Do you know that 70% of previously forested land in Amazon is used for cattle grazing and growing crops for animal feed? Or do you know that 1kg of beef is responsible for the equivalent of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the average European car every 250km? Or what about this, do you know that the water used to produce 4 beef burgers is enough to bathe us for 6 months?
Climate change can never be appropriately addressed without reflecting on our diet. According to the 2006 Livestock Long Shadow Report, the meat industry is contributing to 18% of global greenhouse gases, that is more than all cars, planes, trucks and ships added together! It is human's largest contributor of methane, a short-lived greenhouse gas that is 72 times more potent than CO2 calculated to a 20 year span. As it only stays in the atmosphere for 10 - 20 years, cutting down our methane is a absolutely crucial step for us to avoid dangerous tipping points in the climate .
A recent report by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency has also state that we can cut 70% of the cost of mitigating climate change if the world is to switch to a plant based diet. A land area as big as Russia and Canada combined can be freed from livestock rearing, and part of the land can be reforested to serve as carbon sinks.
Help combat climate change with a change in your diet! Start by saying no to meat on Thursdays.
"DON'T EAT MEAT, ride a bike and be a frugal shopper, that's how you can HELP BRAKE GLOBAL WARMING" - Dr Rajendra Pachuari, Chief of UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
"While we can do many things to reduce our carbon emissions, many of these things are much less effective than CHANGING OUR DIET which in terms of individual action, is THE BEST THING WE CAN DO." - Dr James Hansen, Director of NASA GODDARD Institute of Space Studies
"We have passed tipping points. We have not passed a point of no return. We can still roll things back, but it is going to require a quick turn in direction." - Dr James Hansen