6 Reasons to Go Vegan

Take this 6 facts:

• Worldwide over 852 million people go hungry.
• 79% of annual world cereal + soy harvest is consumed by the 20billion "farm- animals".
• To produce 1 kg of meat, you need 7-16 kg corn or soy beans+ 15.000 litres of water.
• On the surface, which is needed to harvest 1 kg of meat, could generate, in the same period, 200 kg of tomatoes or 160 kg of potatoes.
• 50% of water pollution in Europe are caused by factory farms.
• The contribution of livestock to the greenhouse effect is the same as that of the entire global, auto, air and waterway together.

GO VEGAN ! ♥

Redirecting even a portion of the grain used to fatten cattle could feed every hungry mouth on the planet.
- Forks Over Knives

Original Here!

Vegetarian Diet May be Necessary to Prevent Global Water and Food Shortage

If you’ve ever considered being vegetarian but just couldn’t cut it, you’re not alone. I myself have struggled with going completely meat-free. However, a new report is sending a strong warning that may force us all in that direction.

Findings from water scientists at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SWIW) suggest that if the world’s population neglects to adopt a vegetarian diet over the next 40 years, we may face a global food and water shortage crisis.

Although U.S. meat consumption has reportedly seen declines – estimated to down more than 12 percent by the end of this year since 2007 – that amount still equates to about 165.5 pounds per person per year; or around one half pound per day.

As reported by the Huffington Post, the SIWI suggests that around 20 percent of the protein in our diets comes from animal-based sources. Additionally, unless that drops 5 percent by 2050, there may not be enough food to feed the additional 2 billion people estimated to be alive by that time.

The surprising solution to this global issue? Water supply. All of these warnings stem from the world’s water supply, which is rapidly declining. At the annual world water conference in Stockholm, Sweden, the UN predicted that “we must increase food production by 70 percent by mid-century” to feed the world’s growing population, which will place additional stress on our already-low water supply.

In a statement issued by Torgny Holgren, executive director of the SIWI, the heightened need to conserve our water is becoming all-the-more urgent. “More than one-fourth of all the water we use worldwide is taken to grow over one billion tons of food that nobody eats. That water, together with the billions of dollars spent to grow, ship, package and purchase the food, is sent down the drain,” he said. “Reducing the waste of food is the smartest and most direct route to relieve pressure on water and land resources. It’s an opportunity we cannot afford to overlook.”

The SIWI contends that a vegetarian diet will help alleviate some of the strain on our water supply since animal-rich protein consumes five to 10 times more water than a vegetarian diet. In fact, an article from Guardian reported that one-third of the world’s dry land is currently used to grow crops that feed animals.

In addition to reducing the amount of meat we consume, the SIWI also recommends making a concerted effort to save water by reducing food waste, plant breeding, waste water recycling, and increasing trade between countries in food surplus and those in short supply.

For those unfamiliar with alternative protein sources, plant-based proteins include foods like quinoa, edamame, black beans, nuts and seeds. For information on how much protein our bodies need as well as how many grams of protein plant-based sources provide, check out this all inclusive vegetarian protein guide. It’s amazing to think that making small changes in our diet now could have such a huge impact on future generations’ food and water supply.

Source: http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/08/vegetarian-diet-may-be-necessary-to-prevent-global-water-and-food-shortage/

World May Be Forced to Go Vegetarian

Humans may have to go to a strictly vegetarian diet by the year 2050 according to new information that's been discussed at the World Water Conference in Stockholm, Sweden.

UN bodies, researchers, and politicians from over 100 countries are exploring how to deal with our global water supply crisis.

The research suggests that a significant reduction in worldwide meat consumption may be needed to address the water shortage.

The water scientists studying our global food supply say, "There will not be enough water available on current croplands to produce food for the expected 9 billion population in 2050. Humans derive about 20% of their protein from animal-based products now, but this may need to drop to just 5% to feed the extra 2 billion people expected to be alive" in the next 40 years.

Currently, about 70 percent of all useable water is used to either cultivate crops or to provide for animals. Producing protein-rich foods involves using 5 to 10 more times water than a vegetarian diet. This means greater burden on resources needed to feed the human population by 2050.

Will Everyone Be Vegetarian in Future?

