WE ARE AT CRISIS POINT

1
(No Transcript)
2
WE ARE AT CRISIS POINT
If there is no action before 2012, it is too
late. What we do now in the next 2-3 years will
determine our future. This is the defining
moment. (2007)
- Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of IPCC
We are really running out of time. in fact,
this next year or two years are the critical time
period. (2008)
- Dr. James Hansen, Director of NASAs Goddard
Institute for Space Studies
We are so close to the red line, we may wake up
tomorrow and discover there is nothing left to
save.
- Maneka Gandhi, former Indian Environment
Minister
We have a full-scale planetary emergency.
- Al Gore, former US Vice President
3
WE ARE AT CRISIS POINT
The Union of Concerned Scientists, some 1,700 of
the worlds leading scientists, including the
majority of Nobel laureates in the sciences
issued this warning as far back as 1992
WARNING
We the undersigned, senior members of the world's
scientific community, hereby warn all humanity of
what lies ahead. A great change in our
stewardship of the Earth and the life on it is
required, if vast human misery is to be avoided
and our global home on this planet is not to be
irretrievably mutilated.
The scientists issuing this warning hope that our
message will reach and affect people everywhere.
We need the help of many.
We call on all to join us in this task.
Source 1992 World Scientists' Warning to
Humanity. www.ucsusa.org .Union of Concerned
Scientists. Retrieved on 17-01-2009.
http//tinyurl.com/5qndft
4

• Unprecedented ice melts in the Arctic and
  Antarctic
• Melting of many of the worlds glaciers
• Submergence of 18 islands already around the
  world
• 25 million environmental refugees in 2007
  alone
• Decimation of rainforests at 13.5 million
  hectares per annum
• Species loss 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than
  the expected natural extinction rate
• Ocean acidification and water pollution
  causing oceanic dead zones and affecting
• marine life and ecosystem
• 80 of global fish stocks fully or
  over-exploited
• Water scarcity and food insecurity
• Atmospheric CO2 levels at 385 ppm steadily
  reaching 450 ppm catastrophic level
• Exponential increase of Methane vs Carbon
  Dioxide
• Frequency and intensity of natural disasters
  all over the world, including, droughts,
• floods and wildfires

5
Many sectors contribute to Greenhouse Gases
(GHGs), however ONE SECTOR is the single largest
source of two of the most significant GHGs
methane and nitrous oxide This sector is also our
single largest user of land and water a major
cause of deforestation, wide-scale land
degradation and species loss and a major
polluter of our rivers, oceans and drinking
supplies it is ANIMAL AGRICULTURE
Livestocks 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
6
One of The Biggest Contributors to GHG Emissions

• Livestock industry accounts for 80 of all GHG
  emissions from agriculture.
• Livestock accounts for 18 of global GHG
  emissions from human activities
• (more than the entire transport sector
  globally).

• 37 of global methane emissions
• 23x more potent than CO2 over 100 years
• 100x more potent than CO2 over 5 years
• 65 of global nitrous oxide emissions
• 297x more potent than CO2
• 64 of the worlds ammonia
• Contributing to acid rain
• Affecting biodiversity
• 9 of total CO2 emissions

The single largest source of methane nitrous
oxide
Source Livestocks Long Shadow Rome 2006
(PDF). Ch. 3, P. 82, 112, 114. Ch. 7, P.272.
Retrieved on 17-01-2009. http//tinyurl.com/96csxh
Methane controls before risky geoengineering,
please - NewScientist http//www.newscientist.com
/article/mg20227146.000-methane-controls-before-ri
sky-geoengineering-please.html
7
The Single Largest Anthropogenic User of Land

• Livestock sector is by far the single largest
  anthropogenic user of land.
• Feed crop production uses 471 hectares of land
  (33 of total arable land).
• Livestock sector is a major cause of wide
  scale land degradation with 70 of all
• grazing land in dry areas considered to be
  degraded because of overgrazing,
• compaction and erosion.

