When the U.N. released this report in 2006, it was the most comprehensive assessment of the devastating impact of animal agriculture on the environment to date. Of particular concern: land and water pollution, and land degradation from over-grazing and livestock-induced deforestation. The report was a call to action, to “encourage decisive measures at technical and political levels” to mitigate the damage. Rather than spur positive change, it unleashed a firestorm of controversy and an army of lobbyists, funded by Big Ag. The dire situation painted by the U.N. in 2006 has worsened; meat consumption is on course to double by 2050.