Informing ourselves of true carbon meat costs.A landmark report has been officially supported by the British Departments of Health as well as Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the United Nations World Health Organization, and others.
Published in the esteemed medical journal, The Lancet, the report advises that both meat production and consumption be reduced by one-third, as the only way to meet the country’s ambitious carbon emission reduction goals. Furthermore, citizens would be more than compensated by direct and favorable effects on health. Dr. Alan Dangour - London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK: The policy is reduced production, because our primary aim is to reduce carbon emissions, and we’re saying, in our series of papers, look at the health co-benefits. I think it is important for people to become much more aware about the true carbon costs of food production. Meat and meat products and dairy have an enormous carbon cost.
Today, the climate savings of plant-based eating are abundantly known, such as findings that a vegetarian diet saves more greenhouse gases than a hybrid car, or that an animal-free vegan diet reduces emissions by 94% compared to one with meat-based fare.
Regarding health savings, co-author Dr. Alan Dangour of the UK’s London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine stated that these could be even greater than the 18,000 lives forecast to be saved from heart disease alone if other meat-related diseases, such as colorectal cancer and obesity, were included. The hope is that knowing the true health costs will prompt the public to voluntarily shift away from harmful animal products. Dr. Alan Dangour: That information and the knowledge of the risks of climate change combined should allow them to make decisions about their future consumption patterns.
Our thanks Dr. Dangour and all researchers involved, as well as the British and United Nations officials who are prudently weighing the climate costs of livestock raising and meat consumption. May we all choose the plant-based diet to save our lives and the planet. In addressing the impacts of meat on all areas of our lives, Supreme Master Ching Hai has for decades urged the remedy of the vegan diet as in a May 2008 videoconference in South Korea.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: You see the meat diet not only causes the greatest emission of poisonous gas into the planet atmosphere but many other costs. There is the transportation energy cost, the electricity energy cost, there’s water wasting cost, there’s a land resource occupation cost, there’s a deforestation cost and there’s a related illness medical cost and there’s the grievance, sorrow of the people who lost loved ones due to disease related to meat diet cost.
And because we use food to feed livestock for human consumption instead of feeding directly to humans, therefore there is the cost of war and famine due to shortage of food and resources. Add them together, then we will see the real answer. So, right now, what’s good for our planet – vegan diet - we do it. We try as best as we can.
Reference:
http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2009/11/25/Brit-official-backs-meat-reduction-report/UPI-81791259183429/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6933045.ece
Chinese and US leaders to attend Copenhagen summit. US President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao have affirmed that they will both be going to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Denmark in December. In addition, the US has pledged a 17% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared to levels in 2005 and further decreases toward a goal of an 83% reduction by 2050.
China has also announced a plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 by up to 45% compared with 2005 levels. Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Yvo de Boer optimistically stated, “The US commitment to specific, mid-term emission cut targets and China's commitment to specific action on energy efficiency can unlock two of the last doors to a comprehensive agreement.”
Our respectful appreciation Your Excellencies for your commitment to helping safeguard the planet. We pray for the conference’s fruitful outcome of a comprehensive agreement to benefit all beings in our world.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8378890.stm http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/25/obama.copenhagen.climate/index.html http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/26/content_12543659.htm http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/26/content_12544181.htm http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/11/26/china.climate.emissions/index.htmlExtra NewsThe United Kingdom’s Forestry Commission recommends planting millions of trees to increase the nation’s woodland cover to 16%, which will help sequester carbon and tackle climate change.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8377827.stm With a shoreline that has receded up to a kilometer in places and a depth that is declining by a meter a year, experts say the legendary Dead Sea shared by Israel, Syria and Jordan needs immediate attention to survive the ravages of climate change and human overuse.
http://www.france24.com/en/node/4932791During talks of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, it was agreed that bluefin catches would be reduced by 40% next year in an attempt to protect threatened populations of this extremely overfished species.
http://www.france24.com/en/node/4926173 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Commission_for_the_Conservation_of_Atlantic_Tunas
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