Eating Meat = Poisoning the Earth

Industrial-scale agriculture now dominates the western livestock and poultry industries, and a single farm can now generate as much waste as a city. A cow excretes around 40kg of manure for every kilogram of edible beef it puts on and when you have many thousands crowded into a small area the effect can be dramatic. Their manure and urine is funnelled into massive waste lagoons sometimes holding as many as 40m gallons. These cesspools often break, leak or overflow, polluting underground water supplies and rivers with nitrogen, phosphorus and nitrates.

Tens of thousands of miles of rivers in the US, Europe and Asia are polluted each year. A single spill of millions of gallons of waste from a North Carolina pig factory lagoon in 1995 killed about 10 million fish and forced the closure of 364,000 acres of coastal wetlands to shellfishing.

The sheer quantity of animals now being raised for humans to eat now threatens the earth's biodiversity. More than one third of the world's 825 "ecoregions" identified by conservation group WWF are said to be threatened by livestock and giant US group Conservation International reckons that 23 out of 40-odd global "biodiversity hotspots" – the places considered most valuable for life – are now seriously affected by livestock production.

Eating Meat = Wasting Water

Eat a steak or a chicken and you are effectively consuming the water that the animal has needed to live and grow. Vegetarian author John Robbins calculates it takes 60, 108, 168, and 229 pounds of water to produce one pound of potatoes, wheat, maize and rice respectively. But a pound of beef needs around 9,000 liters – or more than 20,000lbs of water. Equally, it takes nearly 1,000 liters of water to produce one liter of milk. A broiler chicken, by contrast, is far more efficient, producing the same amount of meat as a cow on just 1,500 liters.

Pigs are some of the thirstiest animals. An average-sized north American pig farm with 80,000 pigs needs nearly 75m gallons of fresh water a year. A large one, which might have one million or more pigs, may need as much as a city.

Farming, which uses 70% of water available to humans, is already in direct competition for water with cities. But as demand for meat increases, so there will be less available for both crops and drinking. Rich but water-stressed countries such as Saudi Arabia, Libya, the Gulf states and South Africa say it makes sense to grow food in poorer countries to conserve their water resources, and are now buying or leasing millions of hectares of Ethiopia and elsewhere to provide their food. Every cow fattened in Gambella state in southern Ethiopia and exported to Abu Dhabi or Britain is taking the pressure off water supplies back home but increasing it elsewhere.

Eating Meat = Overheating the Planet

We humans eat about 230m tonnes of animals a year, twice as much as we did 30 years ago. We mostly breed four species – chickens, cows, sheep and pigs – all of which need vast amounts of food and water, emit methane and other greenhouse gases and produce mountains of physical waste.

But how much stress does our meat-eating put on ecological systems? The answer is a lot but the figures are imprecise and disputed. In 2006, the UN calculated that the combined climate change emissions of animals bred for their meat were about 18% of the global total – more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together.

The authors of the report, called Livestock's Long Shadow, did not just count the methane from the belching, farting cattle, but the gases released from the manures that they produce, the oil burned taking their carcasses to markets often thousands of miles away, the electricity needed to keep the meat cool, the gas used to cook it, the energy needed to plough and harvest the fields that grow the crops that the animals eat, even pumping the water that the cattle need.

The figure was revised upward in 2009 by two World Bank scientists to more than 51%, but attempts to fully account for meat-eating are condemned as simplistic. Should the studies have been based on giant US factory farms, or on more sustainable breeding in Europe? Should you include all the knock-on emissions from clearing forests? What about the fertiliser used to grow the crops to feed to the animals, or the emissions from the steel needed to build the boats that transport the cattle; or the "default" emissions – the greenhouse gases that would be released by substitute activities to grow food if we were to give up meat? And is it fair to count animals used for multiple purposes, as they mostly are in developing countries, from providing draught power to shoe leather or transport, and which only become meat once they reach the end of their economic lives?

It's an accounting nightmare but depending on how it's done, livestock's contribution to climate change can be calculated as low as 5-10% of global emissions or as high as 50%. Last year, a Food Climate Research Network report concluded that UK meat and dairy consumption was responsible for 8% of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions. But however it's counted, livestock farming ranks as one of the three greatest sources of climate changing emissions and one of the largest contributors to environmental degradation.

