United Nations: Eat Less Meat
PETA protests Al Gore’s omnivorous ways.
Cate Gillon / Getty Images.
To combat global warming, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, head of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, advises, "Give up meat for one day [a week] initially, and decrease it from there." Pachauri is a vegetarian himself, and points out that greenhouse gas emissions and habitat destruction are associated with animal agriculture. To most animal advocates, this is old news. Even to the United Nations, this is old news.
Sadly, some environmentalists still have their heads in the sand when it comes to this issue. Rainforest Action Network found that holding vegetarian events alienated some of the people they wanted to work with, including some of their own staff. To Al Gore, the role of animal agriculture in global warming is the most inconvenient truth.
Most people don't think of global warming as an animal rights issue, but global warming is a threat to all wild and domestic animals. Anthony Marr, an animal rights activist and author of "Homo Sapiens, Save Your Earth!" is dedicating his life this year to this issue.
Of course, being vegan is better than being vegetarian from both an environmental and animal rights standpoint. Buying eggs and dairy products would still support animal agriculture.
Freegan living is probably the most earth-friendly way to get your daily bread and other commodities. By utilizing food and other products that are discarded by others, freegans truly minimize their ecological footprint.
More Reading:
- Factory Farming FAQ
- What is the solution to factory farming?
- Freeganism - What the Freegan Lifestyle is All About
- Vegetarianism and Global Warming
Hi, Doris — it’s an interesting concept. I’ve been thinking about quasi-fasting (liquids only) one day per week … which would fit into your goal except for my morning coffee (I take cream).
This concept is a scientific load of Cr..
Man or cow made global warming is false. When people tell you things like cow farts heat the earth, we need to have the common sense to question their motives rather than blindly following along. Even if it does help animals.
Global warming science is broken at its core because it was corrupted by government.
For more information go to
http://noconsensus.wordpress.com
Jeff Id please do not say bullsh*t (edited by About.com moderator). Cows are a direct cause for global warming. And not because they fart but because of the amount of manure they produce.
I find it amazing that people fall for the constant garbage. The IPCC doesn’t care about global warming, it is saying this to promote its politics.
Scientists have no method for knowing how hot it was or will be. The statistics for the hockey stick graph and hundreds like it are deliberatly faulty. And the believe that cow dung, farts, burps and whatever you might imagine are backed only by very weak science.
Ten things everyone should know about the hockey stick.
http://noconsensus.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/ten-things-everyone-should-know-about-the-global-warming-hockey-stick/
So we should all give up eating meat to help save the planet from global warming. Hell I thought that global warming was debunked over twenty years ago. Oops forgot just how many “scientists” have made a career out of it. Mainstream media will not publish anything that does not support their concepts. A conference of some 400 scientists held in New York was not even mentioned, why because they disagreed with the report by the IPCC.
Contrary to what mainstream media is telling the world there is not consensus about why there appears to be some warming of the planet and even that has slowed over the last ten years.
But I digress; the theory behind this idea of not eating meat is that all grass fed animals excretes methane gas. Hate to tell you folks but so do we humans. As do the millions of wild animals that cover the planet.
So why are only the domesticated grazing animals targeted? Could it be that some or several corporations wish to dominate the food production for the whole planet? Why is there not a call to cull all the wild animals that roam the plains of Africa to help save the planet from methane? The Reindeer herds of the Northern hemisphere or the Bison of North America? They all produce methane and dump thousands of tons of manure each year.
The first reaction to an outbreak of bird flu is to cull all the poultry within that area. In most cases this takes away the only livelihood of the people within that region. The outbreak only has to be suspected for the cull to occur. It is of interest to note that with days of a cull, a US based corporation has filled the supply gap of poultry for that region.
For those advocating a vegetarian diet I suggest you have a good look at just how mainstream agriculture produces your vegetables. Massive amounts of artificial fertilizers (made from oil) massive amounts of pesticides and herbicides (also from oil) and oil based fuel. That is to simply grow the produce. It is then transported all over the planet to be presented for sale to you the consumer.
The soil degradation from monoculture agriculture is enormous which results in the need for more and more fertilizers further killing the land. Then there is the problems of what is used as a fertilizer as has been demonstrated recently with outbreaks of E coli in a wide range of fruit and vegetables. The only way these products could get E coli is from the fertilizers used.
I am no fan of factory farming and a firm believer in the traditional methods of farming. Grazing livestock mixed cropping with crop rotation and the use of compost as fertilizer. If for no other reason than it tastes better. Most if not all factory farmed food tastes bland if it has a taste at all.
My real question here is; Which is the greater polluter of the atmosphere.
I’m a Freegan without even knowing it. Ok, right, now I do know.
Thanks for the info. Now if my former hero Al Gore could be Freegan, he would really become a symbol of integrity to erase his Globish Footprint.
to GaryCol says:
You are the biggest polluter is the answer to your Big question.
If the cows are the problem, maybe we should eat em faster..
i agreed with author. thanksqz
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Cheers! Sandra. R.