Meat Treat

The recent BBC programme by Liz Bonnin on the environmental challenges associated with a growing world-wide demand for meat was pretty impactful (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000bqsh). It was strikingly claimed that meat production generates a stronger 'greenhouse gas' effect than all forms of human transport (cars, ships and planes)combined.  Cattle belch methane- although some people are working on ways to potentially reduce this by modifying the animal's diet. Particularly impactful were the sections on the enormous US cattle feeding stations where the animals housed in large, barren pens hardly move to eat and the rearing of pigs in sheds in that country with the generation of lakes of effluent (which generally contaminate surrounding water courses). It was also pointed out that substantial areas of crops, in that country as well as Brazil, are given over to raising food to give to meat-generating animals (primarily cattle, pigs and chickens), reducing biodiversity) rather than to feed humans. In spite of some attacks by meat producers on the programme, I didn't get the impression that it was unfairly anti-meat. Most of the statements appeared to be well-documented and I think that the 'take home message' that concerned folk should limit their meat consumption is appropriate. I am somewhat concerned that some suppliers (especially those in the US) appeared to think they should only be focused on producing the maximal amount of meat as cheaply as possible.