UN Urges a Meat-Free Diet to Save the Planet

Source : http://meatfreecop16.org/solutions/

Scientific findings that supports a plant based diet as an immediate solution to address climate change

UN Urges Vegan Diet
A global diet free of meat and dairy is necessary for the world to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, according to a new report from the UN. The report, Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Production and Consumption: Priority Products and Materials from the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP), found that consuming a diet of meat and dairy is as bad for the planet as global fossil fuel consumption because both increase in direct proportion to the economic growth.

“Agriculture and food consumption are identified as one of the most important drivers of environmental pressures, especially habitat change, climate change, water use and toxic emissions,” explains the report. “As the global population surges towards a predicted 9.1 billion people by 2050, western tastes for diets heavy in meat and dairy products are unsustainable.”

Agriculture, in particular meat and dairy products, account for 70% of global freshwater consumption, 38% of total land use and 19% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions according to the report. A vegan diet has the least impact on the planet.

NOTE: For a full report, go to the following link:
http://www.unep.org/resourcepanel/documents/pdf/PriorityProductsAndMaterials_Report_Full.pdf

“Livestock and Climate Change”
Recent analysis by Goodland and Anhang co-authors of“Livestock and Climate Change” in the latest issue of World Watch magazine found that livestock and their byproducts actually account for at least 32.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year, or 51 percent of annual worldwide GHG emissions!

The main sources of GHGs from animal agriculture are:

**Deforestation of the rainforests to grow feed for livestock.
**Methane from manure waste. – Methane is 72 times more potent as a global warming gas than CO2
**Refrigeration and transport of meat around the world.
**Raising, processing and slaughtering of the animal.

Meat production also uses a massive amount of water and other resources which would be better used to feed the world’s hungry and provide water to those in need.

Based on their research, Goodland and Anhang conclude that replacing livestock products with soy-based and other alternatives would be the best strategy for reversing climate change. They say “This approach would have far more rapid effects on GHG emissions and their atmospheric concentrations-and thus on the rate the climate is warming-than actions to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy.”

NOTE : For a full report, go to the following link:
http://www.worldwatch.org/files/pdf/Livestock%20and%20Climate%20Change.pdf

Adapting agriculture to mitigate climate change
The practice developing sustainable agriculture would make both adaptation and mitigation of climate change efficient, a point confirmed by a 2009 Dutch study which found that a global shift to an organic vegan diet would save world governments 80% of climate mitigation costs by 2050, or a savings of US$32 trillion.

NOTE : For full report, go to:
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg3/ar4-wg3-frontmatter.pdf

Cutting Back on Meat-Eating & Livestock Products Should Be Environmental Priority
The positive effect of vegan diets on the environment is pretty well documented at this point, but here’s another new study detailing the high environmental costs of meat: It concludes that because of increases in population and per capita consumption we will have to cut back on meat between 19-42% by 2050 just to keep environmental damage at current levels.

Reuters quotes the report authors, from Dalhousie University, as saying that “reining in growth in this sector should be prioritized.”

Furthermore, there’s “a profound disconnect between the anticipated scale of potential environmental impacts associated with projected livestock production levels and even the most optimistic mitigation strategies.”

Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the report Forecasting potential global environmental costs of livestock production 2000-2050 notes, “by 2050, the livestock sector alone may either occupy the majority of, or significantly overshoot, recently published estimates of humanity’s “safe operating space”" when it comes to climate change, reactive nitrogen mobilization, and appropriation of plant biomass.

In really simple terms: More meat means more greenhouse gas emissions, more nitrogen runoff and pollution, and more land needed for grazing or to grow food for animals which humans will eat.

