When carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are released into the air they blanket the Earth, trapping heat inside the atmosphere. This is known as the greenhouse effect, and it keeps our planet at a temperature at which life can thrive. The problem is the massive increase in the output of these and other greenhouse gases since industrialisation has caused the effect to intensify.
How your diet can help
Meat eating is responsible for at least a third of all biological methane emissions.24 Methane is produced by bacteria in the stomachs of sheep, cattle and goats and is released through the animals’ bodily functions.
Molecule for molecule, methane is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.25
They said it...
“The livestock sector is a major player, responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO2 equivalent. This is a higher share than transport.” (Transport causes 13.5%) - The United Nations FAO26
Factory farming uses massive inputs of fossil fuels. The vast majority of this energy is used in producing, transporting and processing feed.27
A vegan diet uses substantially less energy than a diet based on animal products and therefore contributes much less to air pollution, acidification, oil spills, habitat destruction and global warming.
A University of Chicago study comparing a typical US meat-based diet with a vegan diet found that the ‘typical’ US diet generates the equivalent of nearly 1.5 tonnes more carbon dioxide per person per year than a vegan diet. The authors of the study concluded that it would be more environmentally effective to go vegan than to switch to a petrol electric hybrid car.28
The felling of forests to grow food for the exploding population of cattle, pigs and chickens, results in fewer trees to absorb carbon dioxide and is a major contributor to global warming.
Source:
http://www.vegansociety.com/resources/environment/climate.aspx
No comments:
Post a Comment