‘Methane emissions behind Kerala floods’

HYDERABAD: Advocating consumption of labgrown meat, instead of animal meat, Union minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi on Friday said methane released by animals is the biggest contributor to global warming. “This is leading to extreme disasters like the floods in Kerala, tsunami in Tamil Nadu and melting of glaciers,” the minister said.
“Cattle are dividing Hindus and Muslims.People are not eating meat. Meat is eating people,” Maneka said, while addressing researchers and entrepreneurs at the firstSummit on Future of Protein Food Tech revolution here on Friday.
“More than carbon dioxide, it’s methane that’s the single largest contributor to global warming,” she said.
Around 70% methane is of animal origin and 30% due to coal consumption and growing rice-...When herbivorous animals eat grass, they produce methane. This damages forests and impacts climate change. India, China and Brazil are not allowing methane to be discussed on global platforms and the West is allowing this to happen,” Maneka said. “What is global warming? Kerala floods, Tsunami in Tamil Nadu, melting glaciers, rivers drying up, dull lakes is all effect of global warming. If we get rid of animals meant for meat production, methane will come down,” she added.
Maneka said, “We tried, but cannot convert people into vegetarians. For a few days they are vegetarians. And then they go back to the old meat eating habit. I don’t want to destroy my life and my plant for meat eaters.If there are cattle, there will be more crises like Kerala,” she said. “People in world and India are eating dirty meat that causes disease. The only alternative is clean meat,” she said. “At least 11 crore animals are slaughter every month. Today, lynchings are happening due to cattle. The divide between Hindus and Muslims is due to animals and cattle. One kg of meat requires 11 kg of food grain to be fed to animals, and one animal needs 60,000 litre of water in its lifetime. This is a significant burden on the environment...,” she said.