NOTE : For full report, go to:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/09/27/1004659107.abstract?sid=1d9d6f02-1c0a-41ec-9fba-91dabc2ff719

Sources for more reading :
http://www.greenmuze.com/nurture/meat/2731-un-urges-vegan-diet-.html

http://cleanseedcapitalnews.com/2010/08/24/adapting-agriculture-to-mitigate-climate-change/

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/09/27/1004659107.abstract?sid=1d9d6f02-1c0a-41ec-9fba-91dabc2ff719

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/10/cutting-back-meat-eating-should-be-environmental-priority.php

Getting to the ROOT of the Problem

Dug up this article with expressed information on the Carbon Footprint left behind when we deforest trees for livestock farming.
Source: http://meatfreecop16.org/carbon-footprint/

According to the UN Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005, 70% of all deforested land in the Amazon rainforest is used for livestock grazing or for producing feed for farm animals (1). In fact a massive 30% of the entire land surface area of this planet is used to raise livestock in order to produce meat. According to the The World Bank stated that in order to achieve this goal, it is imperative to target the main economic drivers of deforestation, in other words the beef producers. (2)(3)

However the method known as “slash and burn”, a technique used to deforest the land so that it can be turned in to grazing land or used to grow livestock feed. Firstly, the useful trees are removed and sold, next the rest is left to dry out before it set on fire and scorched to the ground thus releasing huge amounts of incompletely combusted carbon, known as “black carbon” or soot. At the Arctic and Antartic it settles on the ice causing it to melt absorbing the solar radiation from the sun which would normally have been reflected back up in to the atmosphere by the reflective surface of the ice. What worsens the situation is that black carbon is hydrophobic. This means that these carbon particles do not like water, so instead of disappearing and sinking to the bottom of the ocean as the ice melts and turns in to water, instead it remains on the surface of the ice and thus increases in concentration overtime further warming the ice. According to a Greenpeace report “Slaughtering the Amazon”, a zero deforestation rate is essential in bringing climate change under control. (4)

Boverty
Boverty is causal link between the poverty of a region/ country and the number of bovine livestock raised in the same area. In short, it is “the human impact of having too many bovines overwhelming the local biosphere’s ability to feed them”. However this problem is not limited to the Amazon, each year worldwide we burn deliberately burn 3.7 billion tones of dry matter, more than half of this, a staggering 2 billion tonnes and 200 million hectares is burnt by the livestock industry to maintain and create new pasture land in Africa. In Africa particularly in the sub-Saharan regions an approximate 260 million heads of cattle are raised annually but this does nothing to improve food security or provide nutrition for the citizens of these countries.
In a report by mathematician and computer programmer Geoff Russell entitled “Burning the Biosphere: Boverty Blues”, he states that “The areas doing so much of the burning are precisely the ones with the most cattle and the most chronically hungry people.(5)

Methane and Ozone
Methane gas has been greatly undervalued as to how much it contributes to global warming. Previously researchers worked with the assumption that methane has a global warming potential of 21, that is it is 21 times more potent than CO2 as a global warming gas over a 100 year period. However as Methane is a shorter lived gas it would be more accurate to average out its effect over 20 years, which would give it a Global Warming Potential of 72 rather than 21. In addition to this methane’s GWP was underestimated as aerosol interactions were not considered in these calculations. NASA scientists concluded that when factoring in aerosol interaction the warming effect of methane is one third higher than previously thought thus making methane almost 100 times potent than CO2 over a 20 year period. (6) (7) (8)
The solution is clear, it is now up to us, political parties & governments to implement strategies to save the planet and move society to a plant based lifestyle.

Note : For a full report on deforestation, go to the following link:
http://meatfreecop16.org/reports/deforestation_paper.pdf

Keeping COP16 Truly Sustainable

Encouraging delegates to make an ethical lifestyle choice for world health, for the environment and for the animals.
With COP16 around the corner, delegates and world leaders from around the world will once again be meeting to discuss the current climate change issues our planet faces. The previous conference in Copenhagen ended with major developing nations having made pledges but with no clear path toward a treaty all binding resolutions. Consequently, it is critical that our representatives demonstrate their commitment to make effective changes.