Environmental Reasons to Stop Drinking Milk

What could be more American than a glass of milk? Cow's milk, that is. In light of this common perception, the time is long overdue to add the milk mustache to that ever-growing list of American myths. Human beings are not designed to drink any milk except human milk (only during infancy, of course). As you'll see below, consuming dairy products—milk, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, ice cream, etc.—is not green and it's not healthy.

It's also a nightmare for the cows themselves. Here's a little of how the folks at GoVeg describe it: "The 9 million cows living on dairy farms in the United States spend most of their lives in large sheds or on feces-caked mud lots, where disease is rampant. Cows raised for their milk are repeatedly impregnated. Their babies are taken away so that humans can drink the milk intended for the calves. When their exhausted bodies can no longer provide enough milk, they are sent to slaughter and ground up for hamburgers."

Living dairy-free has never been easier...so here's a little motivation to get you on the greener, cruelty-free, not-milk track.

Environmental Reasons to Avoid Milk

1. Dairy cows produce waste.
Lots of waste. In fact, your average dairy cow produces 120 pounds of waste every day—equal to that of more than two dozen people, but without toilets, sewers, or treatment plants.

2. Let me repeat: Dairy cows produce lots and lots of waste (and greenhouse gases).
California produces one-fifth of the country's total milk supply. According to MilkSucks.com, "in the Central Valley of California, the cows produce as much excrement as a city of 21 million people, and even a smallish farm of 200 cows will produce as much nitrogen as in the sewage from a community of 5,000 to 10,000 people, according to a U.S. Senate report on animal waste."

3. Milk production ultimately leads to climate change.
The dairy industry is an extension of the beef industry (used-up dairy cows are sent to the slaughterhouse after an average of four years, one-fifth their normal life expectancy) which means it plays a major role in creating climate change. Here's the equation: The dairy industry uses cows before passing them on to be slaughtered by the beef industry which is now recognized as an environmental nightmare. "According to a UN report," writes Brian Merchant, "cows are leading contributors to climate change ... Accounting for putting out 18% of the world's carbon dioxide, cows emit more greenhouse gases than cars, planes, and all other forms of transportation combined." That means the industry of exploiting all cows—including dairy cows—involves destructive practices like deforestation and polluting offshoots like runoff.

4. Milk often contains unwanted ingredients.
Under current industrial methods, cow's milk is often a toxic bovine brew of man-made ingredients like bio-engineered hormones, antibiotics (55% of U.S. antibiotics are fed to livestock), and pesticides—all of which are bad for us and the environment. For example, unintentional pesticide poisonings kill an estimated 355,000 people globally each year. In addition the drugs pumped into livestock often re-visit us in our water supply.

Meat Consuming is Responsible for 80% of the Destruction of the Forests

Did you know?
The meat consuming is responsible for 80% of the destruction of the Forests, Rainforests and Jungles around the world.

Specially in Brazil, the world´s biggest meat productor. Where does this meat comes from? From the AMAZON.

The whole Rainforest is being destroyed and the Native people (Indians) are being expelled with violence from their villages only to give space to grass fields that will feed the oxe for only a few years.

Now they do not have anywhere to go and anything to eat, for their tents and plantations have been destroyed.

The rivers are running dry in those places for the water NEEDS the trees there to keep its cycle.

In Amazon it works like that:
TREES=RAIN
NO TREES=NO RAIN

When the fields go dry, they move to the next fertile land. They do it over and over again.
THEY ARE TURNING THE AMAZON INTO A DESERT!

It happened once, a long time ago the Ancient Egypt was built on fertile lands around the Nile, but they destroyed it with the ox farms to the same way!

Please help us to stop this madness, stop this destruction!
Stop being a parasite!

The food that feeds these animals (a +200 million oxes hood!) could be feeding the children of the brazilian favelas and Africa together!

BE VEG, IT'S YOUR NATURE, JOIN US!

And congratulations to all the vegans and vegetarians around the world.

"Vegan revolution, the next step of the human evolution!"

Why Vegetarian Diets Are Good for Your Health, Planet, and Bank Account

You probably know that vegetarianism is good for you. You may have also thought of it as difficult or dull. In fact, it can be easy and great fun.