Source Livestocks Long Shadow Rome 2006
(PDF). Ch. 7, P. 270, 272. Retrieved on
17-01-2009. http//tinyurl.com/96csxh
8
The Largest Sectoral Source of Water Pollutants

• Livestock industry is the largest sectoral
  source of water pollutants.
• Animal wastes contribute to large oceanic
  dead zones, which extended to nearly
• 7,903 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico
  during Summer 2007.
• More than 2 billion tons of animal manure was
  produced in the late 1990s allowing
• 100 million tons of nitrogen to find its way
  into our water systems.
• Once pollutants, including nitrogen,
  phosphorus, antibiotics and pesticides, reach the
  
• waterways they cause a great deal of damage
  to aquatic and human life.

Source Livestocks Long Shadow Rome 2006
(PDF). Retrieved on 17-01-2009.
http//tinyurl.com/96csxh NOAA and Louisiana
Scientists Predict Largest Gulf of Mexico Dead
Zone on Record This Summer. www.noaanews.noaa.go
v. Ben Sherman. Retrieved on 17-01-2009.
http//tinyurl.com/5atfov
9
livestock industry Deforestation
A Major Cause of Deforestation

• 70 of the Amazon deforestation is due to
  clearing land for pasture and a large part
• of the remainder is used for livestock feed
  crops.
• By year 2010 cattle are projected to be
  grazing on some 24 million hectares of
• neo-tropical land that was forest in 2000.
• If we lose the forests, we lose the fight
  against climate change. - Declaration
• signed by 300 climate experts at the 2007
  United Nations Climate Change
• conference in Bali.

Source Livestocks Long Shadow Rome 2006
(PDF). Ch. 5.3.1 , P. 188. Retrieved on
17-01-2009. http//tinyurl.com/96csxh
10
livestock industry Deforestation
Effects of Deforestation

• Deforestation causes 18-25 of global carbon
  emissions.
• Deforestation affects rainfall and freshwater,
  soil productivity, clean air, forestry, and
• biodiversity resources.
• Habitat destruction through deforestation is a
  major cause for loss of biodiversity.
• Heavily deforested areas can see a 300 fold
  increase in the risk of malaria infection
• compared to areas of intact forest.
• Tropical forests are critical to the survival
  of over a billion of the worlds poorest and
• most vulnerable people.
• Deforestation and overgrazing are two causes
  of desertification. By 2020 about
• 135 million people risk being driven from
  their lands because of continuing
• desertification.

Source Global Canopy Programme Forests Now
Declaration http//www.globalcanopy.org/main.php?m
117sm158t1 State of the
World's Forests 2007, UN Food and Agriculture
Organization, Rome, 2007, Part 2, Selected Issues
in the Forest sector UNDP Human
Development Report 2007/2008 Fighting Climate
Change Human Solidarity In A Divided World
11
Loss of Biodiversity
We are in an era of unprecedented threats to
biodiversity. Fifteen out of 24 important
ecosystem services are assessed to be in
decline. The sheer quantity of animals being
raised for human consumption is a threat to the
Earths biodiversity.
- UN Food and Agriculture Organization, 2006

• Livestock take up 30 of the earths land
  surface which was once habitat for wildlife.
• Tropical forests hold half of the worlds
  species which are becoming extinct at an
• alarming rate due to deforestation for meat
  production.
• Species loss today is 1,000 to 10,000 times
  higher than the expected natural
• extinction rate.

Source Livestocks Long Shadow, UN Food and
Agriculture Organization, 2007 http//tinyurl.com/
6bowo7 International Union for
Conservation of Nature 2007 http//cmsdata.iucn.or
g/downloads/species_extinction_05_2007.pdf
12
livestock industry Water Scarcity
Water Scarcity
Water Usage
Meat production, particularly the production of
feed, consumes large amounts of critically
important water resources.

