Disturbing
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The video maker, Vegan Tears, says this about the video:
“What Al Gore ‘forgot’ to mention… No more excuses, go vegan today.”
From Vegan Outreach’s “Why Vegan“:
Climate change: With rising temperatures, rising sea levels, melting icecaps and glaciers, shifting ocean currents and weather patterns, climate change is the most serious challenge facing the human race. 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….Livestock are also responsible for almost two-thirds (64 percent) of anthropogenic ammonia emissions, which contribute significantly to acid rain and acidification of ecosystems.
And just to clarify somethings for a few nonvegan readers:
- We can grow vegetables, fruits, legumes and other plants without the use of agricultural waste. That’s right, we don’t need cow poop to fertilize the fields.
- Even if we did need or want cow manure, we don’t need nearly as much as is being produced right now.
- And… cows don’t need to be slaughtered and eaten in order to produce poop. In fact, they do that better alive.
- But… eating them won’t stop the problem because the “producers” will just “make” more cows.*
- It’s not just poop, it’s their food, too. Manure is responsible for about 18 million tonnes of methane emissions per year, but animal feed production is responsible for over 40 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. (source: FAO)
- And finally, no, there’s no such thing as “sustainable meat.” If you care about the environment, GO VEGAN.
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* Someone recently told me that “vegans cause climate change because they won’t eat the cows and the cows only destroy the environment when they’re alive.” I kid you not. People come up with some strange ideas. I just said, “that’s not true” and handed him a pamphlet about veganism.
On the cow poop to fertilize front – Am I wrong in thinking I read somewhere that cow poo is unusable now because of all the horribleness we do to the cows? Too nitrogen rich so it would burn the plants.
~ Recent blog post: try try again ~
I was at the book store recently and came across a book authored by animal rights activist, Jane Goodall who feels that
“Wars of this century will be about water”..she very well could be right.
Not only is the methane produced that pollutes our atmosphere a massive problem but so is the water needed to maintain Food Animals, the CAFO’s primary concern is the sustainability of water for their livestock..California currently is having problems in this regard, they have a water crisis, I wonder how much is due to CAFO’s…..also here’s a link
http://www.watersupply.com/
to tons of info about water…it may be the next commodity wars are fought for.
bex,
The Purdue Extension report ‘CAFOs and Public Health: Pathogens and Manure’ says:
“manure generated by CAFOs could result in infectious disease outbreaks in surrounding communities.”
“because the manure is less contained at the stage of land application, there is probably a greater risk of contamination of water resources”
“It is important to note that in those outbreaks [of e coli and Campylobacter] where livestock manure was clearly shown to be the cause of contamination, the involved farms would not be considered CAFOs. Therefore, the risks are not exclusive to larger, confined operations but apply to animal manure as a whole.”