Greetings thoughtful viewers. As the season of spring approaches on March 20, it is a great time for us to re-examine our lifestyles, and commit to making necessary changes for the betterment of the Earth. Often giving us a starting point to reconsider the choices we make is the news media. Today’s selection of media reports shows us how our individual diet is linked to global environmental degradation, and what some people are doing about it.

The recent analysis by Dr. Robert Goodland, former World Bank Group lead environmental advisor, and Jeff Anhang, research officer and environmental specialist for the World Bank Group, finds that livestock and their byproducts account for at least half of all human-made greenhouse gases. Their discovery is detailed in the article, “Livestock and Climate Change,” published in the November/December 2009 issue of World Watch Magazine, a periodical magazine of the renowned environmental research group, the Worldwatch Institute.

“…our analysis shows that livestock and their byproducts actually account for at least 32,564 million tons of CO2 equivalents per year, or 51 percent of annual worldwide GHG emissions. This is a strong claim that requires strong evidence, so we will thoroughly review the direct and indirect sources of GHG emissions from livestock. Some of these are obvious but underestimated, some are simply overlooked, and some are emissions sources that are already counted but have been assigned to the wrong sectors. Data on livestock vary from place to place and are affected by unavoidable imprecision; where it was impossible to avoid imprecision in estimating any sum of GHGs, we strove to minimize the sum so our overall estimate could be understood as conservative.”

The areas that are not previously considered and updated include the lifecycle emissions of farmed fish production, CO2 from animal respirations, and an actual corrected tally that resulted in a more than doubling of the reported number of livestock animals on the planet.

Moreover, livestock’s methane emissions were factored in as being 72 times more heat-trapping in the atmosphere than CO2, instead of 23 times the warming potential as previously calculated. In the article, the authors also suggest that people replace livestock products with plant-based fare, or analogs. This will result in “quick reductions in atmospheric GHGs,” along with many other benefits.

“Meat and dairy analog projects will not only slow climate change but also help ease the global food crisis, as it takes a much smaller quantity of crops to produce any given number of calories in the form of an analog than a livestock product. Analogs would also alleviate the global water crisis, as the huge amounts of water necessary for livestock production would be freed up. Health and nutritional outcomes among consumers would be better than from livestock products.”

Today, animal farm pollution has surpassed human-made chemicals as a destroyer of the air and waterways. Besides adding overly concentrated amounts of nitrates which throw off the balance of river ecosystems, they exude antiobiotics, hormones, and harmful bacteria. In a recent article titled, “Manure becomes pollutant as its volume grows unmanageable,” Washington Post staff writer David A. Fahrenthold assesses the problem of farm animal waste.

“Animal manure, a byproduct as old as agriculture, has become an unlikely modern pollution problem, scientists and environmentalists say. The country simply has more dung than it can handle: Crowded together at a new breed of megafarms, livestock produce three times as much waste as people, more than can be recycled as fertilizer for nearby fields. That excess manure gives off air pollutants, and it is the country's fastest-growing large source of methane, a greenhouse gas. And it washes down with the rain, helping to cause the 230 oxygen-deprived "dead zones" that have proliferated along the U.S. coast.

In the Chesapeake Bay, about one-fourth of the pollution that leads to dead zones can be traced to the back ends of cows, pigs, chickens and turkeys.” “And it can give off a smell like a punch to the stomach. “You have to cover your face just to go from the house to the car,” said Lynn Henning, 52, a farmer in rural Clayton, Mich., who said she became an environmental activist after fumes from huge new dairies gave her family headaches and burning sinuses. The way that modern megafarms produce it, Henning said, “Manure is no longer manure. Manure is a toxic waste now.”

According to many researchers, reducing animal products in the diet is imperative to preventing further catastrophe in terms of the climate and the environment we depend on to live. There are some still who have concluded that adopting a plant-based diet is the most effective solution.

Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television. We’ll be right back with media reports on the vibrant activities by different groups and individuals promoting the planet-saving veg diet.

Welcome back to today’s program highlighting mainstream media coverage on the increasing public awareness of the vegan lifestyle as a key to the health and survival of humans and the planet. Regarding the efforts in promoting the meatless diet, the city of Ghent in Belgium is one of the pioneers. It is the first municipality of the world to introduce a weekly Veggie Day. Following Ghent’s example, the cities of Hasselt and Mechelen in Belgium have also designated every Thursday as a veggie day. In German, the city of Bremen introduces “Veggie Thursday” in January 2010.