Vegetarianism may not be for everyone. But if you’re reading this, you’re probably curious and open to learning more.

Good for your health

Some people are drawn to vegetarianism for moral or religious reasons, while others appreciate the many health benefits: Depending on your food choices, you may lower your cholesterol, lose weight, reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, or Type 2 diabetes, improve digestion of food, and reduce the risk of constipation.

Good for the earth

The meat industry generates nearly one-fifth of man-made greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. By choosing a more plant-based diet, we could collectively take a big bite out of that.

Good for your wallet

While it’s possible to spend a lot on some vegetarian foods – such as organic imported or off-season fruits and vegetables – much of the world’s poor people eat a mainly vegetarian diet based on staples such as rice, beans, and corn. A pound of dried beans and rice will cost much less than the cheapest cuts of beef, and a pound of tofu is generally less expensive than chicken breasts.

But the biggest savings could be long-term. By remaining healthy and avoiding chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, you could save on such procedures as a $60,000 bypass operation and substantially lower your life insurance premiums.

Vegetarianism can be easy. Here are a few tips…

• Find a reason. Trying a vegetarian diet as a lark might be interesting, but if you want to make it a long-lasting change, find a reason you believe in, such as “I can’t stomach the thought of eating animals,” or “I need to lower my risk of a heart attack.”
  Eliminate red meat. If you’re looking for gradual change, or you love chicken and fish, start simply by not eating red meat.
• Embrace Meatless Mondays. If you just want to explore non-meat recipes without committing to more, join the trend of going a day without meat to see what it’s like.
• Find good recipes. Look for a handful of vegetarian recipes that interest you. The possibilities are endless. Think of the variety and fun you could have.

Source : Money Talks News

Why Eat Less Meat?

Why eat less meat? Eating lower on the food chain is probably the single most important thing you can do to help the environment. If the whole world stopped driving cars and SUVs, shipping goods in tractor trailers, flying planes, sending freighters across the ocean and all other transportation activity, it wouldn't do as much as if we all just stopped eating beef.

Livestock accounts for 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations. That includes clearing land for grazing, raising grains for feed (often with the help of fossil fuel fertilizers) -- and the not insignificant burping of cows. All the fertilizer and pesticides used to grow grain, the antibiotics and hormones (often) used to speed up livestock growth on feed lots and the copious manure all add to the environmental impact of raising livestock.

Americans eat the equivalent of three quarter-pounders a day. If we each cut the equivalent of one hamburger from our daily diet, it would be like taking half million cars off the road. We might all live a little longer, too.

When you do eat meat, look for ethically raised animals, raised locally on natural diets whenever possible.

On Becoming a Vegetarian - ON THE GARDEN PATH

By Carolyn Herriot

I became a vegetarian in 1975 when I landed in Vancouver from London, UK and found myself sharing a cooperative house with five other people who were all vegetarians. The deal was we each took turns making dinner and because I loved cooking, instead of being daunted, I dashed out to buy a vegetarian cookbook that would teach me to cook something other than egg and cheese dishes.

I happen to believe ‘You are what you eat’ so after swallowing John Robbins’ Diet for a New America, I was clear I did not want the energy of suffering and inhumanity that pervades concentrated animal feedlot (CAFO) operations to become a part of me. It was at 23 Dunbar Street in Vancouver that I understood why I needed to become a vegetarian. I shed 30 pounds, felt my energy lighten and I had a much greater sense of well-being. There was no going back and I have been a healthy vegetarian ever since.

It seemed to me from conversations at dinner parties that people were anxious about getting enough protein in a vegetarian diet, but I assured them this was not a problem. Our bodies are composed of 20 percent protein by weight and adequate protein is important for tissue growth and repair, metabolic functioning and the formation of disease-fighting antibodies. Protein molecules are composed of building blocks called amino acids. There are 22 known amino acids, most of which are synthesized in the body. However, there are eight that cannot be synthesized and they are referred to as essential amino acids.

All eight essential amino acids must be present at the same time and in the right proportions for protein synthesis to occur. Grains, beans, nuts, seeds and dairy are valuable sources of these essential amino acids and when combined ensure an adequate intake of amino acids for complete protein synthesis. One of the three combinations below – along with fresh vegetables from the garden – means you can quit worrying about getting enough protein in your diet.

