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Michael Beard, the protagonist of Solar, is a memorable creation: a philandering, greedy academic resting on his Nobel Prize reputation.

On a precarious slope, Etienne digs into the dusty soil with a small hoe, planting beans in hope of the rains. In recent years these rains have become unpredictable. Miles away, his wife is returning from the forest, a bundle of firewood on her head. She was up before dawn carrying water from the spring, her only source of water, nearly an hour’s walk away. The young baby on her back is sick with intestinal parasites from drinking this water she has worked so hard to provide.

The global context may be lost on this family, but they live out its consequences on a daily basis. In the United States, frequent headlines warn of what is happening to the earth and its ecosystems, but because the impact on Western life is minimal, the predictions are largely ignored.

Mahatma Gandhi was right when he said, ‘There is sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed’. Has the West become gluttonous in its appetite for meat, factory farming being a consequence of this greed? Is it not unnatural and inhumane to cram livestock together to feed a population who eat far too much meat anyway?

Most of us abhor cruelty to animals, so why are we ostrich-like when it comes to factory farming where animals are denied their natural habitat; for example chicken, one of Britain’s favourite meats, live a short life intensively farmed in windowless sheds under bright light to encourage maximum activity, feeding and drinking for nearly 24 hours, not allowing rest: there is much evidence that sick birds are trampled to death in the crowded squalor and infections spread like wildfire, resulting in gross over-use of antibiotics. Ducks are farmed in the same way today and what is alarming about this practice is that they never see the light of day nor do they have access to water.

Missionaries on home assignment have many responsibilities. They talk to their mission, report to churches, reconnect with their home church, contact supporters, deal with health issues, see family and maybe get some holiday. This article is not addressed to them!