26/04/2008: Go vegetarian to fight global warming - Paul McCartney

Former Beatle Paul McCartney is urging the world to go vegetarian in a bid to fight global warming and is surprised more green groups do not promote it.

In an interview with the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), McCartney said the global meat industry was a major contributor to global warming.

"The biggest change anyone could make in their own lifestyle would be to become vegetarian," McCartney said.

"I would urge everyone to think about taking this simple step to help our precious environment and save it for the children of the future."

McCartney says the amount of land and water used to maintain the meat industry makes it a major contributor to climate change and complains that most environmental groups do not list vegetarianism as one of their top priorities.

"It's very surprising that most major environmental organisations are leaving the option of going vegetarian off their lists of top ways to curtail global warming," he said.