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The best way we could battle global warming is to
Stop Consuming Animals
Global warming is not anymore an issue for speculation. The era of doubt is over and global warming is here and we are already feeling the effects of this climatic change. This is the position of environmental bodies world wide. There are many causes for this, mainly the greenhouse effect caused by the emission of greenhouse gases like CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels in cars, power stations and industry in general. Although there has been a lot of technological improvements like the hybrid cars, and in the field of alternative energy, these measures have not proved enough to halt or slow down the change in climate.
Global warming is inevitably linked to our life-style so that the combined effect of all individuals will bear on the environment. There is a lot that everyone of us can do, like using less energy by changing to fluorescent lights, using buses instead of motor cars, recycling and reuse of simple things such as printer paper, plastic bags, and second class water from the washing machines. There is a lot of things one can do but which will bear a little on one's life-style.
There is however one particular activity that is perhaps more important than driving and eco-friendly car. Jonathan Porritt stated in an article in the Guardian on Jan 4 that, "Researchers Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin at the University of Chicago have calculated the relative carbon intensity of a standard vegan diet in comparison to a U.S. style carnivorous diet, all the way through, from production to processing to distribution to cooking and consumption. An average burger man (that is not the outsize variety) emits the equivalent of 1.5 tonnes more CO2 every year than the standard vegan man. By comparison, were you to trade in your conventional gas-guzzler for a state-of-art Prius hybrid your CO2 savings would amount to little more thant one tonne per year." Eliminating animal Products from your diet significantly helps the planet not to mention your health and the animals.
Another important greenhouse gas is methane, NH4, which is 21 times more powerful than CO2, regarding its efficiency as a greenhouse gas. The main source of methane globally is animal agriculture. World wide meat consumption has increased fivefold in the past 50years, and is expected to continue to rise dramatically as countries such as China and India transform their economies. Not only do animals especially domestic cattle, whose population is much bigger than the human population, emit methane, but animal waste lagoons (cesspools) contribute another 15 percent of the animal agriculture emissions.
The science is clear, a vegan diet is more effective in reducing CO2 than emptying your bank account to buy a technological novel, a hybrid car. A vegan diet can also eliminate a major source of methane, which according to EarthSave, is "responsible for almost half of the global warming impacting the planet today." But the surprising this is that not withstanding these facts the environmental groups, save quite a few individuals, refuse to spell it out. This was very evident during a meeting.
It is time for governments to face the truth regarding the sustainability of vegan diets. Environmentalists should shout out loud "eat lower on the food-chain." In other words go Vegetarian or vegan and thereby make it possible to feed more people on the same available land, and be therefore more eco-friendly.
(Adapted from an article by Terri David in the Ashville Citizen-Times 02 April 2006)
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