• Over 1 billion people worldwide do not
• have access to clean water.
• More than 2 billion people do not have
• proper sanitation.
• By 2025 there will be 1.8 billion people
• living with absolute water scarcity and
• 2/3 of the worlds population could be
• living under water stressed conditions.
• On a global basis, the amount of fresh
• water available per person is falling
  rapidly.

- UN Food and Agriculture Organization, 2006
Source Livestocks Long Shadow, UN Food and
Agriculture Organization, 2006 http//tinyurl.com/
6bowo7 United Nations Environment Programme
(2002) Global Environmental Outlook
Saving Water from Field to Fork, SIWI, IWMI,
Chalmers SEI, May 2008 http//tinyurl.com/58padp
13
livestock industry Water Scarcity
Water Usage - Does Our Choice of Food Matter?

• Livestock sector is among the most damaging
  sectors to the Earths scarce water resources.
• Producing 1 kilo of beef requires
  13,000-100,000 litres of water.
• Producing 1 kilo of wheat requires 500-2000
  litres of water.
• Water-intensive food items like meat and dairy
  products are placing increased stress on food
• production systems.
• A diet containing less meat and dairy products
  is not only healthier than our current eating
• habits, but is better for the environment.

Source Livestocks Long Shadow, UN Food and
Agriculture Organization, 2006 Pimentel D and
Pimentel M 2003 Sustainability of Meat-Based and
Plant-Based Diets and the Environment,
Am. J, Clin. Nutr. 2003 78(suppl)
660S-3S. http//www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/78/3
/660S SIWI, IWMI, May 2008 Saving water from
field to Fork
http//www.siwi.org/documents/Resources/Policy_Bri
efs/PB_From_Filed_to_Fork_2008.pdf Food
Matters, Cabinet Office, July 2008, p.15
14
Energy Usage - Does Our Choice of Food Matter?

• One calorie of animal protein requires more
  than 10 times as much fossil fuel input as does
  one
• calorie of plant protein.
• Producing 1 kg of beef leads to the emission
  of GHGs with a global warming potential of 36.4
  kg of
• CO2
• 1 kg of beef produces the same amount of CO2
  emitted by the average European car every 250km,
• and burns enough energy to light a 100 watt
  bulb for 20 days.
• Grain fed to animals reared for human
  consumption loses 90 of the energy from the
  original grain.

Source Pimentel D and Pimentel M 2003
Sustainability of Meat-Based and Plant-Based
Diets and the Environment, http//www.ajcn.org/cg
i/content/full/78/3/660S Animal
Science Journal, Evaluating environmental impacts
of the Japanese beef cow-calf system by the life
cycle assessment method, 2007. Dr.
David Archer, Professor of Geophysical Sciences
at University of Chicago
15
Our Choice Food or Feed
Global Grain Crop Production 2109 Million tons
(2007/08)

• 36 to feed animals
• 47 to feed people
• 5 for grain-derived bio-fuels
• 12 for other

Source Crop Prospects and Food Situation, UN
Food and Agriculture Organization,
http//www.fao.org/docrep/010/ai465e/ai465e04.htm
(calculated from data therein)
16
World Hunger
The Facts

• Every 6 seconds, a child dies
• from hunger.
• More than 1.02 billion people in
• the world go hungry every day.
• Hunger and poverty claim
• 25,000 lives every day.
• 760 million tons of grain are fed
• to animals every year.

Source Livestocks Long Shadow, UN Food and
Agriculture Organization, 2006.
http//tinyurl.com/96csxh World Food
Programme http//www.wfp.org/hunger/stats
17
World Hunger
Overcoming World Hunger

• 1 hectare of land produces
• With 1.02 billion people hungry in the world
  (more
• than the populations of USA, Canada, and
  the
• European Union), diverting the critically
  needed
• grain from cattle to humans would ensure
  that the
• worlds hungry get their share of food.
• The 760 million tons of grain feeding animals
  now
• could cover the global food deficit 14
  times over.

