ChristineWhy Vegetarians Help to Save the Planet (LINK)
January 10th 2008 05:44
According to the UN Report, Livestock’s Long Shadow, raising animals for food is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.”
1. Vegetarians helps protect and conserve water
Producing 1 kg of animal protein requires about 100 times more water than producing 1 kg of grain protein. It takes 55,000 Litres of water to produce 1kg of beef!
2. Veggos help protect and conserve land and rainforests
A meat based diet needs seven times more land than a vegetarian one.
In order to graze cattle and other animals for food, forests need to be cleared and top-soil is degraded. Wildlife in the same area is killed or is unable to support its own food needs.
In the USA, 70 % of crops are grown to feed animals, not humans. This is a staggering number considering that worldwide a human death occurs by starvation every few seconds.
According to Greenpeace, chickens raised for KFC and other companies that “produce” chicken flesh are fed crops that are grown in the Amazon rain forest.
3. Veg Lovers help protect the air and climate
The United Nations has reported that animal agriculture accounts for 18% of greenhouse gases, which is more than automobiles. Raising animals for food is responsible for more greenhouse gases than all vehicles in the world combined. And scientists at the University of Chicago showed that a typical American meat-eater is responsible for nearly 1.5 tons more carbon dioxide a year than a vegan.
4. Veggie-Heads protect our animals
The abuse of animals is the main reason people still become vegetarian. To use one example, Broiler chickens are fed growth hormones, which speed their growth rate from the usual 80 days to 42 days and are fed antibiotics which in turn is having an effect on antibiotic usefulness in humans. Battery chickens are de-beaked, put in cages where they cannot nest (their first instinct) and their legs cripple from hanging onto wire cages. They obtain no sunlight, natural food or exercise.
A vegetarian diet is an immediate action to save the lives of billions of animals bred for food every year, not to mention the issue of cruelty. More than 10 billion animals are killed each year in the US alone to feed us.
5. Vegetarians help protect human lives
People in developing countries who live by meat production factories and abattoirs are often made sick by the effluent and waste from animal production. The chemical pollution and rotting flesh waste pollutes both waterways and the land.
It has been well documented now that a vegetarian diet decreases the risk of many modern day diseases. The recent Oxford Vegetarian Study of 11 000 people in Britain concluded that vegetarians are 20% less likely to die from any particular health related cause than meat eaters.
The number one cause of death and disease in Western Societies is atherosclerosis: heart attack from clogged arteries. The survey showed that vegetarians are 30% less likely to suffer from heart disease than meat eaters. The survey concluded that
“ excluding meat from the diet might be expected to result in 15-25% reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease, with a similar beneficial effect if cheese is also excluded”.
The main reason given for these vegetarian health advantages is that human anatomy is very different to that of carnivorous animals, who have short bowels, long teeth and claws, and a jaw which moves up and down. In contrast, the human animal is closely related to the apes and gorilla, who is mainly vegetarian. Both species exhibit a long bowel, short teeth and claws, and a jaw which is able to move sideways as well as up and down.
They'll be a full article version of this the February edition of Action Change e-magazine. Just follow the link and you can view the article on-line on Feb 1st, or subscribe and get the e-mag delivered to your in box free every month.
1. Vegetarians helps protect and conserve water
Producing 1 kg of animal protein requires about 100 times more water than producing 1 kg of grain protein. It takes 55,000 Litres of water to produce 1kg of beef!
2. Veggos help protect and conserve land and rainforests
A meat based diet needs seven times more land than a vegetarian one.
In the USA, 70 % of crops are grown to feed animals, not humans. This is a staggering number considering that worldwide a human death occurs by starvation every few seconds.
According to Greenpeace, chickens raised for KFC and other companies that “produce” chicken flesh are fed crops that are grown in the Amazon rain forest.
3. Veg Lovers help protect the air and climate
The United Nations has reported that animal agriculture accounts for 18% of greenhouse gases, which is more than automobiles. Raising animals for food is responsible for more greenhouse gases than all vehicles in the world combined. And scientists at the University of Chicago showed that a typical American meat-eater is responsible for nearly 1.5 tons more carbon dioxide a year than a vegan.
4. Veggie-Heads protect our animals
The abuse of animals is the main reason people still become vegetarian. To use one example, Broiler chickens are fed growth hormones, which speed their growth rate from the usual 80 days to 42 days and are fed antibiotics which in turn is having an effect on antibiotic usefulness in humans. Battery chickens are de-beaked, put in cages where they cannot nest (their first instinct) and their legs cripple from hanging onto wire cages. They obtain no sunlight, natural food or exercise.
A vegetarian diet is an immediate action to save the lives of billions of animals bred for food every year, not to mention the issue of cruelty. More than 10 billion animals are killed each year in the US alone to feed us.
5. Vegetarians help protect human lives
People in developing countries who live by meat production factories and abattoirs are often made sick by the effluent and waste from animal production. The chemical pollution and rotting flesh waste pollutes both waterways and the land.
It has been well documented now that a vegetarian diet decreases the risk of many modern day diseases. The recent Oxford Vegetarian Study of 11 000 people in Britain concluded that vegetarians are 20% less likely to die from any particular health related cause than meat eaters.
The number one cause of death and disease in Western Societies is atherosclerosis: heart attack from clogged arteries. The survey showed that vegetarians are 30% less likely to suffer from heart disease than meat eaters. The survey concluded that
“ excluding meat from the diet might be expected to result in 15-25% reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease, with a similar beneficial effect if cheese is also excluded”.
The main reason given for these vegetarian health advantages is that human anatomy is very different to that of carnivorous animals, who have short bowels, long teeth and claws, and a jaw which moves up and down. In contrast, the human animal is closely related to the apes and gorilla, who is mainly vegetarian. Both species exhibit a long bowel, short teeth and claws, and a jaw which is able to move sideways as well as up and down.
They'll be a full article version of this the February edition of Action Change e-magazine. Just follow the link and you can view the article on-line on Feb 1st, or subscribe and get the e-mag delivered to your in box free every month.
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