On the other hand, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tel Aviv, Israel, the Baltimore Public Schools, USA, and many government agencies and schools in Formosa (Taiwan) have joined the Meatless Monday initiative, which is first proposed by the USA institute, John Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health. The US’ Massachusetts City and New York City’s schools are also on their way in realizing this laudable objective.

In the article, “Diet Change: Save the Planet With Meatless Mondays,” published by The Huffington Post, Joshua Rosenthal, founder of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, USA, encourages every major school system to join the trend.

“If every major school system in the country adopted Meatless Mondays, with the children enjoying local produce of a plant-based variety, the progress would be tremendous. If every family then extended that commitment to their dinner table, we could see the impact of a movement on our health, the health of our children and the environment. The possibilities are endless!”

The Meatless Monday Campaign has been supported by an impressive list of celebrities. Just recently British music executive and television producer Simon Cowell agreed to give up meat once a week to answer the call of Leona Lewis, a longtime vegetarian pop star.

Meanwhile, another vegan singer, Long Kuan, and other Chinese popular celebrities produced a short environmental film called “Please Be Veg on Monday” to raise public awareness on the urgency of planetary warming and the emissions impact of livestock.

Moreover, the former Beatles, Sir Paul McCartney, an enthusiastic advocate of animal rights and the Meatless Monday Campaign, brought his message to the hearing “Less Meat=Less Heat” of the European Parliament. Sean Stoweel gave it a full report in the show “Macca: Eat less meat to cut CO2” on BBC One.

“On the eve of the Copenhagen world summit on climate change, Sir Paul took his meat-free message to the European Parliament after being invited there by Yorkshire MEP Edward McMillan Scott. Sir Paul's campaign, backed by Mr McMillan Scott, claims one day’s less meat-eating a week could have a major impact on efforts to cut CO2 emissions.” “Sir Paul said gases released today from cows ‘belching’ methane would be ‘degrading’ the climate for decades to come: ‘People are confused about what they can do – they can try one meat-free day a week. It’s kind of interesting once you get into it.’”

Recently, Mr. Grant Butler, a food and arts writer for The Oregonian, the largest newspaper in the Pacific Northwest region of the USA, decided to adopt a vegan diet for the entire month of February. He chronicled his experience, inviting readers to follow him on his engaging and informative blog and on Twitter. The title of his first entry was “Going vegan: A lifelong carnivore gives up meat, eggs, dairy.”

“It's a greener way to eat. All of the good intentions of recycling newspapers and hauling reusable bags to the grocery store don't amount to much if I continue to eat in an unsustainable way. While attending last fall's Veg Fest, a fantastic annual event celebrating all things vegan, ‘compassion’ and ‘kindness’ were buzzwords. These are values I aspire to in other aspects of my life, so why not embrace them in the way I eat?”

Through the month, Mr. Butler, an experienced cook himself, recommended resources, places to dine out, products, and tips for his readers. By the third week, he noted significant physical benefits, including better sleep, more energy, and weight loss reaching 12 pounds.

“I continue to physically feel great, and I have so much energy that I'm not needing that afternoon coffee or diet cola fix to get through the day. The weight is cascading off of me like water over Niagara Falls.”

At the end of his vegan trial month on March 1, The Oregonian journalist wrote a new entry. The following are excerpts from “Staying vegan: After a month of plant-based eating, the adventure continues.”

“With a turn of the calendar page, my official month as a vegan is over. But don't expect to see me bursting through the doors of a steakhouse tonight or tossing a pound of bacon into my grocery cart any time soon. I'm sticking with it.”

“The best thing about my vegan exploration, though, has been the dialogue that's developed directly with Portlanders, and through the miracle of the Internet, with vegans around the globe. I never expected to get tips and encouraging words from readers as far away as Melbourne, Cape Town and Kuala Lumpur. It's great to know there are so many people out there who are concerned about animal welfare and the environment.”

“It's a conversation that will remain ongoing… I'll share the tips and insights I pick up. In the meantime, look for upcoming stories on vegan fashion, and more restaurant and cart discoveries.”

We deeply appreciate all journalists, media groups, and others worldwide for doing your part to inform people about the vital message of being veg for our planetary survival and families’ well-being. May we all heed the call and embrace the healthy, compassionate, and sustainable vegan diet. Thank you, gracious viewers, for your company today. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television for Words of Wisdom, coming up after Noteworthy News. Blessed be your wise deeds and considerate hearts.

You can read the full articles cited in today’s program for free online: