Halo, Earth-loving viewers,
and welcome to
Enlightening Entertainment!
Today, in honor of World
Environment Day 2010,
we’ll present excerpts
from research articles
on animal agriculture,
the leading cause
of climate change
as well as other serious
environmental problems.
The following excerpt
from the Yale Journal
of Health Policy,
Law and Ethics
discusses the health and
environmental impact
of today’s meat-related
food production system.
Though published
in 2004,
it still paints an accurate
picture of the present.
Animal Agriculture
“The current industrial
food production system
causes
environmental effects
that ultimately lead to
public health problems
and, therefore,
warrant increased
attention from
public health professionals.
Irreplaceable
fossil fuel aquifers are
being drawn down for
irrigation of feed crops,
pesticides and fertilizers
used to grow animal feed
contaminate water and soil
and ocean fisheries are
being depleted to produce
feed for factory farmed
poultry, pork and fish.
Animal feed additives,
such as antibiotics and
heavy metals including
arsenic, end up in manure
that is spread on fields,
and manure from
lagoon spills, leaks, and
excess land applications
contaminate waterways.
Since hogs produce
up to four times
as much solid waste
as an average person,
a CAFO of 5,000 hogs
is equivalent
to a city of 20,000.”
Biodiversity
The 2010 theme of
World Environment Day
is “Many Species,
One Planet, One Future,”
which coincides
with the United Nations’
2010 International Year
of Biodiversity.
In the 2006 report,
“Livestock’s Long Shadow,”
published by
the United Nations
Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO),
livestock was identified
as a major cause
of biodiversity loss.
“We are in an era
of unprecedented threats
to biodiversity.
Livestock now account
for about 20 percent
of the total terrestrial
animal biomass,
and the 30 percent of the
Earth’s land surface that
they now pre-empt was
once habitat for wildlife.
Indeed, the livestock sector
may well be
the leading player
in the reduction
of biodiversity,
since it is the major driver
of deforestation,
as well as
one of the leading drivers
of land degradation,
pollution, climate change,
overfishing, sedimentation
of coastal areas and
facilitation of invasions
by alien species.
In addition,
resource conflicts
with pastoralists threaten
species of wild predators
and also protected areas
close to pastures.
Indeed, the livestock sector
may well be
the leading player
in the reduction
of biodiversity.
Deforestation
South America’s
Amazon rainforest
is home to
one of the most diverse
ecosystems on Earth.
The rainforest
regulates rainfall, ensures
adequate water supplies
for growing crops,
and is a vital storehouse
for carbon.
But with deforestation,
vast quantities of carbon
are released
into the atmosphere, thus
worsening climate change
throughout the planet.
In an article published
in December 2009,
president of
the Earth Policy Institute
Lester R. Brown shows how
global demand for meat
is at the root
of this problem:
Although the deforestation
is occurring
within Brazil,
it is the worldwide growth
in demand for meat, milk,
and eggs that is driving it.
Put simply, saving
the Amazon rainforest
now depends
on curbing the growth
in demand for soybeans
by stabilizing
population worldwide
as soon as possible.
And for the world’s
affluent population,
it means moving down
the food chain,
eating less meat and thus
lessening the growth
in demand for soybeans.
With food, as with energy,
achieving an acceptable
balance between supply
and demand
now means curbing growth
in demand rather than
just expanding supply.”
Public Health
Following a year’s
investigation by 55
scientists in nine countries,
the 2009 report
“Public Health Benefits
of Strategies to
Reduce Greenhouse-gas
Emissions” was published
in the prestigious
British medical journal
the Lancet.
The report found that
a 30% reduction
in the number of
livestock animals had the
benefit of reaching 50%
greenhouse gas reduction
goals by 2030 and
saving 18,000 lives
in the UK per year from
the country's #1 killer,
heart disease.
“We considered
potential strategies
for the agricultural sector
to meet the target
recommended
by the UK Committee
on Climate Change
to reduce UK emissions
from the concentrations
recorded in 1990
by 80% by 2050,
which would require
a 50% reduction by 2030.
With use of the UK
as a case study,
we identified
that a combination of
agricultural technological
improvements
and a 30% reduction
in livestock production
would be needed
to meet this target...
Coordinated intersectoral
action is needed
across agricultural,
nutritional, public health,
and climate change
communities worldwide
to provide affordable,
healthy, low-emission diets
for all societies.”
When we return,
we’ll discuss studies that
evaluated more benefits
of a societal shift
toward a meat-free
food production system.
Please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television.
Welcome back to
today’s program honoring
World Environment Day
on June 5.
New Opportunities
In the November/
December 2009 issue of
World Watch Magazine,
a report by
Dr. Robert Goodland,
former lead
environmental advisor
to the World Bank,
and World Bank
research officer
Jeff Anhang concluded
that livestock raising
is responsible
for at least 51 percent
of global warming.
“It is now possible
to understand that
the dramatic expansion
of the livestock sector
in recent decades may
imperil humanity, and
that there may be no way
to manage
the climate risk of
either the food industry
or the world at large
other than by replacing
livestock products
with better alternatives.”
Apart from mitigating
greenhouse gas emissions,
the distinguished authors
also offered compelling
business incentives
to embrace
plant-based proteins.
“By replacing livestock
products with analogs,
consumers can take
a single powerful action
collectively to mitigate
most greenhouse gases
worldwide.
