Our exports and diets have been dependant on livestock and their products too long. In a post-carbon age, meat and dairy need to become luxuries, or eliminated. There are already dairy alternatives, and "meats" from gluten and seiten.

Greg Campbell mentions the claims regarding soil carbon being "too hard to measure" - yet in the Green Paper on page 121 there is a graph based on DCC data that CLEARLY shows the impact of full inclusion of Kyoto article 3.4 activities (land use, land use change and forestry) - and if you average out the yellow line you find that this impact is to actually REDUCE our total emissions!!

The damaging impact of livestock greenhouse emissions is an issue that can no longer be ignored. Australia is the driest continent and the fact that meat (beef in particular) and dairy products also require enormous amounts of water must be seriously addressed. Pasture and dairy is the highest water use in the Murray Darling Basin (esp. Victoria). Last year 11.5 million tonnes of the grain we produced was fed to livestock (ABARE). The most logical answer is for Australians to realise that their excessive meat and dairy production and consumption is simply unsustainable and not in our country's best interests. Governments should be assisting farmers to change to more environmentally sustainable and healthy plant production where possible, or maybe even switch to wind, solar and geothermal 'farms'. Where not feasible they should be given financial assistance to leave the land.

Sure we have meat and dairy alternatives... these are based on cropping based products which also add to carbon emissions and are largely dependant on climatic factors as well. What would the world do if we all turned to these and then experienced major drought and couldn't grow the required crops any more.... get a grip people we need to find a balance.

I think Jessica Simpson had it right, "Real girls eat meat"!!! I thought dairy and meat were important parts of essential dietary requirements. It's an easy course to eliminate something everyone now takes for granted, surely fabricated alternatives to meat and dairy cannot suffice these essential needs.

Traditions and industries dictate what are "essential" food items. There are many healthy and fit individuals and communities who eat no or little meat or dairy. They do need a balance of intake and not just "junk" foods. The protein myth tells us we need far more of it then we really need. More than adequate amounts of proteins are found in plant sources, especially soya beans. However, most soya beans are eaten by livestock instead of being processed for humans. It is a very versatile. Who knows how many cancers are caused by over-eating proteins?

The lady with the observation re livestock being too long a part of our diet fails to recognise the reason it is. Since man began evolving meat, not vegetable matter, was the building block for humanoid growth and developement. Remove meat/diary/eggs from our diet and we won't be about much longer, or if we can evolve onto an exclusive vegetable (sugar, starch, carbohydrate/fibre rich) based diet we will end up as koalas who eat 12 hrs a day then sleep 12 hours a day as there is insufficient energy remaining after the digestion process to do otherwise.

Actually in retrospect if mankind dies out it will solve the energy crisis, enviromental issues, world poverty, wars, - that's a bit of lateral thinking to digest along with our cucumber sandwich.

I find the ludicrous koala et al analogies, given by people like "incommunicado", tiresome and quite desperate. Incommunicado clearly has also shut himself/herself off from any form of credible science or education, which is a pity. I have been vegetarian for 12 years (my husband 23 years) and both vegan for the past 7 and we have never been healthier. I've experienced two extremely healthy vegan pregnancies in my late 30s and given birth to two almost 9 pound boys, who are now 6 and 5. They have been raised on a primarily vegan diet (they get some dairy/egg via birthday party food), and are extremely healthy, smart (my 6 yo is reading novels and doing multiplication) and full of 'beans', with lack of energy never an issue! Well balanced plant-based, organic where possible, diets contain plenty of protein, iron, calcium and other necessary nutrients (including B12), as anyone willing to educate themselves beyond TV sales advertising will discover, and they can cost less ($$ and natural resources) than meat-based diets! Australians are the highest consumers of animal products in the world (UN FAO), we have the highest rate of colorectal cancer and heart disease, and we've recently been awarded the very disturbing title of most obese. There are thousands of websites and cookbooks with all the dietary info needed and delicious nutritious recipes for anyone who wants to try reducing their environmental impact, improving their health and cause less animal suffering. Nothing wrong with any of those objectives surely?