Quote:This is not another doom and gloom piece about how eating meat is destroying the planet, I promise.
But Ecorazzi senior editor Michael Parrish DuDell's recent blog about environmentalists partying with beef tartar got me thinking: If people know about the massive global damage caused by meat production, why is making a change so difficult? Is it because people don't care? Is it because it's too difficult to give up meat? I'd argue it's neither. It's simply because we all think: it's just me and my burger, what's the difference?
Well, instead of more stark statistics and guilt, I thought I'd try something different: inspirational facts on the difference you could be making. The source for the following list is Marianne Thieme's amazing documentary, Meat the Truth, a quirky, unauthorized sequel of sorts to the more famed An Inconvenient Truth. You can watch an abbreviated version of the film here.
from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mikko-alan...99187.html
Quote:“More than 20 million people and 12 million head of livestock are short of drinking water… The choice of whether to use water for people or farming is becoming more difficult.” – From CCTV (China’s national television station)
Video: http://bit.ly/ceDmgz
“...it takes 4,000 liters of water to produce one steak, while it only takes 1,100 liters to grow a vegan enough food for a whole day. Read more here: http://bit.ly/cHxEqT
Video: http://bit.ly/9sk4N5
10 WTF Statistics on Meat and Global Warming
1. If every American (300 million) gave up meat for 1 day a week, this would have the same positive effect on reducing greenhouse gases as saving 90 million plane tickets from New York to Los Angeles!
2. If every American gave up meat for 2 days of the week, this would have the same effect as replacing all household appliances like fridges, freezers, microwave ovens, dishwashers, washing machines, tumble dryers and so on and so forth, by energy efficient ones.
3. If all Americans gave up meat for 3 days a week, they would save almost 300 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions. This would have a greater impact on reducing global warming than if all cars in the US were replaced with Toyota Priuses.
4. If everyone in the US did not eat meat for 4 days a week, they would save 398 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions. This would be the carbon savings equivalent of cutting the use of all electricity, gas, oil, petroleum, and kerosene in the United States in half.
5. If all Americans abstained from eating meat for 5 days a week, they would save 498 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions. This would result in the carbon savings equivalent of planting 13 billion trees and letting them grow for ten years.
6. If all Americans did not eat meat for 6 days a week, they would save nearly 600 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions. This would be the equivalent of eliminating the total electricity use of all households in the United States.
7. And finally: If everyone in the United States ate a vegetarian diet for 7 days, they would save around 700 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions. That would be the same as removing all the cars off the roads in the US.
* The calculations used in the documentary “Meat the Truth” derive from and have been validated by many sources including the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN FAO and the World Watch Institute. It was produced under the consultation of many scientific institutions, which can be viewed on its website: http://www.meatthetruth.nl/en/about-the-...h-sources/