In a study published in the journal
Nature Geoscience, US-based lead author Dr. Ruth DeFries discovered that
along with an increased move to cities has been a rise in the clearing
of forests.
This observation reverses previously held beliefs
that fast-growing urbanization and technological efficiencies might slow
or even reverse such deforestation.
Moreover, the research
found that the trees’ decline is due in part to the tendency of
city-dwellers to eat more animal products and processed foods.
Dr.
DeFries stated, “One line of thinking was that concentrating people in
cities would leave a lot more room for nature. But those people in
cities and the rest of the world need to be fed.
That creates a
demand for industrial-scale clearing.” Some of the nations most affected
by the immense land clearing needed for livestock and related products
include Brazil, Paraguay, Indonesia and Cambodia.
Related
research has found that in Brazil alone, more than 80% of the deforested
regions are occupied by cattle or crops grown for animal feed.
Our
sincere appreciation, Dr. DeFries and colleagues, for your work in
documenting further the immense eco-damage created by meat consumption.
May
such findings hasten our actions toward life-giving plant-based fare to
save our Earth.
Highlighting as on previous occasions the
preciousness of our planet’s biodiversity, Supreme Master Ching Hai
addressed once more the need to halt the destructive tolls of the
livestock industry during an October 2009 videoconference in Formosa
(Taiwan).
Supreme
Master Ching Hai: Right now, one-third of the entire Earth’s
land surface is used either for grazing animals or growing feed for the
animals, not for humans. We humans use very little of this agriculture
section.
This is a devastating way to make a cheap profit at the
cost of our planet’s and our people’s survival. We are eating our
planet by consuming meat. So, without the needless animal industry, not
only will we gain forests, we can also have organic vegan farmlands to
grow real, decent food for humans, and like the forests, these farmlands
can also absorb a lot of heat, a lot of heat from the atmosphere.
And
a global shift to organic vegan practices could mean 40% of all
greenhouse gases absorbed as well, apart from the 50 plus percent that
we eliminate through the terminating of the animals raising practice.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/11/cities-farming-deforestation
http://www.earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/2470http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/forests/how-cattle-ranching-chewing-amazon-rainforest-20090129http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ngeo756.html
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