No Meat Week: Help Stop Global Warming! | Use Celsias.co.nz - New Zealand's guide to sustainable business

http://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/no-meat-week-...

Did you know that if every American who eats meat daily decided to have one meat-free day a week, it would be the equivalent of taking 8 million cars off the roads?

• Animal agriculture causes about 18% of global human-induced green-house gas emissions

• Livestock produce 30-40% of total methane gas emissions

• Livestock occupy 30 percent of ice-free land on the planet, a major cause of deforestation

• Industrial meat production relies heavily on fossil fuels through fertilizer manufacturing and global transport

The emerging global warming crisis requires both personal change and industrial accountability. In addition to energy conservation, each of us can also limit our contribution to global warming by eating less meat and calling for a more sustainable livestock industry.

The goal of this one-week meat-fast is to provide a platform to raise awareness about how meat-consumption directly contributes to climate change.

Join the campaign now at:
http://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/no-meat-week-...

2 comments about this action

Matthew W.

How about hunting for your own food?
Much more eco-friendly... and if you're happy to eat the meat of a dead animal, then you should be prepared to take the responsibility to kill it, no?

in August 2008

Charles M.

Abraham C: I think you make the mistake of lumping all meat production together.

Hunted meat probably has the lowest eco-impact of any meat as it does not require changing habitat.

Grass fed meat is probably next.

Absolutely worst is feed lot raised meat.

You say that vegetable production uses fossil fuels. Yes that it is true. However, you're forgetting that feedlot raised meat needs to have a whole lot more vegetable matter generated. For every food unit that comes out of a feedlot, approx 20 food units go in. All those inputs needed mechanisation (and oil)... and all those other bad things you mention.

A vegetarian ends up eating less crops than a feedlot meat eater by a factor of 5 or so.

Livestock can be a valuable part of the agricultural system. For example, flat lands that are suitable for crops can have be rotated with pasture with livestock to regenerate the land. The marginal (hilly and rocky) lands that are not suited to cropping can be used for grassland grazing. The boggy stuff can be used for fish farming. Chickens and ducks can provide vital pest management functions as well as supplying meat and eggs.

in December 2008

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