Greetings, eco-conscious viewers to today’s episode of Planet Earth: Our Loving Home.
June 5th is World Environment Day, a day established by the United Nations in 1973 to raise global awareness of the vital importance of preserving of our biosphere.

This year’s theme is “Many Species. One Planet. One Future.”  In honor of this day, our program features excerpts of interviews with respected climate scientists, prominent political figures, knowledgeable environmental specialists, and concerned citizens regarding how intensive animal agriculture devastates our environment.

According to Livestock’s Long Shadow,” a report released in 2006 by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the livestock industry is chiefly responsible for almost all the very serious environmental issues currently facing the planet, including land degradation,deforestation, water pollution and shortages, and above all, global warming.

We begin with how production of animal products takes up huge tracts of land across the globe and thus robs humanity of the true productivity of the soil.

Dr. Smith:  The whole operation of the meat system  requires a lot of land. There is a whole bunch of agricultural land somewhere making the food to grow those animals. We’re all connected together, we live on the same planet; we do one thing, it affects everybody. And this is a very important illustration.