Environment

“Livestock’s contribution to environmental problems is on a massive scale and its potential contribution to their solution is equally large. The impact is so significant that it needs to be addressed with urgency.”

–UN Food & Agriculture Organization, 2006

In 2006, Livestock’s Long Shadow, the widely cited report from United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), estimated that 18% of annual worldwide Green House Gas (GHG) emissions are attributed to livestock.

And this is more than the entire transportation sector! This means we can combine all the cars, lorries, trains, aeroplanes and boats around the world, and yet the green house gas emissions from all of these together will be less that that from animal agriculture sector [Visit http://www.meatthetruth.nl/content/view/114].

As if this wasn’t enough, in November/December 2009, the report Livestock and Climate Change from World Watch Institute, shows that livestock and its by-products actually account for 51% (more than half!) of annual worldwide GHG emissions. Clearly, intensive livestock production, today, is responsible for more GHG emissions than any other sector.

Livestock sector is the single largest source of methane and nitrous oxide, two of the most significant Green House Gases. Besides being the leading cause of global warming, factory farming poses other serious threats to our environment. Animal agriculture is

1.    A major polluter of our water bodies including rivers and oceans.

2.    One of the largest user of our land and water,

3.    A major cause of deforestation and land degradation.

Please visit www.planetdiet.org for details.

Evidently the single most important step that we as an individual can take to significantly and directly reduce our contribution to global warming and environmental degradation is to eliminate the consumption of animal products.