• Beef to support 1 person
• Lamb to support 2 people
• Rice to support 19 people
• Potatoes to support 22 people

Source Diet, Nutrition and Prevention of Chronic
Diseases, WHO/FAO 2003, (3.4, P 21) UN FAO
The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2006
George Monbiot, The Real Crisis
is World Hunger, if you Care, Eat Less Meat,
Guardian 15 April 2008
18
Meat Consumption is Expected to Double by 2050

• Raising animals for food is a major cause of
  
• deforestation, land degradation, air
  pollution, water
• shortage, water pollution, loss of
  biodiversity and
• global warming and yet the global livestock
  sector is
• growing faster than any other agricultural
  sub-sector.
• Dairy output is expected to more than double
  by 2050.
• EUs subsidies to the livestock industry was
  
• 3,500,704,000 Euros in 2007, ensuring the
  industrys
• continuing growth.

Source Livestocks Long Shadow, UN Food and
Agriculture Organization, 2006.
http//tinyurl.com/96csxh The
livestock industry and climate EU makes bad
worse, Jens Holm Toivo Jokkala, Parliamentary
Group (p. 17-18)
19
Status Quo Our Future

• Following the unprecedented ice melt in Summer
  2007,
• the thickness of ice fell by nearly half a
  metre (19) in
• large parts of the Arctic in comparison to
  the previous
• five winters.
• The Arctic ocean is predicted to be ice free
  by the end
• of summer 2012, causing catastrophic
  climate
• change with increased severity and
  frequency. 
• The most devastating effect of rising
  temperatures is
• the release of 400 billion tonnes of
  methane gas from
• the melting permafrost and the ocean
  seabed.
• This ticking timebomb once triggered will
  result in runaway
• global warming and there will be nothing
  humans can
• do to stop it.

Source Natural Environment Research Council,
http//tinyurl.com/5jrpp2 Jay Zwally, NASA
Scientist Methane Burps, Ticking time Bomb,
Energy Bulletin, 15 December 2004
http//www.energybulletin.net/node/3647
Katey Walter, Nature 443 71-75, 7th Sept. 2006
20
Status Quo Our Future

• At least 18 islands have been submerged around
  the world
• already.
• Another 40 islands are at risk from rising sea
  levels,
• including the Maldives (369,000 residents)
  whose president
• wants to relocate the whole island, the
  Solomon Islands
• (566,000 residents) and Dubai (1.2 million
  residents).
• The IPCC estimates sea level rise of .4 to 1.4
  metres due to
• thermal expansion alone. However, the water
  released from
• melting ice bodies increases this
  substantially.
• Environmental deterioration currently
  displaces 10 million
• people every year. 50 million environmental
  refugees are
• expected by 2010.
• UNHCR statistics show 25 million people became
  
• environmental refugees in 2007.

Sea level rise will cause displacement of coastal
populations. About half the world lives within
50 miles of a coastline. James Hansen,
Director of NASA GISS
Source http//tinyurl.com/cvt26c,
http//tinyurl.com/al5scg, http//www.guardian.co
.uk/environment/2005/oct/12/naturaldisasters.clima
techange1
21
The fastest way to slow global warming and curb
climate change?
Cut down on short-lived greenhouse gases such as
methane (the single largest source of which is
livestock)
22

• Methane is 100 times more potent than CO2 over
  5 years but cycles out
• of the atmosphere within 10 20 years.
• Even if the entire world switched to a zero
  carbon economy and lifestyle
• tomorrow, it would take 100 1000 years
  for CO2 to dissipate out of the
• atmosphere.
• Cutting down on short-lived GHG will quickly
  translate into cooling of the
• Earth which will give us time to deal with
  CO2 emissions.

