Sen. Cory Booker said in an interview published Tuesday that the continuation of meat-eating will destroy the planet.

In an interview with VegNews.com, the New Jersey Democrat and 2020 presidential-primary candidate, said that the Earth can’t sustain first-world meat-eating habits as prosperity spreads worldwide.

“You see the planet earth moving towards what is the Standard American Diet. We’ve seen this massive increase in consumption of meat produced by the industrial animal agriculture industry. The tragic reality is this planet simply can’t sustain billions of people consuming industrially produced animal agriculture because of environmental impact,” said Mr. Booker who is a vegan himself.

“It’s just not possible, as China, as Africa move toward consuming meat the same way America does because we just don’t have enough land,” he added, claiming that meat production is also causing deforestation and contributing to climate change.

“The devastating impact is just not practical. The numbers just don’t add up. We will destroy our planet unless we start figuring out a better way forward when it comes to our climate change and our environment,” he added.

Despite his apocalyptic claims, Mr. Booker cautioned that he doesn’t want to ban meat-eating or even preach to people.

“None of us want our government or elected officials preaching to us and telling us what we can or can’t eat. This is the United States of America, and I, for one, believe in our freedom to choose. So, I don’t want to preach to anybody about their diets,” he said.

He also waxed personal about transitioning away from meat, cutting out dairy, and, finally, eating his last egg.

“Twenty years later, I remember eating eggs and it was almost like my conditioning had changed … now, suddenly, eating those eggs for me was something that didn’t align with my spirit.”