MEAT eating is responsible for 14 per cent of global carbon emissions (including methane) according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. And beef is the worst offender.
If we are serious about curbing global emissions and creating a safer world for our children and grandchildren, a major change in our eating habits is essential.
McDonald's specialise in beef burgers and so the opening of a restaurant in Crediton will make it harder for Mid Devon to reach its target of being net zero by 2030.
Furthermore although the PR Dept of McDonalds deny obtaining beef from Amazon rainforests, an independent report from Brazil (Repórter Brasil) recently reviewed several cases in which beef from illegally cleared ranches was shuffled between farms to hide its true origin and then shipped to slaughterhouses owned by companies that supply McDonald’s.
So McDonalds is not as pure in this respect as it would like you to believe.
If you want to do something practical to help in the struggle for a more sustainable world, please write to Mid Devon District Council planning department to oppose the application by McDonald's for a new restaurant in Crediton.
Gerald Conyngham
Crediton