Source IPCC Fourth Assessment Synthesis
Report 2007 http//www.ipcc.ch/publications_and
_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_s
ynthesis_report.htm, chapter 2
http//ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/wg1-report.html
Methane controls before risky
geoengineering, please - NewScientist
http//www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227146.000
-methane-controls-before-risky-geoengineering-plea
se.html
23
Methane Reduction
Buys us Time in Fight against Global Warming
many of us are saying if you want to make an
impact soon, slow down the melting of the
glaciers, slow down the rise of the sea level,
and so on, give us more time to deal with things,
give us, society, more time, shouldnt you work
more on methane?
- Kirk R. Smith, MPH, PhD Professor of Global
Environmental Health, University of California,
Berkeley
The mitigation of non-carbon dioxide (non-CO2)
greenhouse gas emissions can be a relatively
inexpensive supplement to CO2-only mitigation
strategies. Methane mitigation has the largest
potential across all the non-CO2 Greenhouse
Gases.
- US Environmental Protection Agency
Control of methane emissions turns out to be a
more powerful lever to control global warming
than would be anticipated.
- Drew Shindell, PhD Atmospheric Physicist, NASA
Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Source Interview with Supreme Master TV
US Environmental Protection Agency, Global
Mitigation of Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases, June
2006 NASA GISS Report Methanes
Impact on Climate Change May Be Twice Previous
Estimates
24
Methane Reduction
The single most effective action individuals can
take for their health and for the survival of
the planet?
Reduce or eliminate meat dairy consumption
...the balance of environmental analysis
suggests that a healthy, low-impact diet would
contain less meat and fewer dairy products than
we typically eat today. Eat mostly foods of
plant origin.
Source Cabinet Office, Food Matters Towards
a Strategy for the 21st Century, July 2008
http//www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/strategy/work_area
s/food_policy.aspx World Cancer
Research Fund and the American Institute for
Cancer Research. Food, Nutrition, Physical
Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer A Global
Perspective. 2007.
www.dietandcancerreport.org
25
Meat-free Diet
A Quicker Easier Solution

• Turnover rate of farm animals is 1-2 years,
  while turnover rate of cars and
• power plants, etc... can be decades.
• Methane can disappear from the atmosphere in
  9-15 years, while CO2 can stay
• in the atmosphere for more than a century.
• Introduction of new techniques and further
  research takes many years.
• Cut in CO2 involves fighting powerful
  wealthy business interests, while
• vegetarian foods are readily available.

Source A New Global Warming Strategy, Noam
Mohr, Earth Save International, August 2005
http//tinyurl.com/2usvxl
26
Meat-free Diet
Environmental Advantages

• If everybody in the UK ate no meat for 1 day a
  week, it would be equivalent to
• replacing one billion light bulbs with
  low-energy ones.
• If everybody in the UK ate no meat for 2 days
  a week, it would save an equivalent
• of almost 73 million return flights from
  London to Ibiza.
• If everybody in the UK ate no meat for 6 days
  a week, it would create greater
• carbon savings than removing all the cars
  off UK roads (29 million cars).

Source Pieter van Beukering, Kim van der Leeuw,
Desirée Immerzeel and Harry Aiking (2008) Meat
the Truth. The contribution of meat consumption
in the UK to climate change.
Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), VU
University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
http//tinyurl.com/5q3vwx HM Government
(2006) Climate Change, the UK programme 2006
27
Meat-free Diet
Health Benefits

• Prevents high blood pressure
• Lowers cholesterol levels
• Reduces Type 2 diabetes
• Prevents stroke conditions
• Reverses atherosclerosis
• Reduces heart disease risk - 50
• Reduces heart surgery risk - 80
• Prevents many forms of cancer
• Strengthens immune system
• Increases life expectancy up to 15 years

