vegatrian leeflet for vegetarian day 4 june in plantage doklan 8

VEGETARIANS PUT THE BRAKES ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate change is gaining speed. Scientists are warning us of famines, floods and flaming forests, should we not change our ways.But we are not toast yet! On one level, we need collective political action. In our personal lives, simple lifestyle changes can reduce our individual greenhouse emissions.



DETOX DIET FOR THE PLANET


Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases result from burning fossil fuels in our industries, airplanes, cars... Travelling by bike and train instead of car and planes, using energy saving light bulbs, lowering room temperatures, etc. are all good and important changes. However, in themselves they are not enough to decrease our greenhouse gas emissions by the 75 percent needed to avoid catastrofic climate change. Industrialised countries have a huge “carbon footprint” largely because of our excessive consumption of meat and other animal products. Animal agriculture is responsible for 18 % of all greenhouse gases.



MEAT IS WASTEFUL


Producing one calorie of animal protein requires more than 10 times as much fossil fuel input than a calorie of plant protein. Feeding massive amounts of grain and water to farmed animals and then killing them and processing, transporting, and storing their flesh, milk, eggs etc. is extremely energy-intensive. 90% of the world's soy is fed to animals, even though humans could eat these and other protein-rich beans directly, saving much land, water, and energy.


WE ARE OUTNUMBERED...BY CATTLE


There are now three times as many farmed animals as people on this planet, and they are the main source of human-induced methane emissions. Methane emissions cause nearly half of the planet’s human-induced warming. And this source is on the rise: global meat consumption has increased fivefold in the past fifty years.



BEEF IN EUROPE = DESERT IN BRAZIL


Trees are great: they help to regulate our climate and store carbon dioxide. Over time, humans have transformed 30% of the Earth's land area into fields, and two thirds of this is used for producing fodder or grazing grounds for animals. The explosion of soy cultivation for the animal industry has caused the destruction of millions of hectares of forest and savannah with extremely high and valuable biodiversity in the Global South. Destroying vast acres of forest to feed farmed animals, and the manure they produce, release large quantities of greenhouse gases.


ORGANIC VEGANS COOL THE PLANET

Adopting a vegan diet reduces one person’s impact on the environment even more than giving up your car or forgoing several plane trips a year. (But you vegans out there shouldn't use this as an excuse for flying for your holidays!) In terms of climate and the environment, food should also be locally sourced, seasonal, and organic.Organic agriculture reduces CO2 emissions by not relying on the production and import of artificial herbicides and nitrogen based fertilizers. Check where your food comes from and cut down on your “food miles”. Keep you local farmer and bakery in business! It will pay off latest when we're hit by Peak Oil. A shift to a localised economy with seasonal, organic, vegan food will make regional economies flourish, with smaller-scale agriculture replacing international corporations and the stranglehold they have on the economy.



IS THERE SOMETHING ELSE WE CAN DO ABOUT IT?


We're dealing with a problem so huge that it cannot be dealt with only within the consumer setting. Scientists say we have only 7 years to make the necessary changes to avoid catastrophic climate change. What is being done then? Governments are talking green, but building more airports and coal plants. Corporations feed us greenwash and slick PR campaigns to cover up their dirty business. Both strive for endless economic growth and the solutions they offer not aim to change the status quo. We need to make the changes ourselves, right now. Some of these changes will require mass-scale social change, such as decentralized power. Some will require us to learn new skills and reconnect with the land.


In Europe and beyond, there is a growing movement of people who want to move beyond false solutions into creative and practical action. People are learning to make their lives more sustainable and enjoying the power of collective action.


Take a look at some action ideas at www.howtocookaplanet.net


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vegan: A vegetarian who eats plant products only, especially one who uses no products derived from animals.


then some quotes to sprinkle aroud the text when theres space:

‘As individuals, we have to do something more transcendent than just taking up space living on the planet.’

-Doug Tompkins
‘By 2050 a million species could face extinction’.

United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2004.

“Carbon emissions could be slashed by an incredible 21% overnight if we all stopped eating meat”. British scientist Alan Calverd writing in journal Physics World http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=10219&channel=0

Raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. UN report “Livestock's long shadow”, 2006.