Guest guest Posted April 3, 2009 Report Share Posted April 3, 2009 I wonder at the complete truth of the statistics, but I am sure there is merit in this article. Barb K. ~~~~ Huffington Post, read more here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/the-breathtaking-effects_b_181716.ht\ ml<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/the-breathtaking-effects_b_181716\ ..html> If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save: 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months; 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year; 70 million gallons of gas--enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare; 3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware; 33 tons of antibiotics. If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would prevent: Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as produced by all of France; 3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic damages; 4.5 million tons of animal excrement; Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant. My favorite statistic is this: According to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads. See how easy it is to make an impact? Other points: Globally, we feed 756 million tons of grain to farmed animals. As Princeton bioethicist Peter Singer notes in his new book, if we fed that grain to the 1.4 billion people who are living in abject poverty, each of them would be provided more than half a ton of grain, or about 3 pounds of grain/day--that's twice the grain they would need to survive. And that doesn't even include the 225 million tons of soy that are produced every year, almost all of which is fed to farmed animals. He writes, " The world is not running out of food. The problem is that we--the relatively affluent--have found a way to consume four or five times as much food as would be possible, if we were to eat the crops we grow directly. " A recent United Nations report titled Livestock's Long Shadow concluded that the meat industry causes almost 40% more greenhouse gas emissions than all the world's transportation systems--that's all the cars, trucks, SUVs, planes and ships in the world combined. The report also concluded that factory farming is one of the biggest contributors to the most serious environmental problems at every level--local and global. Researchers at the University of Chicago concluded that switching from standard American diet to a vegan diet is more effective in the fight against global warming than switching from a standard American car to a hybrid. In its report, the U.N. found that the meat industry causes local and global environmental problems even beyond global warming. It said that the meat industry should be a main focus in every discussion of land degradation, climate change and air pollution, water shortages and pollution, and loss of biodiversity. Unattributed statistics were calculated from scientific reports by Noam Mohr, a physicist with the New York University Polytechnic Institute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 4, 2009 Report Share Posted April 4, 2009 Well that's pretty ridiculous. If everybody went vegetarian for one day, it would not reduce the animal husbandry industry one bit. Those may - or may not - be accurate numbers as to the amount of waste caused by eating animals instead of food per diem, but they are only reduced by long-term or permanent changes to the market, not by one day's abstention. At most, a certain amount of that flesh would go into the garbage can rather than into people's bodies, but more likely, the " correction " would just be absorbed by the market. Pam On Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 3:31 PM, BARBARA KIPPER <Kipper38 wrote: > I wonder at the complete truth of the statistics, but I am sure there is > merit in this article. > > Barb K. > > ~~~~ > > Huffington Post, read more here: > > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/the-breathtaking-effects_b_181716.ht\ ml<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/the-breathtaking-effects_b_181716\ ..html> > > If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save: > > 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England > for almost 4 months; > > 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the > state of New Mexico for more than a year; > > 70 million gallons of gas--enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico > combined with plenty to spare; > > 3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware; > > 33 tons of antibiotics. > > If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would prevent: > > Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as > produced by all of France; > > 3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic > damages; > > 4.5 million tons of animal excrement; > > Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant. > > My favorite statistic is this: According to Environmental Defense, if every > American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian > foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more > than half a million cars off of U.S. roads. See how easy it is to make an > impact? > > Other points: > > Globally, we feed 756 million tons of grain to farmed animals. As Princeton > bioethicist Peter Singer notes in his new book, if we fed that grain to the > 1.4 billion people who are living in abject poverty, each of them would be > provided more than half a ton of grain, or about 3 pounds of > grain/day--that's twice the grain they would need to survive. And that > doesn't even include the 225 million tons of soy that are produced every > year, almost all of which is fed to farmed animals. He writes, " The world is > not running out of food. The problem is that we--the relatively > affluent--have found a way to consume four or five times as much food as > would be possible, if we were to eat the crops we grow directly. " > > A recent United Nations report titled Livestock's Long Shadow concluded that > the meat industry causes almost 40% more greenhouse gas emissions than all > the world's transportation systems--that's all the cars, trucks, SUVs, > planes and ships in the world combined. The report also concluded that > factory farming is one of the biggest contributors to the most serious > environmental problems at every level--local and global. > > Researchers at the University of Chicago concluded that switching from > standard American diet to a vegan diet is more effective in the fight > against global warming than switching from a standard American car to a > hybrid. > > In its report, the U.N. found that the meat industry causes local and global > environmental problems even beyond global warming. It said that the meat > industry should be a main focus in every discussion of land degradation, > climate change and air pollution, water shortages and pollution, and loss of > biodiversity. > > Unattributed statistics were calculated from scientific reports by Noam > Mohr, a physicist with the New York University Polytechnic Institute. