04/22/08:Eliminating Meat-based Diet Key To Fighting Global Warming - Lori Nitzel
Eliminating Meat-based Diet Key To Fighting Global Warming
The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: A7
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Lori Nitzel, Alliance for Animals, Madison
Dear Editor: As we celebrate Earth Day this year, the issue of climate change is more a part of our discussion of sustainability than it has ever been.
Scientists have shown the impact of our consumptive lifestyles on our natural resources. Typically we hear about power generation and fuels used for transportation. We hear less about animal agriculture.
The impact of livestock production on climate change is profound. A United Nations report in 2006 confirmed that livestock produce a fifth of all emissions contributing to global warming. Further, a University of Chicago study found that the average American could do more to decrease his or her global warming emissions by adopting a vegetarian diet than by switching to a Prius.
Regardless of where your meat comes from - whether it was raised locally on a small farm or on a factory farm - the simple problem of efficiency remains. Animal agriculture is a highly inefficient way to create food. The land cleared for grazing and growing grain, the methane and nitrous oxide production, the transportation costs, and the incredible amounts of grain needed to feed animals (eight pounds to produce one pound of beef) make meat a serious environmental hazard.
Last I checked, all of the events held by local environmental groups dealing with climate change or other environmental issues not only served meat as an option for lunch and/or dinner, but ignored the issue of meat consumption as one of our biggest environmental problems. Some groups talk about factory farming, but small-scale livestock production is not the answer to the problem of inefficiency. Ideally, adopting a vegan diet is. Less ideally and more realistically, eating less meat and fewer dairy products will start us on the right path.
Environmental groups need to be the model for this change, and they are failing miserably.
The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: A7
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Lori Nitzel, Alliance for Animals, Madison
Dear Editor: As we celebrate Earth Day this year, the issue of climate change is more a part of our discussion of sustainability than it has ever been.
Scientists have shown the impact of our consumptive lifestyles on our natural resources. Typically we hear about power generation and fuels used for transportation. We hear less about animal agriculture.
The impact of livestock production on climate change is profound. A United Nations report in 2006 confirmed that livestock produce a fifth of all emissions contributing to global warming. Further, a University of Chicago study found that the average American could do more to decrease his or her global warming emissions by adopting a vegetarian diet than by switching to a Prius.
Regardless of where your meat comes from - whether it was raised locally on a small farm or on a factory farm - the simple problem of efficiency remains. Animal agriculture is a highly inefficient way to create food. The land cleared for grazing and growing grain, the methane and nitrous oxide production, the transportation costs, and the incredible amounts of grain needed to feed animals (eight pounds to produce one pound of beef) make meat a serious environmental hazard.
Last I checked, all of the events held by local environmental groups dealing with climate change or other environmental issues not only served meat as an option for lunch and/or dinner, but ignored the issue of meat consumption as one of our biggest environmental problems. Some groups talk about factory farming, but small-scale livestock production is not the answer to the problem of inefficiency. Ideally, adopting a vegan diet is. Less ideally and more realistically, eating less meat and fewer dairy products will start us on the right path.
Environmental groups need to be the model for this change, and they are failing miserably.
Submitted by wnpj on Fri, 04/25/2008 - 3:19pm.