Meat production requires relatively more land than crop production. Some people think that as land is becoming scarce, the world's meat consumption should be reduced. What measures could be taken to reduce the world's meat consumption? What kinds of problem might such measures cause?

I strongly agree with the suggestion that humankind should consume less meat and

instead

have more vegetables in their diet, and I believe that a number of steps can be taken to persuade people to do

this

.

Firstly

, I feel that education has a major role to play in bringing about

this

change of lifestyle. A well-informed minority of the world's population may be fully aware of the fact that it is much cheaper and more environmentally sound to eat vegetables, thereby cutting out one whole stage of production, rather than consuming the animals which graze on vegetation.

However

, I believe that the majority are not conscious of

this

. Figures should be made widely available showing the savings to be made from

this

option – both financial and ecological. From a young age, children should

also

be taught

this

as an essential part of the curriculum and to set an example, school meals should be redesigned to reflect a shift from meat to vegetables. A

second

measure would be

financial

Suggestion

financed

. Taxes can be put on

meat

Suggestion

the meat

to make it a luxury item to be eaten fairly rarely, at most three of four times a week, rather than two or three times a day as is the practice in many parts of the developed world. There is,

however

, a danger in too much interference in people's choice. It is often the case that resistance builds up against lecturing and fiscal penalties, meaning that people will react by ignoring all the advice. Perhaps a compromise position would be to encourage less wastage in food production and retail, particularly in the developed world. Huge amounts of perfectly usable food are thrown away by households and restaurants and supermarkets. Less wastage would mean less food production in the

first

place.