This idea keeps hitting the news again and again as different studies reveal it to be true. To help save the planet (and so ourselves) people have to be weened off of meat.

Eating Less Meat May Slow Climate Change

By MARIA CHENG 

LONDON (AP) — Eating less meat could help slow global warming by reducing the number of livestock and thereby decreasing the amount of methane flatulence from the animals, scientists said on Thursday.

In a special energy and health series of the medical journal The Lancet, experts said people should eat fewer steaks and hamburgers. Reducing global red meat consumption by 10 percent, they said, would cut the gases emitted by cows, sheep and goats that contribute to global warming.

“We are at a significant tipping point,” said Geri Brewster, a nutritionist at Northern Westchester Hospital in New York, who was not connected to the study.

“If people knew that they were threatening the environment by eating more meat, they might think twice before ordering a burger,” Brewster said.

Further studies now showing that eating meat adds to the damage of the environment.

Eating beef ‘ is less green than driving’

Producing 2.2lb of beef generates as much greenhouse gas as driving a car non-stop for three hours, it was claimed yesterday. Japanese scientists used a range of data to calculate the environmental impact of a single purchase of beef. Taking into account all the processes involved, they said, four average sized steaks generated greenhouse gases with a warming potential equivalent to 80.25lb of carbon dioxide.
This also consumed 169 megajoules of energy. That means that 2.2lb of beef is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions which have the same effect as the carbon dioxide released by an ordinary car travelling at 50 miles per hour for 155 miles, a journey lasting three hours.

The amount of energy consumed would light a 100-watt bulb for 20 days. Most of the greenhouse gas emissions are in the form of methane released from the animals’ digestive systems, New Scientist magazine reported. But more than two thirds of the energy used goes towards producing and transporting cattle feed, said the study, which was led by Akifumi Ogino from the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba, Japan. Su Taylor, the press officer for the Vegetarian Society, told New Scientist: “Everybody is trying to come up with different ways to reduce carbon footprints, but one of the easiest things you can do is to stop eating meat.”

We could develop new exotic grasses for cows to eat and curb the pollution by livestock farmers of the environment…or we could recognise the cows as sentient emotion filled individuals, stop breeding them to be killed by their tyrant gods and masters, and move to a better world where peoples dinner plates aren’t filled with the harvest of brutal murder. Also if people stopped eating cows the rainforests would stop being levelled to grow crops to feed the cattle. Yes, this means even if you sponsor a panda if you eat meat you are contributing to the death of the natural world.

Burping cows and sheep are being targeted by UK scientists to help bring down Britain’s soaring levels of greenhouse gas pollution. Experts at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research in Aberystwyth say the diet of farmed animals can be changed to make them produce less methane, a more potent global warming gas than carbon dioxide. Farmed ruminant animals are thought to be responsible for up to a quarter of “man-made” methane emissions worldwide though, contrary to common belief, most gas emerges from their front, not rear, ends.

Mike Abberton, a scientist at the institute, said farmers could help tackle climate change by growing grass varieties bred to have high sugar levels, white clover and birdsfoot trefoil, a leafy legume, for their animals to eat. The altered diet changes the way that bacteria in the stomachs of the animals break down plant material into waste gas, he said. The institute has started a new government research programme, with the universities of Wales and Reading, to investigate how this process could be improved. A similar project in New Zealand suggested that dietary changes could reduce methane emissions from sheep by up to 50%.

Dr Abberton said: “It’s very unlikely that we’ll get that sort of reduction in the UK but it could still make a significant difference. Making the animals’ diet more digestible can lower their methane emissions.” A single cow can produce between 100 and 200 litres of methane every day. Farmers regularly re-sow their fields so Dr Abberton said the switch in diet could be relatively straightforward. Birdsfoot trefoil can be difficult to grow, he said, but part of the new project is to develop more suitable varieties.

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Animals, Airports and Climate Change

This year, the Camp for Climate Action is targeting Heathrow Airport, the
worlds biggest international airport. Aviation is an issue
that affects everyone, animals included, and by landing at Heathrow we
will take direct action against the root causes of climate change.

The majority of animals imported into the UK for vivisection come
through airports, encouraged by the tax breaks given to flights. In the UK
many of them come through Heathrow itself, which includes primates, dogs
and cats. Less flights and increased costs will not only benefit the
climate but also reduce the number of animals being seized from the jungle
to be imported for cruel experiments.