Labeling analogs
with certified claims
of the amount of
greenhouse gases averted
can give them
a significant edge.
Analogs are
less expensive,
less wasteful,
easier to cook,
and healthier
than livestock products.
Action to replace
livestock products…
can also reverse
the ongoing world
food and water crises.
…It has been predicted from
within both the livestock
and financial sectors
that peak oil could
bring about the collapse
of the livestock sector
within a few years.
To be ahead
of the competition
in that scenario is
another reason for leaders
in the food industry
to begin replacing
livestock products
with better alternatives
immediately.
Analog projects would be
more labor intensive
than livestock projects,
so would create
both more jobs
and more skilled jobs.
They would also avert
the harmful
labor practices found in
the livestock sector (but
not in analog production),
including slave labor
in some areas such as
the Amazon forest region.
New Perspectives
In a doctoral dissertation
praised by academia
and discussed
with much interest by
the media and the public,
economist Markus Vinnari
studied the future prospects
for meat eating
and vegetarianism
in Western society.
Part of his study explains
an alternative view
on the environment
that would make
a plant-based diet
the constructive choice.
“This platform includes
normative claims
about humans
and their relationship
with the environment.
These eight points
are the following:
1. The well-being and
flourishing of human and
nonhuman life on Earth
have value in themselves
(synonyms: intrinsic value,
inherent worth).
These values
are independent
of the usefulness
of the nonhuman world
for human purposes.
This principle states
that not only
anthropocentric
interests are relevant.
Hence
when making decisions
the end result
of their effects on
other animals and nature
should be evaluated.
This is because there is
good evidence available
of the environmental
consequences
of meat eating and
strong arguments in favor
of giving intrinsic values
to production animals.
Adhering to this principle
would lead
to vegetarianism.
2. The richness and
diversity of life-forms
contribute to the realization
of these values
and are also values
in themselves. …
3. Humans have no right
to reduce this richness
and diversity except
to satisfy vital needs.
This principle states
that humans should
limit their influence
on natural systems
and that humans should
eat foods that are located
on a lower level
in the food chain as
their influence grows and
as they consume products
from higher levels
in the food chain.
As there is more and more
evidence, for example,
about climate change,
it is obvious that
humankind is taking risks
by continuing
its excessive overuse
of natural resources
and that this may have
calamitous consequences.
The food production sector
has been dominated
by growth and
efficiency goals
for the last decades
and farm sizes
and production amounts
have grown
at ever growing rates.
Some notions exist
that this could be
slowly changing and that
examples of such change
would include
the growing interest
in organic foods.
As there are possibilities
that humankind and
all other life will be faced
with catastrophes in
the form of climate change
caused by
environmental degradation
and as the number
of animals slaughtered
in the agricultural sector
are staggering,
action needs to be taken
to avoid catastrophic
consequences.
The use of more efficient
forms of food production,
i.e. not meat, would help
avoid such environmental
degradation.”
On June 2,
a new United Nations-
sponsored report,
released to coincide with
World Environment Day,
stirred
immediate attention
among mainstream media.
It stated that
a global shift away
from animal products
is necessary to avoid the
worst of climate change.
Journalist Alister Doyle
for Reuters was one of
the first to report
on this study
by the United Nations
Environment Program’s
(UNEP)
International Panel
for Sustainable Resource
Management,
to be presented
to world governments.
OSLO, June 2 (Reuters) –
An overhaul
of world farming
and more vegetarianism
should be top priorities to
protect the environment,
along with curbs
on fossil fuel use,
a U.N.-backed study
said on Wednesday.
"Agricultural production
accounts for a staggering
70 percent of the global
freshwater consumption,
38 percent of
the total land use.”
said Achim Steiner,
head of the U.N.
Environment Programme.
The report said
consumers could help
by cutting down
on meat consumption
and use of fossil fuels
in heating or travel.
"Animal products
are important because
more than half of
the world's crops are used
to feed animals,
not people," it said.
"A substantial reduction
of impacts would
only be possible with
a substantial worldwide
diet change, away from
animal products."
We thank all
the dedicated scientists,
researchers and journalists
involved in studying
and communicating
the environmental benefits
of the meat-free way
so we may take
the wisest course of action.
May the world’s leaders,
media, food producers
and consumers
work together
to save our planet.
Thank you
for your presence
on today’s program
in observance of
World Environment Day.
Please now join us
for Words of Wisdom,
up next
after Noteworthy News,
here on
Supreme Master Television.
May Heaven bless us
with abundant love
and courage.
The articles
from today’s program
can be read in full
free-of-charge, at
(click on Resources) or
in the following websites:
Ms. Ghazaleh Lotfi
and Dr. Ramin Zafari
are the devoted
“parents” of the
Forough e Mohabbat
Charity Institute,
a loving home
for disadvantaged child.
One of my biggest dreams
is to form a “Forough
e Mohabbat village,”
where children can work
together, live together;
build their own families,
and generally
live together
without any intrusion.
They were honored
with the Shining World
Compassion Award
along with
a US$10,000 contribution
from Supreme Master
Ching Hai.
Master Ching Hai,
we are grateful;
since today, with the help
of your kind donation,
Forough e Mohabbat
Children Institute
has officially commenced
its operation.
We have one sentence
to repay
your loving attention:
Ms. Ching Hai,
we love you.
Join us Saturday,
June 12, on
Supreme Master Television.