'If we become vegans there will be a green revolution'

Swift also said “Ever eating, never cloying, All-devouring, all-destroying, Never finding full repast, Till I eat the world at last.”

Swift could have been describing “modern” intensive monoculture chemical farming which is currently eating its way through the natural world and Earth’s wonderful diversity of life.

“Current extinction rates, for example, are around 100 to 1,000 times higher than the baseline rate, and they are increasing”.

“On average, global populations of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles plunged by 68% between 1970 and 2016”.

For most of us adults alive now, this has been taking place on our watch.

A major driver for this habitat and species destruction has been artificial chemical-based agriculture enabled by the invention of fossil fuel-intensive artificial fertilisers and killer pesticides and herbicides.

The first Green Revolution is now faltering and so its supporters now crave Genetically Modified Organisms.

It doesn’t have to be like this.

Organic agriculture is a proven farming method which encourages biodiversity, releases fewer carbon emissions, leaches no toxic chemicals into our fragile waterways and can produce higher yields than chemical monoculture farming in the kind of weather-stressed growing seasons that climate change is bringing upon us.

Naysayers will point to the extra land required. No! There is plenty. Animal agriculture uses a massive 78% of all agricultural land.

We have plenty of growing land, but we choose to grow feed for energy-inefficient livestock rather than growing food for people to eat.

Intensive chemical farming and high meat consumption are currently eating the world, its cheerleaders never finding full repast.

By moving to an organic plantbased diet, all the world can eat well.

A real green revolution in which there will be plenty of room for biodiversity too!

DR GRAHAM LAMBERT

Weymouth