioxide and industrial fumes- are all inextricably linked to the meat industry. The primary sources of methane are due to both the clearance of forests required for cattle grazing and agriculture as well the gases produced by the animals themselves which is released in their excrement.

Carbon dioxide pollution also rests mainly in the hands of meat producers: producing one kilogram of meat releases the equivalent of 3-4 kilograms of carbon dioxide!

It requires huge energy production and consumption for fertilizer production, forest clearance and maintenance of animal facilities. This all puts the meat industry at the top of the climate changing league.

I wonder if people knew the facts about the meat industry's impact on climate change, whether they would support a Ghent-like 'Meatless Mondays' campaign in Derby?

In Ghent every restaurant in the city guarantees a vegetarian dish on the menu, with some going fully vegetarian every Thursday. And from September, Ghent’s schools are to make a meat-free meal the only option every Thursday, although parents can insist on meat for their children. The local hospital also wants to join in too.

It's clear that some some lifestyle changes are needed to tackle the biggest challenge that the human race has ever encountered. Eating less meat is probaby one of the most significant things we can do.