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The United Nations' (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is worried about the impact livestock will have on the environment as the world gets more people and the people get richer.
"Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most-serious environmental problems. Urgent action is required to remedy the situation," says Henning Steinfeld, chief of FAO's Livestock Information and Policy branch and senior author of the agency's 408-page report on Livestock's Long Shadow.
It is a little hard to argue with the report's underlying theme: "With increased prosperity, people are consuming more meat and dairy products every year. Global meat production is projected to be more than double from 229 million tonnes in 1999-2001 to 465 million tonnes in 2050, while milk output is set to climb...