1. Grains combined with beans.
2. Grains combined with dairy products.
3. Beans combined with seeds.

If everyone in the US went vegetarian just for one day, the nation would save:

• 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months.
• 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year.
• 70 million gallons of gas, enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare.
• 3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware.
• 33 tons of antibiotics.

(Source: Kathy Freston, Huffington Post, www.alternet.org/story/134650/)

Then there’s the global politics of making meat the centre of the meal. I find it hard to stomach that we grow corn and grains to feed to animals when so many of us are going hungry. Imagine how easily we could feed the world if members of the meat-eating society cut back to eating meat once a week. And imagine how much suffering to animals we could alleviate if we banned concentrated animal feedlot operations.

Source : Common Ground

Facts about Livestock Production and Global Warming

You are the Change

A short video which highlights several issues that I personally find utterly important and worth researching such as: animal cruelty, water fluoridation, food control through codex alimentarius that's going to be valid from December 2009, GM food, media manipulation through mass media, engineered viruses, human caused global warming, the myth of terrorist and many others.

It's time for a change now so let's be the change!

“Be the change you want to see in the world!”
~ Mathama Gandhi

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”
~Albert Einstein

 

UNITED NATIONS SAYS: BE VEGAN!

European Union and United Nations calls for a global shift to a vegan diet to survive hunger, poverty and climate change.

British meat and dairy is destroying rainforests

Huge swathes of rainforest are being destroyed every year to grow animal feed for British factory farms, according to new research.

By Louise Gray

More than 350,000 hectares of rainforest, twice the size of the Yorkshire Dales, is being chopped down to grow soy beans, most of which are genetically modified (GM).

The animal feed is then imported to British factory farms to produce cheap meat and dairy for supermarkets.

Friends of the Earth said that consumers are indirectly destroying the rainforest by buying meat and dairy and urged people to switch to a more vegetarian diet.

The charity pointed to new research by the Royal Agricultural College that found if just eight per cent of agricultural land in the UK was used to grow crops for animal feeds, it would be possible to halve the amount of feed currently imported from South America.

Sandra Bell, Senior Food Campaigner at FOE, blamed the drive to produce cheap meat for the growth in imported feed.

She urged the Government to support farmers in grazing more animals and growing animal feed themselves rather than relying on GM animal feed from abroad.

"Many people choose British milk and meat without realising that the animals in our farms munch on feed produced by destroying wildlife and rainforests in South America,” she said.

"Animals should be born, bred and fed British – but pressure from supermarkets and biased EU subsidies force farmers to rely on damaging imports.

"The Government must listen to growing calls for it to restore a thriving meat and dairy sector by helping farmers switch to planet-friendly practices."

However farmers insisted imported animal feed is an essential part of producing affordable and nutritious meat and dairy in Britain.

Source : The Telegraph

VEGAN. For the People. For the Planet. For the Animals.

People everywhere are making choices more connected with their values.

We are simplifying our lives, buying less and living more because we know that the Earth provides enough to satisfy everyone's need, but not everyone's greed.

But there is one connected choice that sometimes gets overlooked. It's one of the most far-reaching personal, practical and ethical choices you can make. With this choice we can help...

• Feed ourselves and every hungry person on the planet.
• End deforestation -- replenish the deep woods of the North and save our disappearing rainforests.
• Revitalize our rural landscapes and save family farms.
• Stop the number one polluter of water and the number one waster of water.
• Return our oceans to thriving underwater worlds teeming with life and wonder.
• Make cancer and heart disease a rarity instead of a common occurrence.
• Stop the unnecessary suffering of billions and billions of animals.
• And return wild lands to their rightful owners.

This powerful choice can be done by everyone every day... by you... right now.

Vegan.

Every day you are invited to make choices. Live your values. Change the world. It's that simple.

Food INC

Everyone should watch the movie FOOD INC. It’s very informative and will change the way you think of food! People really need to be educated about where their food comes from!

Buy the DVD of Food INC here!

