"Eating Our Planet To Death"

I have read more great info on the subject of Hybrid vs Vegetarian, and have found some great content on just how far reaching and heavy the toll that producing meat has on our planet.
In an interesting blog Kathy Freston breaks down the effects like this....

"Producing a calorie of meat protein means burning more than ten times as much fossil fuels--and spewing more than ten times as much heat-trapping carbon dioxide--as does a calorie of plant protein." This info is pretty much common knowledge after doing a bit of research on the matter, this alone in my mind makes going vegetarian one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

But then she takes it further and compounds the negative effects of meat production....

"Animal agriculture takes up an incredible 70% of all agricultural land, and 30% of the total land surface of the planet. As a result, farmed animals are probably the biggest cause of slashing and burning the world's forests. Today, 70% of former Amazon rainforest is used for pastureland, and feed crops cover much of the remainder. These forests serve as "sinks," absorbing carbon dioxide from the air, and burning these forests releases all the stored carbon dioxide, quantities that exceed by far the fossil fuel emission of animal agriculture."

Ok so forget going to the Amazon and other forests to stop loggers from cutting down trees, I should see Activists and protesters outside my house whenever I fire up the BBQ for some Burgers and Kabobs, eco-terrorism groups should start holding little kids with happy meals ransom until their parents sign a contract to never serve meat again, and people who eat off the value menu at fast food chains should be forced to plant a tree for every $1 food item they consume.

Then she discusses the different kinds of gas other than carbon dioxide, further compounding the negative effects meet production has on our earth.
As if that wasn't bad enough, the real kicker comes when looking at gases besides carbon dioxide--gases like methane and nitrous oxide, enormously effective greenhouse gases with 23 and 296 times the warming power of carbon dioxide, respectively.hese super-strong gases come primarily from farmed animals' digestive processes, and from their manure. In fact, while animal agriculture accounts for 9% of our carbon dioxide emissions, it emits 37% of our methane, and a whopping 65% of our nitrous oxide.

All of these gasses lead to global warming, true a Hybrid can cut down on carbon dioxide, but cutting meat production not only cuts down on that, but also on the above mentioned methane and nitrous oxide, two other gasses that are compounding the problem that has reinvented Al Gore.

This info has opened my eyes even more to the problems caused by meat production, I was really surprised to read how much of the Amazon has been destroyed in order to aid meat production. After doing a small amount of research there are so many compelling reasons to reduce your meat intake, or even cut it out all together. For anybody looking to improve themselves as a human, becoming a vegetarian should be given a hard look, do you want to improve your health? check. Do you want to slow down or even help stop global warming? Check. Do you want to save a rainforest? Check. Do you want to stop animal cruelty? Check. Do you want to save money? Check. There are so many other reasons to go vegetarian but the 3 areas that were mentioned in Kathy Freston's article should give any socially conscious person, or any person for that matter, food for though.

David Doyle