Costa Rican television alerts public to livestock and global warming link.

Around the world, the media is bringing increasing attention to the modern-day livestock industry and its ties to global warming. Most recently, National TV Channel 7, a widely broadcast television station in Costa Rica, reported on this direct relation in two mid-day news programs.

(In Spanish; from Costa Rica National TV Channel 7)

Anchor VO (M): According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 18% of greenhouse gases are produced by livestock. Although it seems unbelievable, all the planes, ships, trains, cars, etc., produce only 13% of the gases.

Marcelo Galli, Vegetarian Association (M): Well, in Latin America, according to the study, 70% of the forests have already been wiped out due to the livestock. And a big percent of it in the “lungs of the planet,” that is, in the Amazon, is being deforested to feed the cattle.

VOICE: The news broadcast called upon scientists, farmers and other experts to share their observations of meat eating and the environment.

Max Mena, Meteorologist (M): Well, global warming is actually causing many disorders around the globe. For example, hurricanes are now stronger, they surpass category 3 more easily; in this category winds are stronger, more destructive. We also have problems with rising sea levels. And this is going to worsen as we keep pumping more greenhouse gas into the system.

Marcelo Galli, Vegetarian Association (M): People must know that meat eating does more harm to the world than driving a car.

VOICE: Many thanks to Costa Rica’s National TV Channel 7 for airing this revealing information about the effect of the livestock industry on our Earth. May many Costa Ricans and people around the world switch to the vegetarian diet for our own survival as well as that of animal co-inhabitants and the planet.

Further melting of Arctic ice forms unprecedented island.

Using satellite images from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), scientists at the University of Bremen in Germany have concluded that both the northwest passage over Canada and the northeast passage over Russia have melted. Circumnavigation of the North Pole ice cap is now possible for the first time in an estimated 125,000 years. Dr. Mark Serreze of the US National Snow and Ice Data Center stated, “The summer melting used to slow down by the beginning of September. We thought it was slowing this year, but it’s suddenly sped up instead.” This rapid disappearance of the Arctic ice is considered both a result of and a major contribution to further global warming.
We appreciate your honest conveyance of these alarming observations, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, German scientists and Dr. Serreze. We pray that all world citizens are motivated by shared concern to quickly act in restoring the balance of our fragile biosphere.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/08/31/eaarctic131.xml,  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1050990/The-North-Pole-island-time-history-ice-melts.html, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1050659/The-heartbreaking-picture-polar-bears-400-miles-swim-nearest-ice.html, http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/09/03/north-pole-ice-cap-now-an-island/  

UN Environment Program chief says weather crises confirm global warming.

Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program, stated that the occurrence of 400 disasters worldwide from January to June of 2008 demonstrate the accuracy of global warming predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. As examples, Executive Director Steiner cited the current devastating floods in India, as well as Cyclone Nargis, Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Hanna. As one way to ease these events, he urged governments around the world to agree on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol by the December 2009 date set by the United Nations.
You have our thanks and full support, Dr. Steiner, for your timely reminder of our need to protect our one and only planet. May we all join in swiftly lightening our steps for the survival of all beings on Earth. 
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKL155749220080901, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achim_Steiner, 
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=27898&Cr=climate&Cr1=

Trees affected by climate change and acid rain.

Scientists at the University of Vermont, USA, have found that the cold-loving trees on the state’s Green Mountains have retreated upward by a full 400 feet in just over 40 years. Although this migration was observed to be due in part to the region’s two-degree Fahrenheit rise in average annual temperature, researchers concluded that the speed of the migration was too fast to attribute to climate change alone and that acid rain was also to blame. The 2006 United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization’s report “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” found that nearly two-thirds of human-caused ammonia emissions contributing to acid rain are generated through livestock raising.
University of Vermont scientists, we are grateful for your analysis of the complex predicament faced by life-giving trees on our planet. With God’s blessings, may all people switch to the eco-friendly, animal-free vegetarian diet to reduce both global warming and acid rain, thus helping restore our Earth’s majestic forests.

http://news.yahoo.com/story//livescience/20080902/sc_livescience/treessufferonetwopunchofacidrainandclimatechange http://www.all-creatures.org/tytt/env-livestockslongshadow.html