True Environmentalists Don’t Eat Meat


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Peta, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has recently released information hoping to educate people about the true devastating effects of the meat production industry.

According to Peta, the most serious environmental problems of our time – global warming, over-exploitation of natural resources, deforestation, wasted land, and water and air pollution – are all directly linked to eating meat.

In fact, a 2006 study produced by the United Nations reports that the meat industry generates nearly 40% more greenhouse-gas emissions than all of the cars, SUVs, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined. The report states that eating one pound of meat generates the same amount of greenhouse gases as driving an SUV for 40 miles.

In an unrelated study, researchers at the University of Chicago have determined that switching to a vegetarian diet is a much more effective method of combating climate change than opting for an electric car over a standard car.
According to Environmental Defense, an environmental advocacy group, “if every American substituted vegetarian foods for chicken at just one meal per week, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than a half-million cars off U.S. roads.”

But the problem extends beyond carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Raising animals for food is the leading source of methane (mostly from feces) and nitrous oxide emissions. These, along with carbon dioxide, are the greatest contributors to the greenhouse effect and global warming.
Methane gas is evaluated to be more than 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in our atmosphere while Nitrous oxide about 300 times. According to the U.N., the meat industry would be responsible for about 65 % of all the world’s nitrous oxide emissions.

Peta may be leading this fight but many other concerned groups are imploring for changes and trying to force food companies to list per-serving greenhouse-gas emissions information on product labels to educate consumers.

As more is being done on this front, it is becoming exceedingly clear that the most effective way to combat global warming is to stop eating meat, eggs, and dairy products.
Anyone truly interested is invited to take a few moments to write to Al Gore - the most prominent voice in the fight against global warming – and the Alliance for Climate Protection, encouraging them to make their seven-point pledge an eight-point pledge by adding going vegetarian to the list of solutions to our climate crisis. Click here to learn more.

For anyone still questioning the necessity for change in the meat industry, I recommend you watch the following video http://www.meat.org/. I must warn you, it is an absolutely brutal and devastating (I was unable to watch all of it) ‘behind-the-scene’ look at what really goes on in animal farms and slaughterhouses.

Sources and resources:
http://www.peta.org/
http://www.goveg.com/



Keep on clicking!

PDL

© 2009, Pascal-Denis Lussier
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Photo credits: "Meat Indutry" by Chris Bourne
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Brutal vid you said? No kidding! Makes me reconsider the whole meat thing... so I won't say thanks! (Ha Ha)


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