(( Are we really going green.? ))
Save Planet by…
If we think that only saving papers, saving electricity, saving water, saving atmosphere is a big step in going green - then probably we should rethink! These above mentioned points don’t even harm the Nature for about 1%! Then what is the biggest contributor of green house gas? Is it a car? Aircraft? Pollution? Plastics? Cutting down tress??? If we are thinking of all these options for going green, then we have not even thought out of the box.
Ultimately, “GOING GREEN” means saving the natural resources or preserving the natural resources for future. Today, whole word is in a Go Green Mania. All the companies, industries want to go green, reduce carbon footprints for saving nature or probably doing all these just to show that we care for the society. But probably don’t want to really focus on the biggest cause or the root cause of all the loss of Natural resources.
So now, then what is the biggest contributor of the green house gas or the biggest cause of wastage or destruction of “NATURAL RESOURCES”?
This global destruction and damage occurs on 5 levels:
1) Land resources
2) Food resources
3) Water resources
4) Air resources
5) Species
“The Livestock industry is responsible for 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. That’s more than all the world’s cars, trucks, trains, planes and boats combined.”
– Courtesy (UN’s food & Agriculture Organisation, 2006)
What is livestock industry? The livestock industry is an industry which feeds, stores the animals and birds which will be cut down to prepare NON-VEGITARIAN food.
How these Livestock contributes to destruct the above 5 resources?
1) Land resources: More and more land is needed to meet the increasing production of meat worldwide. Acre for acre meat requires more land than plants foods for humans. See the table bellow:
Land needed to produce one kilo food:
Beef from concentrated feed: 323 mt-sqr
Beef from grazing: 269 mt-sqr
Fish: 207 mt-sqr
Pork: 55 mt-sqr
Fattened chicken: 53 mt-sqr
Eggs: 44 mt-sqr
Rice: 17 mt-sqr
Vegetables / potatoes: 6 mt-sqr
(Courtesy: WWF switzerland)
Some Facts:
· Percentage of tropical rainforest slashed specifically to raise livestock: more than 50%
· Amount of forest lost for every hamburger produced from livestock raised on deforested land in Central America: 55 ft-sqr.
2) Food resources: To increase profit, today’s agribusiness has transformed the traditional foods of livestock. Worldwide more and more grain corn and soya beans are grown and either fed to raise livestock or exported to other countries to feed livestock! This is a travesty of mankind’s common sense. It is more sensible to use this directly for human consumption.
Some facts:
· In the US, 8 billion livestock animals eat 80% of the total grain harvest. This amount can feed the whole world over five times.
· UK feeds about 66% of its home grown cereal to livestock.
· 90% of the world’s soya beans are used for fodder.
· Worldwide one child dies every two seconds from the disease caused by hunger. (Courtesy: VIVA)
3) Water resources: Raising livestock uses enormous amounts of water compared to growing plant foods. More than 1 billion people worldwide do not have access to clean freshwater. Almost 3 billion do not have adequate sanitation services. (Courtesy: World wide Fund)
Some facts:
· Water needed to produce 1 kilo wheat: 900 liters.
· Water needed to produce 1 kilo meat: 15,500 liters.
· In Europe, 50% of water pollution is caused by raising livestock.
· The Gulf of Mexico south of Louisiana has an area of 7,000 square miles known as the “dead zone”, which can no longer support aquatic life.
4) Air resources: Until recently, traffic and industry were considered as the major contributing to the increase in greenhouse gases. But now, the livestock have left all these behind. There are 3 major air pollutant gases, Methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide.
Some facts:
· The 1.5 billion cattle, 1.7 billion sheep and other livestock worldwide annually contribute 15 to 20 % to the global methane emission.
· One molecule of methane increases the greenhouse effects 25 times more than one molecule of carbon dioxide.
· Overall, livestock farming indirectly also generates other greenhouse gases during the process of fertilizers production (to grow fodder), industrial feed production and during transportation of live animals and carcasses.
5) Species: This is the most important resources. How can livestock consumption destroy species of biodiversity? For many meat consumers ‘ignorance is bliss’ regarding this issue. Species of rare plants, animals, birds, insects, microorganisms, etc. become permanently extinct as deforestation of tropical rainforest continues in central and south America, parts of India and south-east Asia, to make pastures for cattle grazing or to grow fodder such as soya beans, corn and alfalfa.
Some facts:
· Percentage of tropical rainforest deforestation directly linked with livestock raising : more than 50%.
· Current rate of species extinction due to destruction of rainforest and other habitats: 1000 per year.
Probably here I have tried to display some facts. Still, there is a lot to explain on this topic.
So… the message is…
GO VEG… GO GREEN.
For those who thinks that what difference will happen if only I stop eating non-veg?, Here is the answer.
“You should be the change you wish to see in the World” — Mahatma Gandhi.
Article by:
Ketul Chauhan
Author of 2 books : Die Happy and Spiritual Synopsis to Self.
GO Veg Go Sattvik!