Source Source American Dietetic Association
position paper on vegetarian diets
http//tinyurl.com/djodu Jenkins DJA et al.,
2003. Type 2 diabetes and the vegetarian diet,
American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 78, No. 3,
610S-616S, Sep 03 http//tinyurl.com/9sohlt
Ornish D, Scherwitz L, Billings J, et al.
Intensive lifestyle changes for reversal of
coronary heart
disease, Five-year follow-up of the Lifestyle
Heart Trial. Journal of the American Medical
Association. 1998 280 2001-2007
http//tinyurl.com/6djlgg
28
Meat-free Diet
94 Savings in GHG Emissions
Foodwatch of Germany compared the GHG of meat
versus non-meat consumption over a one year
period and translated that into car mileage.
Results

• A vegetarian diet reduces emissions by
• nearly a half.
• An animal-free vegan diet produced less
• than 1/7th the GHG emissions of a meat
• eater 86 savings in GHG emissions.
• An organic vegan diet produces 94
• savings in GHG emissions.

Source Spiegel Online International, 27 August
2008 http//tinyurl.com/557yxs
29
Meat-free Diet
Vegan Diets Are The Most Water Efficient
Entire Vegan Meal tofu, whole grain rice, 2
vegetables
Chicken 227g, Beef 227g
Source Water Inputs in California Food
Production, Water Education Foundation,
September, 1991 (chart E3 p28) http//tinyurl.com/
6kd6kx
30
Meat-free Diet
Being Vegan Makes Economic Sense
A global transition to complete plant-based foods
could wipe 80 or 32 trillion off the cost of
mitigating climate change.
- NEAA and New Scientist 2009
Vegan or Local Food?
shifting less than one day per weeks
consumption of red meat and/or dairy to other
protein sources or a vegetable based diet could
have the same climate impact as buying all
household food from local providers.
- Carnegie Mellon University research
Source of Food Emissions

• Transportation (Food Miles) 11
• Agricultural industrial processes 83

Source Food-Miles and the Relative Climate
Impacts of Food Choices in the United States,
Carnegie Mellon University, 2008
http//tinyurl.com/3w377g New
Scientist 2009 - Eating less meat could cut
climate costs - 10 Feb 2009, Netherlands
Environmental Assessment Agency - Feb 2009
http//www.pbl.nl/en/publications/2009/Cli
mate-benefits-of-changing-diet.html
31
Meat-free Diet - Quotes
What Leading Scientists and Politicians are
saying...
Please eat less meat meat is a very carbon
intensive commodity.
- Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman,
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The single action that a person can take to
reduce carbon emissions is vegetarianism.
- Dr. James Hansen, Top World Climatologist, NASA
I would advocate getting off of the meat diet,
that it really is not sustainable.
- Dr. Jonathan Patz, Professor of Env. Studies
Populations Health Sciences, University of
Wisconsin Madison
We have to reduce the meat consumption and one
way of doing it is of course that a larger amount
of what we eat is vegetarian and everything else
other than meat.
- Erik Solheim, Minister of The Environment
International Development, Norway
32
Meat-free Diet - Quotes
What Leading Scientists and Politicians are
saying...
We must transform ourselves from being passive
consumers to active consumers. We need to lobby
government for change, eat less meat and fewer
dairy products, and garden more.
- Professor Tim Lang UK Government Advisor on
Food Security Obesity
We should abolish meat subsidies, let meat bear
its own environmental costs and work to make
modern vegetarian food cheaper.
- Jens Holm, MEP, Sweden
Unless we change our food choices nothing else
matters because it is meat that is destroying
most of our forests, it is meat that pollutes the
waters, it is meat that is creating disease which
leads to all our money being diverted to
hospitals, so its the first choice for anybody
who wants to save the Earth.
- Maneka Gandhi, Parliamentarian former
Environment Minister, India
33
Meat-free Diet - Quotes
And what they said in the past...
Nothing will benefit human health and increase
chances for survival of life on Earth as much as
the evolution to a vegetarian diet.
- Albert Einstein, Theoretical Physicist
While we ourselves are the living graves of
murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal
conditions on this Earth?
- George Bernard Shaw, Playwright
Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which
is the goal of all human evolution. Until we stop
harming all other living beings, we are still
savages.
- Thomas Edison, Inventor
34
Meat-free Diet - Quotes
And what they said in the past...
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress
can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
- Mahatma Gandhi, Spiritual Leader
In their behaviour towards creatures, all men
are Nazis. Human beings see oppression vividly
when theyre the victims. Otherwise they
victimize blindly and without a thought.
- Isaac Bashevis Singer, Author, Nobel Prize 1978
Auschwitz begins wherever someone looks at a
slaughterhouse and thinks theyre only animals.
- Theodor Adorno, Philosopher
A man can live and be healthy without killing
animals for food therefore, if he eats meat he
participates in taking animal life merely for the
sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral.
- Leo Tolstoy, Novelist
35
Call for action
Its time for the truth about meat to be brought
to light. Animal agriculture and the consumption
of animal products are destroying our planet and
are the root cause of the most pressing
challenges of our time. We can no longer hide
from the fact that meat is the single greatest
contributor to the most prevalent and deadly
global health problems, such as cardiovascular
disease, diabetes and obesity. We must recognize
that meat is causing global food shortage as we
feed over one third of all grain products to
animals (over 7 times the amount used for
bio-fuels), and as farmers in developing nations
grow feed crop for animals rather than food crops
for their fellow citizens. And we must address
the reality that meat and dairy are the leading
causes of global warming, pushing our Earth
beyond the tipping point, heading to where it can
no longer maintain life as we know it. The facts
and figures presented here are compiled from the
latest research by leading climate scientists,
governmental bodies, the United Nations, many
independent organizations, and health
professionals. They show clearly how by stopping
the devastation of meat production and
consumption and embracing a plant-based diet, we
will be able to live in optimal health, preserve
our planet and have enough food and clean water
for all.
36
Call for action
Executive Secretary of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change, Yvo de
Boer, has pointed out that a bigger part of
higher food price increases comes from feeding
grain to animals being raised for meat. Secretary
de Boer stated, The best solution would be for
us to all become vegetarians.
Source http//www.enn.com/pollution/article/34572

