Vegan Diet and Enviroment Impact

Environmental issues are getting unprecedented media attention and global warming is an especially critical topic. Many scientists researching global warming say that it's worse than they previously thought. Polar ice caps and glaciers are melting rapidly. Biologists are tracking widespread changes in species diversity and populations. And some predict vast ecological, economic, and human disasters if we don't turn the situation around. Most recommendations for environmental action stop short of the
one thing you can do that is even more effective than not driving a car. Yes, eating a plant-based diet (organic vegan diet are preference). Eating plant-based diet is not only good for you, it's good for the environment too.

There are many things that people can do to reduce their carbon emission, but changing your light bulb and many of the things  are much less effective than changing your diet, because if you eat further down on the food chain rather than animal s, wich have produced many green house gases, and used much energy in the proses of growing that meat, you can actually make bigger contribution in that way than just about anything.

So, please help your country and our world spare lives from the impending global warming calamity. If you don’t, there will be too massive a catastrophe, too immense  a suffering upon people, families, the children that our conscience might never be able to bear it. We can eliminate most of human-made green house gases by simply adopting the animal- free organic vegan lifestyle. This also leads to considerable financial savings for world governments. We can’t wait for sustainable energy and green technology to be available and used by everyone, it would be too late.

How a Plant-based Diet Reduces Your Ecological Footprint

Water and Resource Consumption

According to the Stockholm International Water Institute, agriculture accounts for 70% of all water use, most of which goes toward meat production.

It takes up to 200,000 liters of water to produce 1 kilogram of beef, but only 2,000 liters to produce 1 kilogram of soybeans, 900 liters to grow 1 kilogram of wheat, and 650 liters for 1 kilogram of corn.  (Pimentel D, Berger B, Filiberto D, et al. (2004) Water Resources, Agriculture, and the Environment)

Factory Farming

Of all sectors, the meat industry is the biggest source of water pollution. Excessive and unregulated animal waste, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics, and other livestock-related contaminants choke waterways.

The livestock industry emits 64% of all ammonia, which causes acid rain and hydrogen sulfide, a fatal gas.

One animal factory farm produces more waste and pollution than the whole city of Houston, Texas, USA.

In 1996, the US cattle, pork, and poultry industries produced 1.4 billion tons of animal waste, or 130 times more than produced by the entire human population.

Manure is already known to be a major cause of both groundwater pollution and atmospheric warming. Moreover, runoff from manure and other crop fertilizers accounts for some 230 oxygen-depleted dead zones along the US coast alone.

Examples: The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico created by farm runoff is one of the world’s largest at up to 8,000 square miles so far.

A February 2010 outbreak in Brazil’s Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon caused the suffocation and death of 80 tons of fish.

Aquaculture pollutes the environment with toxic algae and chemicals such as pesticides and antibiotics. (WWF)

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Livestock and their byproducts are accountable for at least 51% of all greenhouse gas emissions. (Goodland, Anhang, 2009)

Aerosols, or particles released along with CO2 from burning fossil fuels, despite their detrimental health aspects, have a cooling effect that roughly cancels the warming effect of the CO2. Therefore, livestock emissions have played an even larger role in global warming in the near term. (Mohr, 2009)

METHANE is almost 100 times more potent than CO2 over a 5year period, but disappears from the atmosphere much more rapidly compared to centuries or millennia for CO2. The number one source of human-caused methane is animal agriculture.

METHANE emissions from animal farms underestimated.
Based on recalculations, US researchers from the University of Missouri have concluded that the amount of methane emitted from the waste on dairy and pig farms could be as much as 65% higher than previously estimated.

GROUND-LEVEL (TROPOSPHERIC) OZONE is the third most prevalent greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide and methane.  Fermented animal feed generates harmful ozone gases, and at regional levels higher than those emitted by cars.

BLACK CARBON, (4,470 times more potent than CO2), mainly produced from burning forests and savannahs for livestock, is responsible for 50% of total temperature increases in the Arctic and the acceleration of melting glaciers worldwide. Black carbon remains in the atmosphere for only days or weeks, so reducing emissions can be an effective rapid response to slow warming in the near term.  (Nature Geoscience)

NITROUS OXIDE is a greenhouse gas with approximately 300 times more warming potential than CO2. Sixty-five percent of global nitrous oxide emissions originate from the livestock industry.

Deforestation

Livestock raising is one of the main drivers of deforestation. (UN FAO, 2006)

Since the 1990s approximately 90% of Amazonian deforestation has been due to clearing land for grazing cattle or growing feed for livestock

In Australia, 91% of all tree clearing over a 20-year period has been done for livestock grazing.  (recent report on a 20-year study commissioned by the Queensland government by Mr. Gerald Bisshop, retired principal scientist of the Queensland Department of Environment and Resources Management)

Desertifikation

Desertification is caused by overgrazing and expansion of livestock crop-rowing areas. (TPN3

Rangeland Management in Arid Areas including the fixation of sand dunes, UNCCD, 2003)

Over 50% of the world’s soil erosion is caused by livestock, which leads to desertification.

Some 75 billion tons of topsoil are being eroded annually due to agricultural mismanagement, climate change, and livestock grazing. In the United States alone, 54% of pasture land is overgrazed, with more than 100 tons of topsoil lost per hectare per year. (A study presented by Professor John Crawford at the recent Carbon Farming Conference held in New South Wales, Australia)

In 2010, Iraq, China, Chad, Australia, and Mongolia, among others, reported serious drought, with livestock grazing making conditions worse.

