In a study published in the journal Nature
Geoscience, researchers at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for
Biogeochemistry found that although farms in Europe have the capacity to
store some 125 million tons of CO2 equivalent through absorption by
trees, grass and soil, these numbers did not take into account emissions
from livestock and fertilizers. Lead author and Institute Director Dr.
Detlef Schulze stated that the numbers changed drastically when
factoring in the methane generated by livestock as well as the nitrous
oxide produced by animal manure.
In fact, the beneficial
absorption number was removed altogether and was replaced instead by 34
million tons of CO2 equivalent emissions. Commenting on the current
method of ignoring these livestock-related greenhouse gases, Dr. Schulze
said, “That’s definitely not acceptable.” Dr. Schulze and colleagues,
our
heartfelt thanks for this further documentation of the harmful effects
of farmed animal raising. Our prayers that climate negotiators act on
such clear data by ensuring that livestock production is accounted for
and regulated under all new emission reduction agreements and goals.
In
her endeavors to safeguard life on our planet, Supreme Master Ching Hai
has frequently highlighted the need to stop the meat industry and its
intense global warming effects, as during an interview published in the
July 2009 edition of the Irish Sunday Independent newspaper.
Supreme
Master Ching Hai: If we are vegan we don’t even need to worry
about CO2 yet. CO2 by transportation and all that is not the grave
urgency like methane gas and nitrous oxide and all the gases that are
produced out of animal industry.
From my inside knowledge, and
also scientifically speaking, 80% of global warming would be stopped if
we stopped the animal industry. As the top climatologist Dr. James
Hansen said, being veg is the single most effective thing a person can
do to stop global warming.
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