McCartney to take 'less meat' campaign to EU parliament

Sir Paul McCartney has joined forces with senior British MEP Edward McMillan-Scott in urging consumers to drastically reduce the amount of meat they eat.

The former Beatle says that in making "simple choices" about eating habits the public can help combat climate change.

Writing exclusively in the latest issue of the Parliament Magazine, Sir Paul urges the public to stop eating meat one day a week.

He says the evidence that meat production is a "major contributor" to climate change is "clear" and appeals to next month's COP15 summit in Copenhagen to remember that sustainable food policy is an "essential weapon" in the fight against global warming.

At the summit, world leaders, including US president Barrack Obama, are expected to draw up targets on emission reduction and financial help for developing nations adapt to climate change.

Sir Paul, who nowadays is arguably as well known as an environmental campaigner as for his music, says, "By making a simple change in the way you eat, you are taking part in a world changing campaign where what's good for you is also good for the planet. Above all, remember that the future begins with the actions we take now."

He goes on, "Many of us feel helpless in the face of environmental challenges. It can be hard to know how to sort through the advice about what we can do to make a meaningful contribution to a cleaner, more sustainable, healthier world.

"To build a better future world, we need to make changes in our lifestyles now. Not all the changes we have to make are easy but making just one day a week a meat-free day really is the little that can make a big difference."

McCartney will appear in parliament on 3 December in a much-awaited hearing organised by McMillan-Scott.

The hearing on global warming and food policy comes the week before the key UN Copenhagen summit, and is called "Less meat = less heat".

He will be joined by two top global experts – Dr Rajendra K Pachauri, chair of the Nobel-prize-winning UN intergovernmental panel on climate change, and Olivier de Schutter, UN special rapporteur for the right to food. Neither of the three eat meat.

The hearing will be opened by parliament's president and former Polish prime minister Jerzy Buzek.

In his article, Sir Paul says that if developed countries adopted "healthier, lower-meat diets, and food were distributed more equally at a global level, then options for providing sufficient food and fuel would be greatly expanded."

"A lower-meat diet could see greenhouse gases reduced by as much as 80 per cent. Western countries currently eat meat at least seven times a week, but using a series of projected world diets, latest reports recommend reducing that to twice or three times a week.

He says, "Alongside individual action, governments must put in place the right policies. There is too little joined-up planning to ensure a consistent approach across the local, regional, national, European and global levels.

"Too often ministers spend their time defending vested interests rather than seeking a strategic solution that bridges entrenched departmental thinking and historic divides."

Writing in the same issue, McMillan-Scott, a vice president of parliament and one of its longest-serving MEPs, says, "Livestock production produces more greenhouse gases than the whole transport sector and some gases from meat production are far more dangerous than those produced by transport.

"Nitrous oxide has 296 times the global warming potential of CO2, most of which comes from manure. Meat takes upwards of 16 times more energy and resources than its vegetable equivalent including a massive amount of water at a time when 62 per cent of the world's population face water stress or drought.

"At present rates, meat production will double worldwide by 2050. It already uses 70 per cent of all agricultural land and causes massive deforestation to create land for growing feedstuff.

"The human dimension cannot be ignored. One billion of the world's population are obese - and one billion suffer food scarcity or are starving. As recent epidemics have highlighted, 60 per cent of human pathogens come from animals or poultry."

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