ICMSA refutes Mary Robinson’s call to adopt a vegan diet
The dairy group leader was reacting to former Irish president Mary Robinson’s suggestion that people eat less meat or no meat at all to reduce carbon emissions.
Speaking at the One Young World Summit in Ottawa, Canada, Mrs Robinson urged world leaders to commit to “climate justice”, and urged developed nations to cut consumption levels generally.
She cited the number of toys owned by her grandchildren as an example of over-consumption.
The former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged world leaders to commit to the climate principles contained in the Paris Agreement.
“We don’t need to consume as much as we have in the world,” she said.
“We have a world where there’s inequity and inequality. We can be simpler in the parts of the world that have benefited from fossil fuel.
“We have to change, we cannot go on with business as usual. We need each of us to think about our carbon footprint.
“Eat less meat, or no meat at all. Become vegetarian or vegan.”
The ICMSA said climate change issues were much more complex than urging individuals to be vegetarian.
Mr Comer said there were layers of environmental, agri-economic, socio-cultural and political considerations to be incorporated into any meaningful policy.
Mr Comer said: “A more fruitful — and certainly more scientific — approach is to look at those areas best suited to specific types of food production and direct production to those areas where the process will have the lowest environmental impact.
“It’s just a fact, for instance, that milk production places less stress on the environment in Ireland, by virtue of our grass-base, than almost anywhere else in Europe or the world.”
He said many other food staples had higher carbon emissions.
He also urged participants in climate change debates to consider their words carefully, citing widespread issues around body imaging and protein and calcium deficiency in certain age groups.
“I really don’t like to see these kinds of sweeping, scattergun, generalisations that don’t take account of reality and might reinforce underlying dietary problems among specific groups like teenage girls,” he said.
“Mrs Robinson is of course entitled to her views but we would expect them to be take reality as their starting point. This is the greatest challenge facing mankind and there’s no room for facile sensationalism.
“One of the easiest, most straightforward ways of reducing our carbon footprint is to radically examine whether it’s necessary to fly around the world from seminar to seminar urging others to give up meat and dairy for the planet’s sake.
“Superfluous air travel would be a lot higher up my agenda than environmentally sustainable production of milk or meat,” said Mr Comer.
