Welcome to the Climate and Food Project, if you care about the environment and climate change then this page is for you!
Dear Reader,
I am about to tell you about a significant, but seldom talked about, cause of climate change. You probably won’t have heard about it in the mainstream press but as I’ll show you the science speaks for itself.It causes more greenhouse gases than cars and trucks – in fact the whole of transport combined. Avoiding it, scientists say, is better than converting to an Eco-friendly car, yet it seldom attracts a high level of attention. What’s more it’s something most of us contribute toward regularly. So what is it? It’s animal agriculture. When one tucks in to a bit of beef, ones climate change ‘meat footprint’ becomes very much part of the problem.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations animal agriculture creates 65 percent of human-related nitrous oxide with a massive 296 times the Global warming Potential of CO2! Read the UN page here .
"Refusing meat", says the Live Earth handbook is the "single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint."
While Environmental Defence, says that if all Americans removed a single meal of chicken a week substituting it with vegetarian produce, the saved carbon dioxide would equate to the same as removing over half a million cars from US roads.
And the folks over at The University of Chicago say switching over to a plant based (vegan) diet is 50% better than changing to a hybrid car in reducing the emissions from greenhouse gases.
We truly do have a chance to make an impact on our Carbon Footprint by cutting out animal products from our diets. According to a an article in the New Scientist the simple act of cutting animal products from ones diet is better than switching to a Eco-friendly car, based on a typical US diet. Read more at The New Scientist
Reducing your ‘Meat Footprint’ is a simple step you can make for the environment. Take action today and share this page with friends and family.
See:
Read the UN page here
Read more at The New Scientist
Beyond climate change, the livestock industry is one of the most dangerous sectors when it comes to the world’s water supply creating water pollution and damaging coral reefs. The livestock industry is also responsible for rainforest destruction, and Eco system problems.
The Guardian Newspaper reported in an article entitled ‘Meat-eaters soak up the world’s water’ in 2004 how agriculture scientists say Governments might have to persuade people to reduce there meat consumption because of the demand on water supplies. You can see the article here .
The article notes that on average it takes 1,790 litres of water for a kilogram of wheat, but a massive 9,680 for a kilogram of beef.
The rainforest is destroyed to grow Soya that is fed to livestock. Whilst Soya is normally associated with non-meat diets the fact is that according to Greenpeace’s “ Eating Up The Amazons †a massive 80% of the earth’s soy crop is used to feed farmed animals. Indeed Soya for US veggie products is often grown within the country not in the Amazon.
Something the mainstream does acknowledge is food miles, yet surprisingly The New Scientist magazine in an article entitled ‘Food miles don’t feed climate change – meat does’ reports on research showing that transport plays a relatively tiny roll compared with the impact of products such as beef and dairy. You can read it here
That’s not to say ‘don’t buy local’, just think about what exactly you are buying locally. If you eat locally grown veggies that’s brilliant. If it’s a bit of beef maybe it would have been better to get a non-animal product from further away.
If you are an environmentalist then there are simple steps you can take to reduce your ‘Meat Footprint’ – replacing animal products in meals, having a ‘vegan’ day in the week, choosing the ‘veggie’ option when dining out.
You can make a real change by making the simple step over to a ‘vegetarian’ or ‘vegan’ diet. It’s really not as hard as you think and I’m on hand to help if you need it. Just get in contact and I’ll do what I can.
Please do add this page to your friends and think about the information this page contains. You have read the information now it’s in your hands.
Regards,
The Climate & Food Project
See:
The Guardian's ‘Meat-eaters soak up the world’s water’
Greenpeace’s “ Eating Up The Amazon "
The New Scientist's ‘Food miles don’t feed climate change – meat does’