Save the Earth, Quit meat! was the message SAFE's ‘butcher' and ‘farmers' spread amongst lunch-time pedestrians on Wellington's waterfront recently. The action was held outside Te Papa where a conference was being held to celebrate 125 years of meat exports from New Zealand. The butcher carved up the earth (represented by a large cake) to symbolise the way eating meat destroys the earth. The pieces of cake were given out to passers-by with information about the detrimental effect meat eating has on the environment. "Unfortunately not many people are aware of the link between meat eating and global warming, land degradation, water wastage, deforestation and pollution", says Hans Kriek, SAFE's campaign director.  "Almost half of New Zealand's greenhouse gases are from methane and nitrous oxide emissions caused by livestock farming. These gases contribute far more to global warming than all the carbon dioxide produced by cars and industry in this country. Methane is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide a staggering 310 times! This makes the livestock industry the biggest polluter in New Zealand. Producing meat also wastes an enormous amount of water. International figures show that it takes 500 litres of water to produce 1 kilogram of potatoes, 2,000 litres to produce 1 kilogram of soybeans and up to 100,000 litres to produce 1 kilogram of feedlot beef."
Globally, the growth of the livestock sector is responsible for most of the deforestation that has and still is taking place. 30 per cent of the earth's land surface is now used by livestock or to grow feed crops for livestock.
At a time when the world discusses climate change, we must address the serious consequences of farming animals for meat. Meat consumption has increased five-fold in 50 years and is expected to double by 2050, with most animals being kept on intensive farms. This is clearly unsustainable and will result in a huge increase in animal suffering, especially in countries like China where meat eating is expected to increase at a huge rate", says Hans.
The New Zealand meat industry has no reason to celebrate 125 years of exporting dead animals when at the same time it has been destroying our environment and caused untold animal suffering. Consumers must look at their eating habits and decide if it's time to quit, or at least reduce, eating meat to help save the Earth."
SAFE has launched QuitMeat.org.nz - a new website highlighting the true cost of eating meat and the benefits of a vegetarian diet.
Read a recent article published in the New Zealand listener that discusses the environmental costs of meat production. download pdf
30 March 2007
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