The Straits Times
STForum Online
Nov 3, 2009
Climate change - what we eat more crucial than quantity
I REFER to Mr Jeffrey Chan's letter yesterday, 'Climate change: What Singaporeans can do'.
He suggests eating less food, and that may be a good idea for some of us. However, more important than how much we eat is what we eat. In particular, we need to reduce our meat consumption.
Last month, Lord Stern, lead author of the British government's Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, one of the most comprehensive on the subject, stated: 'Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world's resources. A vegetarian diet is better.'
Lord Stern, a former World Bank chief economist, likened meat eating to drink driving and forecast that as we learn about the environmental harm done by meat production, meat eating will become less socially acceptable.
The link between meat and global warming involves two overlapping factors. First, eating meat is inefficient because to produce just 1kg of meat, we must feed many kilos of plant food to the animals we later eat. This means more forests cut down to grow feed for these animals rather than food for humans. Yes, we need these forests to take in carbon dioxide.
The second meat-climate change link involves the gases released by the animals we eat as part of their digestive processes and from their manure. In particular, the gases methane and nitrous oxide contain much greater climate change power than carbon dioxide.
Fortunately, in Singapore, we have access to a wide range of meatless foods at restaurants, food centres and markets. Furthermore, many non-vegetarian restaurants and stalls are happy to prepare meatless dishes on request. Thus, every day, three times a day, we can each do our bit to reverse climate change.
Dr George Jacobs
President, Vegetarian Society (Singapore)
