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Are We Eating Our World?

Are We Eating Our World?

Humans consume over 380 million animals a day – over 140 billion a year – requiring an enormous amount of water, food, and land. The livestock sector impacts our environment chiefly through deforestation, pollution of our oceans with pesticides, chemical fertilizers, excretion, and greenhouse gas emissions in the form of methane and nitrous oxide. This is extremely significant because contrary to popular belief, we only have two to three years left to stop adding to the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere if we want to avoid the climatic tipping point. Green actions like recycling, shopping local, buying hybrid cars, as well as technologies to mitigate greenhouse gases such as wind and solar power take too long to be effective for this crisis.

This means that the single most effective action individuals can take to save the planet is to eliminate meat and dairy consumption. If a significant number of people in the world adopt the simple but most powerful practice of an animal-free diet, then we could reverse the effects of global warming in time to avert the impending catastrophic events. This will give us the time needed to adopt longer-term measures such as more green technology and clean energy sources that will further decrease the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. In fact, if we continue with our current rate of meat production, all other green efforts will be cancelled out in effect, and we will lose the planet before we have the chance to implement any effective green technology.

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Greg Craven, a chemistry and physics teacher who studied the subject extensively and authored the book “What’s the Worst that Could Happen”, concludes that we must make fundamental changes within the next two years if we want to revert to a relatively safe level of CO2.

The main greenhouse gases:
Greenhouse Gas
Warming Effect
Life in the Atmosphere
Carbon Dioxide
1
500 + years
Methane
72 times of CO2
8 Years
Nitrous Oxide
289 times of CO2
100+ years

Since enormous amounts of methane and nitrous oxide emission are associated with the livestock and fish industry, substantial mitigation of greenhouse gases can be achieved if enough people simply choose a plant-based diet. Thus individuals now have the power to make a significant difference in the battle against climate change quickly and without overall global economic cost. In fact the simple choice of going vegan will save so much food, water, energy and other resources worldwide that it is sure to lead to a global economic boom and cessation of war.

Of all the policies and actions to protect the environment, the quickest, the most effective, the most compassionate, the most heroic, the most life-saving way is a plant- based diet – preferably an organic vegan diet, which has the smallest ‘carbon footprint’. The vegan diet offers many health benefits and is the long-term insurance against climate change.

In his book ‘Proteins: Their Chemistry and Politics’, Dr. Aaron Altshul notes that in terms of calorie units per acre, a diet of grains, vegetables, and beans will support twenty times more people than a diet of meat…If the earth's arable land were used primarily for the production of vegan foods, the planet could easily support a human population of twenty billion people and more. But if meat production is so inefficient, why is the price of meat not a great deal higher? One reason is that in a country like the USA the meat industry is heavily subsidized by its citizens’ tax dollars. In other words, citizens are paying more than they think for meat.

A study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that while American children have an average I.Q. of 99, the average I.Q. of vegan American children is 116.24. Veganism is now becoming preferred in many parts of the world. Scientists are providing ample evidence that a plant-based diet is healthier and more nutritious. Here are some examples:
NUTRIENT COMPOSITION OF PLANT AND ANIMAL-BASED FOODS (PER 500 CALORIES OF ENERGY)
Nutrient

Plant-Based Foods*
Animal-Based Foods**
Cholesterol (mg)
0
137
Fat (g)
4
36
Protein (g)
33
34
Iron (mg)
20
2
Calcium (mg)
545
252
*Equal parts of tomatoes, spinach, lima beans, peas, potatoes
**Equal parts of beef, pork, chicken, whole milk
As you can see, plant foods have dramatically more antioxidants, fiber and minerals than animal foods. In fact, animal foods are almost completely devoid of several of these nutrients. Animal foods, on the other hand, have much more cholesterol and saturated fat. They also have disproportionate amounts of pesticide compared to plant foods. Research suggests that vegan children and teens often grow taller than their meat-eating friends. Dr. Charles Atwood writes: “Children on low-fat diets of mostly vegetables, fruits, grain, and legumes, when consuming adequate calories, not only grow normally, but have actually been shown to attain greater height than meat-eating children.”

Also, it is well documented that vegans are healthier than meat eaters. One study of 30,000 people in California compared vegans and meat eaters who, aside from their dietary differences, had very similar lifestyles and health practices. The vegans were less likely to be obese, or to have high blood pressure, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, or colon cancer. They were also less likely to die from heart disease. In fact, the vegans were healthier even than people who ate meat only occasionally. Even when vegans were fatter than meat eaters, the vegans had lower cholesterol levels. Also, science proves that it is far more efficient to obtain nutrients firsthand from plant foods than to feed animals with those plant foods, and then obtain those nutrients secondhand from meat.

The health risks of eating meat are also becoming more and more evident. Meat, egg and dairy are high in cholesterol and devoid of fiber. Livestock animals are routinely injected with excessive hormones and antibiotics, which, when consumed as meat can in turn endanger human health.

We must realise the only way to save the planet is the vegan diet. It is the easiest and most effective, efficient solution. There is no choice anymore, we have to save the planet and people must make this simple transition. All the money, all the gold, and all the jewels and precious gemstones in the world are worthless without a planet to live on. Now is the time to change. In a world where 1 billion people go to sleep hungry, and more than a billion people do not have access to safe drinking water, this is a solution we cannot afford to ignore. Be green. Be compassionate. Be vegan!

Clare Wu

ends

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