The Low Down On Green Living
April 6th, 2009
Why Going Vegetarian For One Day Will Help Stop Global Warming
Stumble it!
Written by Brian Liloia, courtesy of Planetsave.com
Americans eat lots of meat. So much so that livestock is now one of the leading contributors to global warming, responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions as measured in a carbon dioxide equivalent.
A recent United Nations report concluded that the meat industry causes almost 40% more greenhouse gas emissions than all the world’s transportation systems — that means all of the globe’s cars, trucks, planes and ships combined.
Kathy Preston poses an important question for meat-eating Americans concerned about the effects of global warming: what are the effects of going vegetarian for just one day? Here are her astounding statistics about how going vegetarian for a single day can help prevent global warming:
If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save:
- 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months;
- 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year;
- 70 million gallons of gas — enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare;
- 3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware;
- 33 tons of antibiotics.
If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would prevent:
- Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as produced by all of France;
- 3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic damages;
- 4.5 million tons of animal excrement;
- Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant.
It is undoubtedly clear that human activity causes increased global warming, and America’s dangerous over-consumption of meat is a major contributor to climate change. Adopting a vegetarian diet is an important step towards preventing global warming. And as these alarming statistics suggest, simply decreasing the amount of meat in your diet can have a major impact.
For more information about how going vegetarian can help prevent global warming, check out the original article.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Comments
Laura
April 6th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
GREAT POST!
I wish more people knew this information. Thank you for sharing LIL!
Meghan
April 7th, 2009 at 9:01 am
This is why I became vegetarian a little less than year ago (or at least part of the reason). Thanks for spelling it out like this, I’m going to share it with all of my friends.
Michelle
April 7th, 2009 at 9:40 am
I like this, and I’ve been vegetarian off and now for 2 years now, but I think the numbers are off. The savings are not just if people don’t eat meat for one day, but if no livestock existed for that one day. Because if we don’t eat meat and fewer animals are slaughtered, more will be alive to continue producing methane, excrement and soil erosion.
Only after less meat consumption becomes the norm will the number of animals raised for meat be reduced and the positive results happen.
paul
April 7th, 2009 at 9:46 am
That is the most rediculis thing I have heard. What are we to kill all animals to save the earth. Humans produce alot of waste and use alot of drugs too. Do we put all the farmers who raise beef on unemployment. Maybe humans need to stop reproducing also. Meat is good maybe more people should eat some with their veggies.
Nick
April 7th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Thanks for this post. It quantifies some things that I have already known. I have been making an effort to cut back on the amount of meat I eat. I never thought it would be so difficult. Why not promote a world vegatirian awareness day? I think that would drive home the point and make people realize the cost of eating meat. I probably won’t be able to become a vegaterian completely but I will try to greatly decrease the amount of meat I eat.
Greg
April 7th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
well… even if global warming is real.. which is starting to become more and more questionable.. it sure is heck isn’t man thats causing it. and to make a claim that man can slow down global warming by going vegetarian is rediculous. Anybody who supports going vegetarian and is working to educate others about it should be appaled when garbage like this comes out..it doesn’t help the cause at all and just makes it look crazy. I may agree that meat is unhealthy, and that there would be less polution if everyone went vegetarian., but to say that going vegetarian will help stop global warming is like the idiots that say if you smoke pot you support terrorism.. craziness
Von
April 11th, 2009 at 2:15 am
Sadly, this is too simplistic. Should we stop allowing non-food animals to eat and drink. What do they contribute? And what about all the jobs that would be lost? I feel the changes with the most far-reaching positive effects would bring us back in touch with where our food comes, by what methods and a deep gratitude for it.
Dan Winkler
April 12th, 2009 at 8:57 am
I would refer you to the book “Sustainable Energy — without the hot air” which is available free online here:
http://www.withouthotair.com/
Some excerpts:
“if everyone does a little, we’ll achieve only a little.” (That is, it’s not true that “every little bit helps.”)
“…people get emotional (for example about wind farms or nuclear power) and no-one talks about numbers. Or if they do mention numbers, they select them to sound big, to make an impression, and to score points in arguments, rather than to aid thoughtful discussion.”
“This is a straight-talking book about the numbers.”
K.Vanderford
April 17th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
This is all well and good but I think the qualifier here is not the amount of meat eaten by Americans - it’s the “number” of of people who eat meat. If we didn’t have so many people there would not be the need for so much meat. Don’t forget that all these people, worldwide are breathing off carbon dioxide 24/7.
What we need to control is the population of people, worlwide. Thank goodness that this new president sees that and is supporting birth control and abortions, both here and overseas. I don’t think that we are really addressing the root source of the problem. Less people, less need for carbon dioxide producing animals and machines.
Post a Comment