German Government Advisory: Eat Meat Only on Special Ocassions

Germany’s environmental issues advisory body issued a strong advisory for German people to lower their meat consumption, effectively asking the population to eat meat only on special occasions. The advisory board cited that 15% of Germany’s greenhouse gases come from agriculture. Dramatically reducing meat consumption will diminish Germany’s carbon footprint.

“We must rethink our high meat consumption,” said Andreas Troge, president of the government’s environmental issues advisory body.

• » See also: Ocean Conservancy Holds US Responsible for Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning
• » Get Planetsave by RSS or sign up by email.

The recommendation has been met with strong resistance from agriculture and meat industry lobbyists. Advocates in favor of the status-quo meat consumption argue that consumers deserve to make their own decisions about what they eat while mounting environmental data exposes the disproportionate impact made by raising meat for increasing consumption versus comparable caloric intake from vegetarian sources.

Compassion in World Farming, an anti-factory farming organization, claims that cutting says meat-eating by 50% would be more effective than the same reduction in transport use.

Image credit: LordKhan on Flickr under creative commons license

Tweet This Post