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.
Reference
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6294Read "Livestock and Climate Change," World Watch Magazine [FREE PDF]