Does the world need meat?

Rebecca Davies, a student from the Earth Institute at Columbia University explores the suggestion that significantly reducing the amount of meat we consume would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and therefore minimise the effects of global warming.

Rebecca meets with cattle farmers and their unions to raise her concerns around the mass-produced meat industry and the power of the beef and grain lobbies in the US. She meets Dr Nevin Cohen, an expert on food systems in NYC, who tells her that 'Cows are the SUV of the Farm'. She also visits Capitol Hill to meet the Secretary of State for Agriculture, as well as some butchers in Brooklyn who are working on bringing sustainable meat production into an urban environment.

Presented by Mike Williams