vegetarians help climate control
I posted on Facebook & twitter a while back about how breeding livestock for the meat industry was creating an excess of methane (animal farts) and was adding to global warming. It sound silly, but it is very true. Methane from cows and pigs is 23 time more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. The meat industry also uses a lot of water and land to grow animal feed. 10th December 2009 the UK Government’s sustainability watchdog, Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), issued a report recommending a reduction in the consumption of meat and dairy in order to free up land for growing crops for direct human consumption. There are many arguments that humans are carnivores and that we need meat for protein and certain vitamins that we cannot get from vegetables. This kind of argument is erroneous and conceived from antiquated research. Taken from an interview in The Times newspaper, 27.10.09; ”Lord Stern, the author of the influential 2006 Stern Review on the cost of tackling global warming, said that a successful deal at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December would lead to soaring costs for meat and other foods that generate large quantities of greenhouse gases. He predicted that people’s attitudes would evolve until meat eating became unacceptable. …Lord Stern said that UN figures suggest that meat production is responsible for about 18 per cent of global carbon emissions, including the destruction of forest land for cattle ranching and the production of animal feeds such as soy." >> Biotech Industry Fights Back Over Reduced Meat – The Ecologist – 11.12.09 >> Setting the Table: Advice to Government on priority elements of sustainable diets sustainable development commission - 10.12.09 >> McCartney calls for meat-free day to cut CO2 – Google News - 30.11. 09 Suggested Video to Watch >> Earthlings
“I think it’s important that people think about what they are doing and that includes what they are eating,” he said. “I am 61 now and attitudes towards drinking and driving have changed radically since I was a student. People change their notion of what is responsible. They will increasingly ask about the carbon content of their food."