Recently, according to a new report from the UN. The report, Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Production and Consumption: Priority Products and Materials from the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP), found that consuming a diet free of meat and dairy will be the best approach to dealing with climate change and its consequences.

So despite all the science pointing to animal agriculture being the largest contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, inter-governmental talks do not even include on their agenda the discussion of the meat and livestock industries. The facts clearly demonstrate animal products are unsustainable and truly detrimental.

One goal of this meeting is to strive in making sustainable choices, therefore, we ask that our representatives and world leaders attending the COP16 truly take the initiative and demonstrate courage in choosing to be vegan during their attendance of this historical conference. By choosing to do so our delegates make a powerful statement,that is that they are determined to halt climate change by eliminating the root cause: Animal Agriculture. Furthermore we call on the COP16 organizers to only provide plant based meals during the conference to show their complete resolve to tackle climate change as well as other environmental issues. The world will be watching the participants of COP16 in hopes that the right choices and steps are taken, to avoid further climate change related calamities.

We invite all to join us in making a truly environmental, healthy and compassionate choice, choose a vegan diet and encourage others to do likewise. Each one of us also has the responsibility of sending this clear message that a plant based diet is the first choice when considering any possible solution to climate change.

For more information on the plant based solution please visit http://meatfreecop16.org/solutions/, on ideas on how governments can make the shift to a plant based diet, please visit http://meatfreecop16.org/making-the-shift/.

Thank you for your consideration.
Yours Sincerely,

Society for the Advancement of Animal Wellbeing
www.SAAWinternational.org

NOTE : After reading the above, you can voice your support by going to this link and do the necessary. God bless your efforts!
Link : http://meatfreecop16.org/send-letter/

GIVING UP MEAT VS GIVING UP SMOKING...

Yea.... just the other day, at the ECO-FILM FEST 2010 event held on the 16th & 17th October at the main campus of University Malaya, I was trying to get someone to consider take meat off his diet in a bid to reduce his carbon footprint. Although he acknowledges the fact that meat is a very carbon-intensive product, and avoidance of it would see some positive results for the environment, he also said that it was a tough habit to get rid of.

My reply : It would be much easier for anyone to give up meat than for anyone to try to stop the smoking, drinking and gambling habits. In all my life (and I have lived some good many years to date), I have yet to hear of anyone 'going cold turkey' while trying to get rid of the meat eating habit. If anyone of you know any better, please tell me. I sure would like to be proven wrong. Unless, if the person is a blood-sucking vampire! Yikes! I mean, if you have watched any of the famed Dracula movies, you'd know what I mean.... those vampire specimens can really go beserk if they don't get their regular nightly fix!

Someone said once that we will never succeed in anything if we give up before we even have the determination to begin. So we need to give ourselves a chance by at least taking the first step. Incidentally, the young man I spoke to came by our booth to check us out and enjoyed the variety of 100% plant-based food we have laid out for free sampling. And he walked away after that, all in one good piece!

Plant-based food, any takers?

G-R-E-E-N your Diet and Save the Planet!

WORLD VEGAN WEEK (24th - 31st Oct)

Hi all,

With World Vegan Week (24th - 31st, October) just round the corner, let's be more aware of the urgent call to avoid meat and animal products to help reduce carbon emissions in light of saving the environment from further deterioration.

G-R-E-E-N our diet to Save the Planet!

The following is a UN report for further emphasis on the subject.....

BREAKING GLOBAL WARMING REPORT!
United Nations Urges Worldwide Shift Away From Animal Products

Over the last few years, report after report has surfaced, conclusively linking animal agriculture to global warming, air and water pollution, and land degradation. The most prominent of these reports, the UN FAO’s Livestock’s Long Shadow, famously credited 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions to animal agriculture, and blamed the sector for a myriad of other environmental troubles. The report stopped short, however, of actually recommending a change in diet, and instead called for improved agriculture practices.

