The environmental case for cutting down on red meat is clear | Letter

Reducing methane emissions is the fastest-acting lever we can pull to moderate temperature rise and lessen the damage of climate change, writes Adair TurnerAidan Harrison's letter (23 June) took issue with George Monbiot's argument that grazing cattle and sheep impose a huge environmental cost (Opinion, 20 June). However, Harrison's criticisms were deeply flawed.Ruminant animals such as cattle and sheep produce methane, an immensely powerful greenhouse gas. Harrison argues that these emissions do not matter because they are relatively short-lived and in some sense "natural". But a flow of continued methane emissions from any source warms the planet, and that warming effect will only decline if the emissions are reduced. Indeed, precisely because methane is short-lived in the atmosphere, cutting methane emissions is the fastest-acting lever we can pull to moderate temperature rise and reduce the risks of self-reinforcing climate change. Continue reading...