Be Vegetarian to Save Environment and Save the Earth !

This is a part of a report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalent – 18 percent – than transport. It is also a major source of land and water degradation.

With increased prosperity, people are consuming more meat and dairy products every year. Global meat production is projected to more than double from 229 million tonnes in 1999/2001 to 465 million tonnes in 2050, while milk output is set to climb from 580 to 1043 million tonnes.

Long shadow>>

The global livestock sector is growing faster than any other agricultural sub-sector. It provides livelihoods to about 1.3 billion people and contributes about 40 percent to global agricultural output. For many poor farmers in developing countries livestock are also a source of renewable energy for draft and an essential source of organic fertilizer for their crops.

But such rapid growth exacts a steep environmental price, according to the FAO report, Livestock’s Long Shadow –Environmental Issues and Options. “The environmental costs per unit of livestock production must be cut by one half, just to avoid the level of damage worsening beyond its present level,” it warns.

When emissions from land use and land use change are included, the livestock sector accounts for 9 percent of CO2 deriving from human-related activities, but produces a much larger share of even more harmful greenhouse gases. It generates 65 percent of human-related nitrous oxide, which has 296 times the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of CO2. Most of this comes from manure.

And it accounts for respectively 37 percent of all human-induced methane (23 times as warming as CO2), which is largely produced by the digestive system of ruminants, and 64 percent of ammonia, which contributes significantly to acid rain.

Livestock now use 30 percent of the earth’s entire land surface, mostly permanent pasture but also including 33 percent of the global arable land used to producing feed for livestock, the report notes. As forests are cleared to create new pastures, it is a major driver of deforestation, especially in Latin America where, for example, some 70 percent of former forests in the Amazon have been turned over to grazing.

What a surprise!
The most serious environmental problems of our time are all directly linked to eating meat. Every minute of every working day, thousands of animals are killed in slaughter-houses. Pain and misery are common. In the US alone, 500,000 animals are killed for meat every hour.

Environmental organizations agree: eating meat wastes natural resources, pollutes the water, destroys topsoil, and contaminates the air for everyone.
A major study a few years ago reconfirmed that those who ate the most meat were also at the greatest risk for heart disease. The correlation between meat consumption and a wide range of degenerative diseases is well founded just like osteoporosis, diabetes, muliple sclerosis and also obesity.

Animal foods are higher in fat than most plant foods, particularly saturated fats. Plants do not contain cholesterol. Organic foods from plants is really healthy foods.
Eating your organic veggies is good for your health, good for the environment, and, of course, good for animals ! So, go organic for your health !

Climate change is in the news. It seems like everyone's "going green." We're glad you want to take action, too. Luckily, many of the steps we can take to stop global warming and climate change can make our lives better. Our grandchildren-and their children-will thank us for living more sustainably. Let's start now and fight global warming. We can start try to reduce our meat consumption step by step today, before we to be vegetarian.



Please make a difference today by pledging to be vegetarian for one week or one month. And if you're already vegetarian, you can help by asking your friends and family to sign the pledge to be vegetarian ! So, be vegetarian to save environment and save the Earth ! Let's go 'SAYANGI BUMI' from now and back to nature !