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| 2009-12-04 - Weird News Tejinder Singh - AHN Correspondent Former Beatles Legend Calls For No Meat Day, Opinions Differ | ||
 Washington, DC (AHN) -- "Everyone can fight climate change by not eating meat one day a week," former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney told a public hearing at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, on "Global Warming and Food Policy: Less Meat = Less Heat ,. There were, however, differing voices. The panel of global warming and food policy experts, including Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri, urged European legislators to encourage people to do more individually to fight climate change. The "Meat free Monday" campaign, founded by McCartney, "is a good idea, as the impact on the climate of overproducing meat is becomes clear," said European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek. Livestock is just one factor in climate change but it accounts for 9% of CO2, 37% of methane and 35% of NOx emissions - which makes it the second or third most significant polluter, noted Dr. Pachauri. "Cutting down meat consumption is good for health; it's simple, effective and short-term delivery measure which everybody could contribute. We are all on one spaceship Earth and every mean to cut emissions counts", he said. Livestock's share of greenhouse gas emissions is not just an environmental problem, but also an agricultural and development one, said Parliament's Vice-President Edward McMillan-Scott . This share will grow, because developing countries consume more meat as their income rises: in China, per capita meat consumption has more than doubled in the past 20 years. On current trends, by 2050 about 1.45 billion tonnes of cereals a year will be used for animal feed - enough to meet the calorie needs of about 4.5 billion people, estimated UN special rapporteur on the right to food Oliver De Schutter . Dr Alan Dangour from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimated that in the UK, where adults eat a kilogram of meat each week, a 30% cut in consumption of saturated fats would reduce premature deaths due to heart disease by 18,000 a year. OPINIONS DIFFER Mairead McGuinness, an Irish Member of the European Parliament was not all in agreement with the idea and advocated moderation, stressing that European farmers have taken steps to reduce emissions, and pointed out that in the developing world, meat is often a very important source of protein in an otherwise poor diet. "Don't suggest that if the world goes vegetarian we will stop the climate change," she concluded. European farmers' groups also dismissed the suggestion of meat-less day. "Sir Paul McCartney is a well-respected musician, but he should not be using this debate to further what are his personal, strident vegetarian beliefs," said Peter Kendall, president of the UK's National Farmers' Union. IPCC REITERATES Dr. Pachauri, the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in his remarks stressed the importance to get a commitment to reduce emission by substantial amount by 2020. "I think if we are serious about taking action and solving this problem, then, I think 2020 is clearly the date where we must commit ourselves to reduce the emissions substantially," he told journalists. Four days before the beginning of the Copenhagen climate change conference, the President of European Commission Jose Manuel Barrorso met Pachauri together with Nicholas Stern, Chair of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and discussed on how to achieve an ambitious agreement in Copenhagen and get successful outcome. Barrorso told the joint news conference, "we are approaching the moment of truth at Copenhagen. Words are not longer enough. Now, we need to see commitments from all sides." "I want a simple, understandable and clear text, coming out of Copenhagen that is politically binding on all countries," he added.
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