37
VIDEOSThe Bio-Da Versity Code by Earth Scope A
Community of Scientists Conducting
Multidisciplinary research across the Earth
Sciences http//www.daversitycode.com/earthscope/
Earthlings Documentary video on the correlation
between nature, animals, and human economic
interests http//veg-tv.info/Earthlin
gs A Delicate Balance Documentary with the
latest discoveries of some of the most prominent
experts on nutrition in the world, unravelling
the mysteries behind the disease epidemic which
has struck affluent countries with a vengeance.
http//adelicatebalance.com.au/ ORGANIZATIONSNutr
ition Ecology International Centre An
interdisciplinary scientific committee
established with the purpose of investigating the
impact of all stages and methods of food
production and consumption, with regard to
health, environment, society and economy
http//www.nutritionecology.org/ European
Parliament European United Left/Nordic Green
Left The Livestock Industry and Climate Change
EU Makes Bad Worse http//ec.europa.eu/budget/refo
rm/library/focus/meat_climate_report_en.pdf Global
Canopy Program An Alliance of 29 scientific
institutions in 19 countries, which lead the
world in forest canopy research, education, and
conservation http//www.globalcanopy.org/ Food
vs. Feed http//un.evana.org/
38
To assimilate, document and present scientific
data relating to the significant detrimental
effects of livestock production and consumption
including deforestation, disease, drought, global
hunger and climate change. To provide
materials and guidance for individuals to
encourage the media to engage these topics and to
encourage governments and other institutions to
introduce beneficial legislation and policies
resulting in decreased consumption of animal
products subsequently mitigating climate change
and associated human, planetary and economic
costs, safeguarding water supplies, preserving
forests, minimizing environmental degradation,
improving health and alleviating global food
shortages.