However, climate change is having a bigger effect on animals than just in
the labs of Britain. Airplanes are among the worst contributors to global
warming. It is not just the vast quantities of CO2 they pump out, but
where it takes place, at the top of our skies in the precious Ozone layer.
Gratuitous flying is truly a crime against the planet, and anyone who
cares about animals needs to take this message on board. If we don’t act
to reverse climate change, by in part curbing flying, then precious
habitats around the world will be lost for good. The panda, penguin and
polar bear will all disappear. Thousands of species have already
disappeared from the planet. At the moment in the UK we have been
relatively sheltered from its effects but elsewhere climate chaos
increases, and animals are taking the brunt of this catastrophe. Mass
extinction, due to pollution and desturction of habitats, threatens the
whole planet. Anyone who considers themselves an animal rights activist
cannot afford to ignore climate change. It’s time to pull our heads out of
the sand and join the fight.

The Camp for Climate Action is not just about aviation, but about all the
main root causes of climate change. We are not looking for
governments or corporations to make the change; we need to change our own
lifestyles if we are to give the planet and it’s many inhabitants a
fighting chance. To this end, we are also recognising that industrial
farming is part of the problem, and will be promoting veganism. All our
kitchens will be vegan, and there will be workshops on veganism and the
food industry.

The Climate Camp is free and open to all who care. We are
non-hierarchical and self-organising. It will take place 14th-21st Aug at
a site near Heathrow. For more information, please visit
www.climatecamp.org.uk, or email this address.

Attached is a copy of a leaflet we have made discussing veganism and
climate change. Please distribute this email far and wide, post it on my
space, blogs and websites. For paper copies of the leaflet, just email
and we will send as many as you need!

Thanks!

See you at Heathrow!!

Climate Camp

Despite meat production being an enormous contributor to global warming, McDonalds are gonna save the day by running their trucks on their old cooking oil.

McDonald’s puts oil to green use

The firm says it is determined to reduce its carbon footprint

McDonald’s is to convert all its UK delivery vehicles to run on biodiesel, using the firm’s supply of cooking oil.

The fast-food chain has pledged to convert all its 155 vehicles by next year, starting with 45 lorries based at its distribution centre in Hampshire.

By using the fuel - made by combining cooking oil and rapeseed oil - the firm said it would save more than 1,650 tonnes of carbon every year.

The move follows a successful trial last year.

‘Environmental example’

McDonald’s has long faced criticism over its environmental record.

The firm said it was “delighted” to be putting its large stock of cooking oil to a “practical, efficient use” within its own business.

“This is a great example of how businesses can work together to help the environment,” said its senior vice president Matthew Howe.

The retailer added that it was working on a range of other initiatives spanning recycling and packaging to reduce its carbon emissions.

It said it was committed to working with its suppliers to reduce the use of pure rapeseed oil in its manufacturing process.

The last news related to the US, here’s some news for the UK. Vegan leafleting for the environment this weekend.

During London Sustainability Weeks, events will be taking place across the capital to promote and encourage environmentally sustainable projects and activities. To highlight the meat and dairy industries’ damaging impact upon the environment, Animal Aid is encouraging people to leaflet Londoners on Saturday 16th June with the Go Vegan, Fight Climate Change message. A good place to do this might be at a busy tube station or on a high street. However, those who don’t live near London can still take part by door-dropping the leaflet in their local area.

To order leaflets, contact Kelly.

Five Good Reasons to Go Vegan for the Environment

1. Animal farming is responsible for 18 per cent of all global greenhouse gas emissions - far more than is generated by the transport sector.
2. On average, a dairy cow belches out 500 litres of methane a day. Removing meat and dairy products entirely from your diet could reduce individual carbon footprints from food by 50-60 per cent.
3. The liquid waste from dairy farms is hundreds of times more polluting than human sewage.
4. It takes a thousand litres of water to grow one kilo of wheat, 11,000 litres to grow feed for enough of a cow to make just one quarter-pound burger and between 2,000 and 4,000 litres for that cow to fill her udder with one litre of milk.
5. Animal farming uses 30 per cent of the earth’s entire land surface for grazing and for the vast amount of crops needed to feed them.

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