A new United Nations report entitled Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production is the first of its stature to actually stress the necessity of moving away from meat and dairy. Specifically, the paper says that “impacts from agriculture are expected to increase substantially due to population growth [and] increasing consumption of animal products [...] A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products.”

The report goes into detail about the consequences we can expect if business continues as usual. Increases in population and wealth have historically resulted in increased consumption of meat, dairy, and eggs, which they blame for the bulk of agriculture’s environmental impact. Agriculture is said to be responsible 70% of global freshwater consumption, 38% of the total land use and 19% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

It is now undeniable that we need to substantially reduce our use of animal products in order to prevent global catastrophe. The simplest way to do this is to adopt a vegan diet, which, in addition to avoiding all of animal agriculture’s ecological impacts, also spares the lives of dozens of animals each year- amounting to thousands over one’s lifetime. The American Dietetic Association calls a well planned vegan diet “healthful and nutritionally adequate […] for individuals during all stages of the lifecycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes” and adds that it “may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.”

Ready to consider a switch?
Visit www.VegKit.org for a free Vegan Starter Guide !

SOURCE : http://greenyourdiet.org/unreport10.htm

BE VEG, GO GREEN 2 SAVE THE PLANET!

22 Uses for Lemon Peels

Posted by : Melissa Breyer (August 23,2010)
Source: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/22-uses-for-lemon-peels.html?page=5

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But what to do with all those lemon peels? Don’t toss them, put them to work. Lemons juice is about 5 to 6 percent citric acid and has a pH level of between 2 and 3. This low pH acidity makes lemon juice a great ally in breaking down rust and mineral stains, but gentle enough to not dull finishes. There is generally sufficient juice left in used lemon halves to tackle small tasks, and it all comes with its own applicator (the rind itself).Plus, the oil in the peel is perfect for clever culinary applications, and not bad in the beauty department either. Here’s what you can do:

1. Clean greasy messes
Greasy pans? Splattered stove tops? Messy counters? If your kitchen has been the victim of some sloppy sauteing, try using lemon halves before bringing out possibly toxic chemical cleaners. Sprinkle some salt (for abrasion) on a juiced lemon half and rub on the greasy areas, wipe up with a towel. (Be careful using lemon on marble counter tops, or any other surface sensitive to acid).

2. Clean your tea kettle or coffee pot
For mineral deposit build up in your tea kettle, fill the kettle with water, add a handful of thin slices of lemon peel and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and let sit for an hour, drain, and rinse well. For coffee pots, add ice, salt and lemon rinds to the empty pot; swish and swirl for a minute or two, dump, and rinse. Hello, sparkly.

3. Clean your microwave
All it takes is one exploding bowl of food to render the interior of your microwave officially gunked, sometimes gunked with cement-like properties. Rather than using strong chemical cleaners, try this: Add lemon rinds to a microwave-safe bowl filled halfway with water. Cook on high for 5 minutes, allowing the water to boil and the steam to condense on the walls and tops of the oven. Carefully remove the hot bowl and wipe away the mess with a towel.

4. Deodorize the garbage disposal
Use lemon peels to deodorize the garbage disposal (and make your kitchen smell awesome at the same time). It is a great way to finally dispose of spent lemon peels after you have used them for any of these applications.

5. Polish chrome
Mineral deposits on chrome faucets and other tarnished chrome make haste in the presence of lemon–rub with a squeezed lemon half, rinse, and lightly buff with a soft cloth.

6.Polish copper
A halved lemon dipped in salt or baking powder can also be used to brighten copper cookware, as well as brass, chrome, or stainless steel. Dip a juiced lemon half in salt (you also use baking soda or cream of tartar for the salt) and rub on the affected area. Let it stay on for 5 minutes. Then rinse in warm water and polish dry.

