The Heat's On Meat

South Africans generally love meat, writes COLIN CULLIS, but we need to consider its impact on climate change, land, livestock and ourselves. And then cut back, one bite at a time

- Colin Cullis

This article is not about everyone going vegan (although those who do take that route, for whatever reason, have my thanks). Rather, it’s about finding a balance between how much meat we eat, and the resources needed to produce it, because the cost of meeting a growing demand for meat, and the cost to animals and the environment, make it a practice that is unsustainable.

Twelve thousand years ago, the first agricultural revolution changed the way we live, when we gave up our nomadic life in search of food, and settled in one place where we could grow crops and raise livestock.

Things progressed slowly until Europe began colonisation. By using more land on distant shores to grow food, prices in Europe could fall and there was more food available. But this proved unsustainable, with colonies rebelling against the exploitation, which in turn drove prices up and availability down.

More agricultural revolutions arrived with the industrial revolutions that brought new farming techniques, the use of fertilisers, facilities, freezing, dehydrating, bulk shipping, commercial fishing, canning, and farm machinery, from the humble tractor to the combine harvester. (And the food revolution continues, with the advent of genetically modified food, drone mapping, and data analysis to ensure farmers get the most from every square metre of farmland using only what they must.)

All of this had a huge impact, making food available in quantities never seen before, and allowing the human population to climb from one billion in 1804 to two billion a century later, and to seven billion just over 100 years later in 2012.

There are now 7.5 billion of us, but this increase in population unfortunately has led to a lowering of standards in looking after animals, and an increase in the use of fertilisers, pesticides, growth hormones and antibiotics.