In an editorial published in the UK’s
Yorkshire Post, European Parliament Vice President Edward McMillan-Scott
explained why he, along with leaders like Sir Paul McCartney and UN
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Chairman Dr. Rajendra
Pachauri, has chosen not to eat meat. Citing the 2006 United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) statistic that 18% of all
greenhouse gases come from livestock, Vice President McMillan-Scott
stated that meat takes 16 times more energy and resources than its
vegetable equivalent.
Meat also uses vastly higher amounts of
water, even as 62% of the world’s population faces scarcity and drought.
In addition, farmed animal raising occupies a full 70% of agricultural
land and is a major cause of destructive deforestation. Other
environmental and health detriments include meat consumption’s effect on
the more than one billion who are now suffering from hunger.
His
Excellency went on to call on governments, organizations and
individuals to opt for a healthier and environmentally-friendly
alternative diet. Today, Thursday, December 3 , His Excellency joins Sir
Paul McCartney and UN IPCC Chair Dr. Rajendra Pachauri at a hearing
before the European Parliament
in Brussels, Belgium, on “Global
Warming and Food Policy: Less Meat = Less Heat” to urge policy makers’
focus on this vital action.
Our heartfelt thanks, Vice President
McMillan-Scott, Sir Paul McCartney, Dr. Pachauri, and all distinguished
leaders and citizens supporting avoidance of the climate-harming meat
fare. We pray that many others will heed your call to action and wisely
choose a plant-based diet to save our planet. Supreme Master Ching Hai
has time and again called upon courageous government leaders to lead
their co-citizens to safety by informing them of the truth about the
extremely adverse impacts of meat on the environment, as in this July
2008 videoconference with Supreme Master Television staff in California,
USA.
Supreme
Master Ching Hai: The governments have to explain to people that
it’s truly harmful now and this is an emergency that people should stop
eating meat. If meat eating will not be banned or not be limited, then
the whole planet will be gone. This is a life and death matter for
everybody; it’s not a personal choice.
And we are eating meat,
eating up the whole planet It’s not necessary, choice, at all. Even if
before the planetary urgency, meat eating people eat up the whole
planet,eat up so much food and result in hunger and war, and it has
never been a right choice in the first place.
Everything is good
for people if they don’t eat meat anymore. So they should also quit it
for their better life, better health, better environment, and saving
this Earth home for all to enjoy, especially for their future
generation. If we don’t do it now, the Earth will be gone! Who is there
to eat meat?
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/opinion/Edward-McMillanScott-Losing-our-appetite.5864065.jp
http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/31516