Press Release - World Food Day, Tuesday 16 October
Meat, the hidden reason for growing food
insecurity
15 October 2007
This
World Food Day was
preceded by a series of FAO-warnings "
Wheat prices
hit record-high level", "
28 countries face
food shortages", "
Climate change disaster is
upon us", etc., and also the European Union cautioned that "
2007 total cereal harvest will be ...1,6% below the average of the last
five years", and that cereal intervention stocks "have shrunk from 14 million tonnes at the beginning of
2006/2007 to around 1 million tonnes now".
Environmental changes are given as a major cause for failing
harvests, and the FAO even names the culprits, pointing to future disasters by informing that livestock's environmental
impact "will worsen dramatically...".
So it's official: It's the beef!
What vegetarians have
tried to get across for decades has finally become official wisdom: '
Livestock's Long Shadow' puts a dramatic
pressure on the environment, contributes critically to climate change and global warming, leads to failing harvests and
threatens the global food supply'. But that's not all: Even in times of dwindling resources, enormous harvest shares
continue to be requisitioned for farm animals.
The result is obvious: Food is getting scarce and expensive
for everyone and, as always, the poor are the first to suffer and suffer the most.
Stop meat-business as
usual
Since animal husbandry is one of the most prominent reasons for the world's greenhouse pollution which
threatens the food supply of billions of people, more sustainable lifestyles have to be adopted urgently. There is
absolutely no need for the citizens of some countries to continue eating roughly their own weight in meat every year!
Reason and solidarity must bring about lighter ecological footprints of the individual, and vegetarianism is the prime
choice in this quest.
On the occasion of World Food Day 2007, the European Vegetarian Union appeals to all
people of good will, and especially to national and international decision makers, to accept and promote the vegetarian
alternative. The present terrifying crossroad shows clearly that for us and all future generations, new ethical
alternatives have to replace old destructive habits - today.
Renato Pichler
President European
Vegetarian Union