Top 10 Reasons to Go Vegan in the New Year

Many people's New Year's resolutions often include losing weight, eating better, getting healthier, and doing more to make the world a better place. You can accomplish all these goals by switching to a vegan diet, and you'll enjoy delicious, satisfying meals as well. Here are our top 10 reasons to go vegan this year:

1. SLIM DOWN AND BECOME ENERGIZED
Is shedding some extra pounds first on your list of goals for the new year? Vegans are, on average, up to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters. And unlike unhealthy fad diets, which leave you feeling tired (and usually result in gaining all the weight back eventually), going vegan is the healthy way to keep the excess fat off for good while feeling full of energy.

2. IT'S THE BEST WAY TO HELP ANIMALS
Every vegan saves more than 100 animals a year from horrible abuse. There is simply no easier way to help so many animals and prevent so much suffering than by choosing vegan foods over meat, eggs, and dairy products.

3. A HEALTHIER, HAPPIER YOU
A vegan diet is great for your health! According to the American Dietetic Association, vegans are less likely to develop heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or high blood pressure than meat-eaters are. Vegans get all the nutrients they need to be healthy (e.g., plant protein, fiber, minerals, etc.) without all the nasty stuff in meat that slows you down and makes you sick, such as cholesterol and saturated animal fat.

4. VEGAN FOOD IS DELICIOUS
So you're worried that if you go vegan, you'll have to give up hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, and ice cream? You won't. As the demand for vegan food skyrockets, companies are coming out with more and more delicious meat and dairy product alternatives that taste like the real thing but are much healthier and don't hurt any animals. Plus, we have a list of some of our favorite products and thousands of tasty kitchen-tested recipes to help you get started!

5. MEAT IS GROSS
It's disgusting but true: Meat is often contaminated with feces, blood, and other bodily fluids—all of which make animal products the top source of food poisoning in the United States. Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health tested supermarket chicken flesh and found that 96 percent of Tyson chicken was contaminated with campylobacter, a dangerous bacteria that causes 2.4 million cases of food poisoning each year, resulting in diarrhea, cramping, abdominal pain, and fever.

6. HELP FEED THE WORLD
Eating meat doesn't just hurt animals—it hurts people too. It takes tons of crops and water to raise farmed animals. In fact, it takes up to 13 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of animal flesh! All that plant food could be used much more efficiently if it were fed directly to people. The more people who go vegan, the more we can feed the hungry.

7. SAVE THE PLANET
Eating meat is one of the worst things that you can do for the Earth. It's wasteful, it causes enormous amounts of pollution, and the meat industry is one of the biggest causes of climate change. Adopting a vegan diet is more important than switching to a "greener" car in the fight against climate change.

8. ALL THE COOL KIDS ARE DOING IT
The list of stars who shun animal flesh is basically a "who's who" of today's hottest celebs. Joaquin Phoenix, Natalie Portman, Tobey McGuire, Shania Twain, Alicia Silverstone, Anthony Kiedis, Casey Affleck, Kristen Bell, INXS lead singer J.D. Fortune, Benji Madden, Alyssa Milano, Common, Joss Stone, Anne Hathaway, and Carrie Underwood are just a handful of famous vegans and vegetarians who regularly appear in People magazine.

9. LOOK SEXY AND BE SEXY
Vegans tend to be thinner than meat-eaters and have more energy, which is perfect for late-night romps with your special someone. (Guys: The cholesterol and saturated animal fat found in meat, eggs, and dairy products don't just clog the arteries to your heart. Over time, they impede blood flow to other vital organs as well.) Plus, what's sexier than someone who is not only mega-hot but also compassionate?

10.  PIGS ARE SMARTER THAN YOUR DOG
While most people are less familiar with pigs, chickens, fish, and cows than they are with dogs and cats, animals used for food are every bit as intelligent and able to suffer as the animals who share our homes are. Pigs can learn to play video games, and chickens are so smart that their intelligence has been compared by scientists to that of monkeys.

Source : PETA.org

UN Urges Global Move to Meat and Dairy-free Diet

Lesser consumption of animal products is necessary to save the world from the worst impacts of climate change, UN report says

An cattle ranch in Mato Grosso, Brazil. The UN says agriculture is on a par with
fossil fuel consumption because both rise rapidly with increased economic growth.

A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change, a UN report said today.