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 4, 2009 Report Share Posted April 4, 2009 The stats look improbable to me too, Pam, IF the 'one day' a year for everyone to go vegetarian were the same day for everyone - as in on Earth Day or Vegetarian Day or Vegan Day or whatever. But perhaps the figures/stats make more sense if, hypothetically, everyone went vegetarian for a day (a day extra to any meat-eating days people might normally have, even omnivores, of course) and it was, because people are different, a _different_ day of the year, staggered vegetarianism so to speak, so that, in all, all 365 days were covered more or less equally - waddaya think? Of course, it wouldn't really happen that way But statistically, perhaps the effect would be as they say, do you think? It's a hypothetical, of course, but . . . . ???? Statistics are useful, but they are not sacrosanct, I think! Thanks for writing in!!! Best, Pat --- http://www.vegandonelight.com/spice http://beanvegan.blogspot.com http://river-rambles.blogspot.com " As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, keep it. " Mahatma Gandhi. ________________________________ pdw <pdworkman Friday, April 3, 2009 11:21:00 PM Re: Vegetarian eating Well that's pretty ridiculous. If everybody went vegetarian for one day, it would not reduce the animal husbandry industry one bit. Those may - or may not - be accurate numbers as to the amount of waste caused by eating animals instead of food per diem, but they are only reduced by long-term or permanent changes to the market, not by one day's abstention. At most, a certain amount of that flesh would go into the garbage can rather than into people's bodies, but more likely, the " correction " would just be absorbed by the market. Pam On Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 3:31 PM, BARBARA KIPPER <Kipper38 wrote: > I wonder at the complete truth of the statistics, but I am sure there is > merit in this article. > > Barb K. > > ~~~~ > > Huffington Post, read more here: > > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/the-breathtaking-effects_b_181716.ht\ ml<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/the-breathtaking-effects_b_181716\ ..html> > > If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save: > > 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England > for almost 4 months; > > 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the > state of New Mexico for more than a year; > > 70 million gallons of gas--enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico > combined with plenty to spare; > > 3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware; > > 33 tons of antibiotics. > > If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would prevent: > > Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as > produced by all of France; > > 3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic > damages; > > 4.5 million tons of animal excrement; > > Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant. > > My favorite statistic is this: According to Environmental Defense, if every > American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian > foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more > than half a million cars off of U.S. roads. See how easy it is to make an > impact? > > Other points: > > Globally, we feed 756 million tons of grain to farmed animals. As Princeton > bioethicist Peter Singer notes in his new book, if we fed that grain to the > 1.4 billion people who are living in abject poverty, each of them would be > provided more than half a ton of grain, or about 3 pounds of > grain/day--that's twice the grain they would need to survive. And that > doesn't even include the 225 million tons of soy that are produced every > year, almost all of which is fed to farmed animals. He writes, " The world is > not running out of food. The problem is that we--the relatively > affluent--have found a way to consume four or five times as much food as > would be possible, if we were to eat the crops we grow directly. " > > A recent United Nations report titled Livestock's Long Shadow concluded that > the meat industry causes almost 40% more greenhouse gas emissions than all > the world's transportation systems--that's all the cars, trucks, SUVs, > planes and ships in the world combined. The report also concluded that > factory farming is one of the biggest contributors to the most serious > environmental problems at every level--local and global. > > Researchers at the University of Chicago concluded that switching from > standard American diet to a vegan diet is more effective in the fight > against global warming than switching from a standard American car to a > hybrid. > > In its report, the U.N. found that the meat industry causes local and global > environmental problems even beyond global warming. It said that the meat > industry should be a main focus in every discussion of land degradation, > climate change and air pollution, water shortages and pollution, and loss of > biodiversity. > > Unattributed statistics were calculated from scientific reports by Noam > Mohr, a physicist with the New York University Polytechnic Institute. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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