7. Clean a stainless sink
Use the same method described to polish chrome, applied to any stainless sink.

8. Keep insects out
Many pests abhor the acid in lemon. You can chop of the peels and place them along thresholds, windowsills, and near any cracks or holes where ants or pests may be entering. For other ways to combat pests naturally, see 7 Steps to Chemical-Free Pest Control.

9. Make a scented humidifier
If your home suffers from dry heat in the winter, you can put lemon peels in a pot of water and simmer on the lowest stove-top setting to humidify and scent the air.

10. Refresh cutting boards
Because of lemon’s low pH, it has antibacterial properties that make is a good choice for refreshing cutting boards. After proper disinfecting (see: How to Clean Your Cutting Board) give the surface a rub with a halved lemon, let sit for a few minutes, and rinse.

11. Keep brown sugar soft
If your brown sugar most often turns into brick sugar, try adding some lemon peel (with traces of pulp and pith removed) to help keep it moist and easy to use. (For all recipes using lemon peel, try to use organic lemons–and scrub the peel well to remove any residues and wax.)

12. Make zest
Zest is the best! Zest is simply grated peel, and is the epitome of lemon essence–it can be used fresh, dried, or frozen. If you don’t have an official zester, which looks like a very fine cheese grater, you can use the smallest size of a box grater. To dry zest, spread it on a towel and leave out until dried, then store in a jar. To freeze, use a freezer-safe container. Use zest in salads, marinades, baked goods, grain dishes, etc.

13. Make Vegan Lemon Biscotti
Once you’ve made some zest, make these Vegan Lemon Biscotti cookies. Delicious.

14. Make twists
Strips of peel, aka twists, are good in cocktails, sparkling water, and tap water. Use a vegetable peeler to make long strips, or use a knife and cut the peel into long strips, cutting away the white pith which is bitter. These can be frozen in a freezer-safe container or bag.

15. Make lemon extract powder
Make zest or twists (above) and dry the strips skin-side down on a plate until they are shriveled and dried up, about 3 or 4 days. Put in a blender (or spice grinder) and pulverize into a powder. Use the powdered peel in place of extract or zest in recipes.

16. Make Lemon Sugar
You can make lemon extract powder (see above) and add it to sugar, or you can use fresh twists, put them in a jar with sugar and let the peel’s oil infuse the sugar.

17. Make Lemon Pepper
Mix lemon extract powder (see above) with freshly cracked pepper.

18. Make candied lemon peel
Orange or grapefruit peel can be candied too. Yum. Candied peels are pretty easy to make, and can be eaten plain, or dipped in melted chocolate, used in cake, cookie, candy, or bread recipes. These recipes for candied citrus and ginger use Sucanat, the most wholesome sugar you can buy.

19. Lighten age spots
Many folk remedies suggest using lemon peel to help lighten age spots–apply a small piece to the affected area and leave on for an hour. You can also try one of these 5 natural ways to lighten age spots.

20. Soften dry elbows
Use a half lemon sprinkled with baking soda on elbows, just place your elbow in the lemon and twist the lemon (like you are juicing it) for several minutes. Rinse and dry.

21. Use on your skin
Lemon peels can be very lightly rubbed on your face for a nice skin tonic, then rinse. (And be careful around your eyes.)

22. Make a sugar scrub
Mix 1/2 a cup of sugar with finely chopped lemon peel and enough olive oil to make a paste. Wet your body in the shower, turn off the water and massage sugar mix all over your skin, rinse, be soft! You can also try any of these 5 simple homemade sugar scrubs as well.

Blogger's note; GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR LEMONS!

Top 10 Countries Killing the Planet

Posted by: Melissa Breyer (May 11, 2010)
Source: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/top-10-countries-ruining-the-planet.html

“The environmental crises currently gripping the planet are the corollary of excessive human consumption of natural resources. There is considerable and mounting evidence that elevated degradation and loss of habitats and species are compromising ecosystems that sustain the quality of life for billions of people worldwide,” says Corey Bradshaw, leader of a new study by the University of Adelaide’s Environment Institute in Australia that has ranked most of the world’s countries for their environmental impact.

