Camden looks to cut back on meat

The London Borough of Camden's Sustainability Task Force has proposed its catering operations buy less meat and dairy products to help the authority reduce the size of its carbon footprint. The recommendation would affect schools, care homes and council premises if given the go-ahead. Councillors will vote on the proposal at the end of May after examining a report setting out a number of measures designed to reduce the borough's environmental impact. Task Force chairman and report author councillor Alexis Rowell said the idea of taking meat off the menu was based on United Nations data showing that the livestock industry is responsible for 18% of the world's carbon emissions. "For climate change and health reasons we need to be cutting down on meat and dairy and it's important that as much food as possible is sourced from local suppliers. "But we're not saying that everyone should be vegetarian." "We are not talking about turning everyone into vegetarians but about eating more vegetables and fewer pieces of meat, especially beef which is the most intensive. We are growing grain and manufacturing fertilisers using a lot of fossil fuel and water, which is a scarce resource, to feed cows to then feed humans. "It would be better to grow vegetables and feed them straight to humans. "Even choosing different types of meat, like rabbit rather than beef, could do a huge deal of good." The Camden report also looks at cutting the amount of food flown in from abroad or driven across the country in lorries. It is looking at how to support local producers by using existing distribution networks to bring food from the South-East into a central hub. "As a proportion of total food globally, air-freighted food is only about three per cent. But it's the fastest growing sector and there is no way to get planes to fly on bio-fuel or hydrogen without doing even more damage. "If we all ate half as much meat, we would get rid of nine per cent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions in one stroke." If the council accepts the report's recommendations it could have an effect on staff restaurants, school menus and in care homes as early as September.