Introduction

Meat Free Monday is all about reducing the amount of meat we consume because of its health and environmental benefits.  An easy way to start is to cut meat from meals one day a week.  It’s a campaign which has been promoted by former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney.

It is predicted that by 2050 nearly twice as much meat will be produced as today.

This is due to a number of factors - there are more people on the planet - 7.8 billion and counting - and there is more demand for cheap meat, plus as people become more affluent and can afford to eat meat, they tend to eat more.  Demand is particularly increasing in Asia and the Middle East.

But is this sustainable?  Sustainable agriculture would be capable of continuing in that way, indefinitely, without any long term impacts.  As we shall see, the impacts of livestock farming at the moment are great.

The livestock sector is.... “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global”.
United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Let’s look at some of these impacts.