The study, Evaluating the Relative Environmental Impact of Countries, uses seven indicators of environmental degradation: natural forest loss, habitat conversion, marine captures, fertilizer use, water pollution, carbon emissions and species threat. Unlike existing rankings, this study deliberately avoided human health and economic data, and instead focused on environmental impact only. Other variables–bushmeat harvest, coral reef habitat quality, seagrass loss, freshwater habitat degradation, illegal fishing, invertebrate threat patterns, and some forms of greenhouse gas emission–were excluded due to a lack of country-specific data.

Two rankings were created: a “proportional” environmental impact ranking, where impact is measured against total resource availability, and an “absolute” environmental impact ranking which measures total environmental degradation at a global scale. Listed here are the top ten worst offending countries for absolute environmental impact, those that are just doing the most damage, regardless of per capita calculations.

The study, in collaboration with the National University of Singapore and Princeton University, found that the total wealth of a country was the most important driver of environmental impact. “We correlated rankings against three socio-economic variables (human population size, gross national income and governance quality) and found that total wealth was the most important explanatory variable the richer a country, the greater its average environmental impact,” Professor Bradshaw said. “There is a theory that as wealth increases, nations have more access to clean technology and become more environmentally aware so that the environmental impact starts to decline. This wasn’t supported,” he added.

10. Peru
Although Peru hardly seems capable of the harmful environmental impact that larger industrialized countries are capable of, the South America country ranks number 10 overall of countries creating negative environmental impact. Of 179 countries, Peru ranks 2nd for marine capture and 7th for threatened species. Over fishing and illegal trade of endangered species seem to be the culprit: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES) lists ten animal species as critically endangered (like the short-tailed chinchilla pictured above) the last step before extinction, 28 as endangered, and 99 as vulnerable in Peru.

9. Australia
About 11.5 percent of the the total land area of Australia is protected, which leaves a lot left (although much of it is arid desert) for unbridled usage, which is how the country ranks 7th worst in habitat conversion. It also ranks 9th for fertilizer use, and 10th for natural forest loss.


8. Russia
Less than half of Russia’s population has access to safe drinking water. While water pollution from industrial sources has diminished because of the decline in manufacturing, municipal wastes increasingly threaten key water supply sources, and nuclear contamination poses immense problems for key water sources as well–landing Russia in 4th place for worst water pollution. Russia ranks 5th in worst CO2 emissions–air quality is almost as poor as water quality, with over 200 cities often exceeding Russian pollution limits. The country ranks 7th for marine capture.

7. India
According to the Wall Street Journal, in an effort to boost food production, win farmer votes and encourage the domestic fertilizer industry, the government has increased its subsidy of urea fertilizer over the years, and now pays about half of the domestic industry’s cost of production. The overuse of urea is so degrading the soil that yields on some crops are falling–landing India is 2nd place for environmental impact due to fertilizer use.

India ranks 3rd for water pollution as increasing competition for water among various sectors, including agriculture, industry, domestic, drinking, energy generation and others, is causing this precious natural resource to dry up–while increasing pollution is also leading to the destruction of the habitat of wildlife that lives in waterways. India comes in 8th for another three areas: threatened species, marine capture and CO2 emissions.

6. Mexico
Mexico holds more species of plants and animals than just about any other country: 450 mammals (Brazil, which is more than twice Mexico’s size has only 394 mammals); about 1000 birds, 693 reptiles; 285 amphibians, and more than 2000 fish. As of the mid-1990s, many species were known to be already threatened: 64 mammals, 36 birds, 18 reptiles, 3 amphibians, and about 85 fish. Mexico did not join the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the chief international agreement to stop trade in threatened and endangered plants and animals, in effect since 1975, until 1991, the last Latin American nation to do so. It is perhaps because of these factors that Mexico ranks 1st for threatened species. One of the many reasons? The country ranks 9th for natural forest loss.