As the global population surges towards a predicted 9.1 billion people by 2050, western tastes for diets rich in meat and dairy products are unsustainable, says the report from United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) international panel of sustainable resource management.

It says: "Impacts from agriculture are expected to increase substantially due to population growth increasing consumption of animal products. Unlike fossil fuels, it is difficult to look for alternatives: people have to eat. A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products."

Professor Edgar Hertwich, the lead author of the report, said: "Animal products cause more damage than [producing] construction minerals such as sand or cement, plastics or metals. Biomass and crops for animals are as damaging as [burning] fossil fuels."

The recommendation follows advice last year that a vegetarian diet was better for the planet from Lord Nicholas Stern, former adviser to the Labour government on the economics of climate change. Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has also urged people to observe one meat-free day a week to curb carbon emissions.

The panel of experts ranked products, resources, economic activities and transport according to their environmental impacts. Agriculture was on a par with fossil fuel consumption because both rise rapidly with increased economic growth, they said.

Ernst von Weizsaecker, an environmental scientist who co-chaired the panel, said: "Rising affluence is triggering a shift in diets towards meat and dairy products - livestock now consumes much of the world's crops and by inference a great deal of freshwater, fertilisers and pesticides."

Both energy and agriculture need to be "decoupled" from economic growth because environmental impacts rise roughly 80% with a doubling of income, the report found.

Achim Steiner, the UN under-secretary general and executive director of the UNEP, said: "Decoupling growth from environmental degradation is the number one challenge facing governments in a world of rising numbers of people, rising incomes, rising consumption demands and the persistent challenge of poverty alleviation."

The panel, which drew on numerous studies including the Millennium ecosystem assessment, cites the following pressures on the environment as priorities for governments around the world: climate change, habitat change, wasteful use of nitrogen and phosphorus in fertilisers, over-exploitation of fisheries, forests and other resources, invasive species, unsafe drinking water and sanitation, lead exposure, urban air pollution and occupational exposure to particulate matter.

Agriculture, particularly meat and dairy products, accounts for 70% of global freshwater consumption, 38% of the total land use and 19% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, says the report, which has been launched to coincide with UN World Environment day on Saturday.

Last year the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation said that food production would have to increase globally by 70% by 2050 to feed the world's surging population. The panel says that efficiency gains in agriculture will be overwhelmed by the expected population growth.

Prof Hertwich, who is also the director of the industrial ecology programme at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said that developing countries – where much of this population growth will take place – must not follow the western world's pattern of increasing consumption: "Developing countries should not follow our model. But it's up to us to develop the technologies in, say, renewable energy or irrigation methods."

Source : The Guardian

Eat Less Meat to Save the Planet - UN

The world needs to change to a more vegetarian diet to stand a chance of tackling climate change, according to a major new United Nations report.

The group of international scientists said the greatest cause of greenhouse gas emissions is food production and the use of fossil fuels.

But while the use of coal and oil could be gradually replaced by renewable energy sources like wind and solar, the world will always need to eat.

As the world population increases it is feared that the production of food will become the main cause of climate change and environmental degradation.

The International Panel of Sustainable Resource Management pointed out that agricultural production accounts for 70 per cent of global freshwater production, 38 per cent of land use and 19 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

The report, that will be presented to world governments, said the only way to feed the world while reducing climate change is to switch to more a more vegetarian diet.

"A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change," it read.

Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, said ordinary consumers can help fight climate change by eating less meat.

"The Panel have reviewed all the available science and conclude that two broad areas are currently having a disproportionately high impact on people and the planet's life support systems—these are energy in the form of fossil fuels and agriculture, especially the raising of livestock for meat and dairy products," he said.

Mr Steiner said governments could encourage people to eat less meat by reforming the system of taxes and subsidies so vegetarian food is cheaper.

"Smart market mechanisms, more intelligent fiscal policies and creative policy-making are among the options for internalising the costs of unsustainable patterns. Some tough choices are signalled in this report, but it may prove even more challenging for everyone if the current paths continue into the coming decades," he added.

Lord Stern of Brentford, the author of the influential Stern Review that first argued for economic measures to fight climate change, also believes the world needs to eat less meat.

He has already warned that the price of meat and other "carbon intensive" goods will need to go up to fight climate change.

Source : The Telegraph