Land Use

Livestock production accounts for 70% of all agricultural land and 30% of the ice-free land surface on the planet.  (Livestock’s Long Shadow, UN FAO, 2006)

Disease

Over 65% of human infectious diseases are known to be transmitted by animals.  The filthy and inhumane conditions of factory farming harbor lethal bacteria and viruses such as avian and swine flu.

Other diseases related to meat eating: tuberculosis, listeria, Crohn’s disease, mad cow disease, campylobacter, Staphylococcus aureus, foot-and-mouth disease, HIV, the 2009 pneumonic plague outbreak in China, etc.

Antibiotics regularly administered to livestock on factory farms causes bacteria to mutate, leading to diseases that are medication-resistant.

Biodivercity Loss

The damage caused by livestock production threatens flora and fauna across the globe. A worldwide no-meat lifestyle is calculated to prevent over 60% biodiversity loss. (Rethinking Global Biodiversity Strategies, Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, 2010)

Example: In Mongolia, 82% of the total land area is designated as permanent pasture for livestock grazing, which is the largest single threat to biodiversity loss in Mongolia and throughout Central Asia. (UN FAO)

Ocean Decline

The livestock sector is the largest source of nutrient pollution, which causes toxic algal blooms and oxygen depletion, leading to oceanic “dead zones” that are unable to support any aquatic life.  (Livestock’s Long Shadow, UN FAO, 2006)

90% of all large fish have already disappeared from the oceans, largely as a result of overfishing.  (Nature Journal, Myers & Worm, Dalhousie Univ, May 15, 2003)

Aquaculture (fish farms), accounting for 50% of fish and shellfish consumed globally, is endangering  wild fish. (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2009)

example: it takes up 5 pounds wild fish to produce 1 pound of salmon.  (Naylor. Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies)

One-third to about half the global fish catch is fed to livestock (pigs and chickens). (Annual Review of Environment and Resources, Sea Shepherd)

Each day, millions of animals are needlessly killed and tortured to feed the world. The people who eat the most animal products also suffer the most disease.  We can choose to eat a plant-based diet that is simultaneously healthy for our person and our planet. Let's be “vivid examples of excellence” for a sustainable, healthy future by fueling our bodies with whole fresh organic plant foods.

Most people do not consider giving up animal products. Many are afraid. Some have tried some version of a vegan diet but for one reason or another resumed eating animal products. Many people do eat a vegan diet and have done so for much, if not all, of their lives. Is someone right, and someone wrong?


Can't we continue eating meat and other animal products and just treat the animals humanely?

No, for two reasons:

Nine billion land animals are killed for human consumption every year in the United States. People who argue that animals should be treated humanely before they are slaughtered do not comprehend the magnitude of the situation. Humans eat far too many animals and animal products for the animals to all live on idyllic rambling farms. A single battery hen building can hold over 100,000 hens in cages stacked on top of each other. How many square miles of land would be required to humanely raise 100,000 chickens so that they can establish separate flocks with their own pecking orders? Now multiply that number by 3,000, because there are 300 million egg-laying hens in the US, approximately one per person. And that's just the egg-laying chickens. 

Most importantly, no matter how well the animals are treated, subjugating animals for meat, milk and egg production is antithetical to animal rights.  

Shouldn't we reduce suffering where we can?

Yes, we can reduce some suffering by eliminating certain practices in certain areas, but this will not solve the problem. As explained above, we cannot humanely raise nine billion animals. Going vegan is the only solution. Also, keep in mind that some meat, eggs and dairy products are misleadingly marketed as "humane" but offer only marginal improvements over traditional factory farming. These animals are not raised humanely if they are in larger cages, or are taken out of cages only to live in overcrowded barns. And "humane slaughter" is an oxymoron.

Can't I just go vegetarian?

Going vegetarian is a great step, but consuming eggs and dairy still causes the suffering and deaths of animals, even on small "family farms" where the animals roam freely. When egg-laying hens or dairy cows are too old to be profitable, they are slaughtered for their meat, which is generally considered low quality and used for processed meat products. Male layer chickens are considered worthless because they do not lay eggs and do not have enough muscle to be useful as meat chickens, so they are killed as infants. While still alive, male chicks are ground up for animal feed or fertilizer. Male diary cattle

We do believe that, contrary to popular belief, people can thrive on a plant-based diet. We're not here to tell people what to do or how to live, but to demonstrate by living example that consuming more whole plant foods is definitely a good idea.

So, Let’s be a “ Vegan” be a Hero to save our World.

Download here : "Climate Change Kit PDF"

Recommended A Must Read !  Book :
If you care for your life and serviving of our planet.

If global warming continues at the current rate, we could be facing extinction. So what exactly is going to happen as the Earth heats up?

Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet
In 2001, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a landmark report projecting average global surface temperatures to rise between 1.4 degrees and 5.8 degrees Celsius (roughly 2 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of this century. Based on this forecast, author Mark Lynas outlines what to expect from a warming world, degree by degree. At 1 degree Celsius, most coral reefs and many mountain glaciers will be lost. A 3-degree rise would spell the collapse of the Amazon rainforest, disappearance of Greenland's ice sheet, and the creation of deserts across the Midwestern United States and southern Africa. A 6-degree increase would eliminate most life on Earth, including much of humanity.

Based on authoritative scientific articles, the latest computer models, and information about past warm events in Earth history, Six Degrees promises to be an eye-opening warning that humanity will ignore at its peril.

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