5. Japan
Japan ranks 4th for marine capture. By 2004, the number of adult Atlantic bluefin tuna capable of spawning had dropped to roughly 19 percent of the 1975 level in Japan, which has a quarter of the world supply of the five big species of tuna: bluefin, southern bluefin, bigeye, yellowfin and albacore. After the moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986, Japanese government started its “whaling for research purposes” the following year, which has resulted in documented cases of “scientific” whale meat ending up on sashimi platters. Japan ranks 5th for both natural habitat conversion and water pollution, and 6th for CO2 emissions

4. Indonesia
According to Global Forest Watch, Indonesia was still densely forested as recently as 1950–yet 40 percent of the forests existing in 1950 were cleared in the following 50 years. In round numbers, forest cover fell from 162 million ha to 98 million ha2. For this, Indonesia ranks 2nd in natural forest loss, which probably has some to so with their taking 3rd place for threatened species. Indonesia is ranked 3rd for CO2 emissions, 6th for marine capture, 6th for fertilizer use, and 7th for water pollution

3. China
China’s coastal waters are increasingly polluted by everything from oil to pesticides to sewage, helping China earn its 1st place ranking for water pollution. In China, 20 million people lack access to clean drinking water; over 70 percent of lakes and rivers are polluted; and major pollution incidents happen on a near daily basis–the World Health Organization recently estimated that nearly 100,000 people die annually from water pollution-related illnesses.

China isn’t doing much better in terms of overfishing–they take 1st place for marine capture. Add to that 2nd place for CO2 emissions and 6th place for threatened species, and we can see how China takes the bronze for most environmental impact. Chinese environmental protection agencies lack sufficient authority, financial resources and manpower. When there are conflicts between environmental protection and economic development, the former often loses to the latter.



2. USA
You’d think with all of the smarts and resources this country has, it would rank a bit better than Number 2–afraid not. Although it did rank a respectable 211 for natural habitat conversion–that honor is pretty much negated by the country’s abysmal ratings in other areas. Ringing in at 1st place for fertilizer use, this country’s excessive application of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium (NPK) fertilizers can result in the leaching of these chemicals into water bodies and remove, alter or destroy natural habitats. The USA also ranks in 1st place for CO2 emissions, 2nd place for water pollution, 3rd place for marine captures, and 9th place for threatened species. Not feeling all that proud to be American at the moment

1. Brazil
In all seven categories considered for the report, Brazil ranked within the top ten for all but marine capture: 1st place for natural forest loss, 3rd place for natural habitat conversion, 3rd place for fertilizer use, 4th place for threatened species, 4th place for CO2 emissions, and 8th place for water pollution. What’s to account for these areas of intense environmental impact? A large portion of deforestation in Brazil can be attributed to the expansive Amazon rain forest (pictured above) land clearing for pastureland by commercial and speculative interests, misguided government policies, inappropriate World Bank projects, and commercial exploitation of forest resources. Soy and cocoa crops, as well as cattle ranching, have had a far-reaching effect. While in the Atlantic forests of Brazil, some of the world’s most diverse ecosystems have been converted to fast growing plantations (mostly non-native eucalyptus) for paper pulp.

The proportional index, which takes into consideration the impact as proportional to the resources available in the country, ranks these as the top ten countries creating the most negative environmental impact: Singapore, Korea, Qatar, Kuwait, Japan, Thailand, Bahrain, Malaysia, Philippines and Netherlands. According to the study from which both of these rankings were taken, “continued degradation of nature despite decades of warning, coupled with the burgeoning human population (currently estimated at nearly 7 billion and projected to reach 9 to 10 billion by 2050), suggest that human quality of life could decline substantially in the near future. Increasing competition for resources could therefore lead to heightened civil strife and more frequent wars. Continued environmental degradation demands that countries needing solutions be identified urgently so that they can be assisted in environmental conservation and restoration.”