A just-released report in the November/December issue of World Watch Magazine has concluded that livestock raising is responsible for at least 51 percent of global warming.
Authors Dr. Robert Goodland, former lead environmental advisor to the World Bank, and World Bank research officer Jeff Anhang built upon “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” the report published in 2006 by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
They calculated for areas not previously considered and updated others, including 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.
Livestock's methane emissions were also factored in as being 72 times more heat-trapping in the atmosphere than CO2. This represents a more accurate increase from the original FAO calculations of 23 times the warming potential.
Even so, the researchers cautioned that the sum of their estimates was minimized, and therefore the 51 percent emissions total is still conservative. In a question and answer article on the website vegclimatealliance.org, the authors concluded:“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.”
Our thankful appreciation, Dr. Goodland, Mr. Anhang, participating scientists and World Watch Institute, for your work showing that meat consumption is clearly the single largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
Let us ever more swiftly replace animal products with their planet-cooling veg alternatives to preserve our ecosphere and all lives. Supreme Master Ching Hai has often offered support for this most direct solution to saving humanity and the Earth, as during an interview for the July 12, 2009 edition of the Irish Sunday Independent.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: Livestock is the single largest emitter of methane. Moreover, because of methane’s faster disappearance from the atmosphere, if we stop eating meat the planet will be able to cool immediately.
Livestock raising and animal breeding also cause many other damages to our planet. Livestock, by far, is the single largest human-related occupier of land, the main driver of deforestation, the biggest water polluter, and top culprit of biodiversity loss.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: Eighty percent of the Amazon’s deforested land are converted to grazing pastures for cattle. Of the remaining deforested land, the majority is used for growing soy. Eighty-five percent of the world’s soy is fed to the cattle that will be slaughtered for human consumption.
Everything points in the same direction, that is, meat diet. see? If we stop consuming animal products, much of this lethal source is eliminated and the heat it creates will also disappear.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: : So, with the vegan diet, we eat what’s best for our health, for the animals, for the environment, and nature will do the rest to restore the balance and save our world.
Referencehttp://vegclimatealliance.org/livestock-and-climate-change-qa/http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6294Read "Livestock and Climate Change," World Watch Magazine [FREE PDF]
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