Avoiding meat and dairy is 'single biggest way' to reduce
your impact on Earth
Biggest analysis to date reveals huge footprint of
livestock -- it provides just 18% of calories but takes up
83% of farmland
By Damian Carrington, Environment editor @dpcarrington
The Guardian, theguardian.com
Thursday, May 31, 2018
[Caption] Cattle at an illegal settlement in the Jamanxim
National Forest, state of Para, northern Brazil, November
29, 2009. With 1,3 million hectares, the Jamanxim National
Forest is today a microsm that replicates what happens in
the Amazon, where thousands of hectares of land are prey of
illegal woodcutters, stock breeders and gold miners.
Photograph: Antonio Scorza/AFP/Getty Images
Avoiding meat and dairy products is the single biggest way
to reduce your environmental impact on the planet,
according to the scientists behind the most comprehensive
analysis to date of the damage farming does to the planet.
The new research shows that without meat and dairy
consumption, global farmland use could be reduced by more
than 75% -- an area equivalent to the US, China, European
Union and Australia combined -- and still feed the world.
Loss of wild areas to agriculture is the leading cause of
the current mass extinction of wildlife.
The new analysis shows that while meat and dairy provide
just 18% of calories and 37% of protein, it uses the vast
majority -- 83% -- of farmland and produces 60% of
agriculture's greenhouse gas emissions. Other recent
research shows 86% of all land mammals are now livestock or
humans. The scientists also found that even the very lowest
impact meat and dairy products still cause much more
environmental harm than the least sustainable vegetable and
cereal growing.
More than 80% of farmland is used for livestock but it
produces just 18% of food calories and 35% of protein
[Chart]
The study, published in the journal Science, created a huge
dataset based on almost 40,000 farms in 119 countries and
covering 40 food products that represent 90% of all that is
eaten. It assessed the full impact of these foods, from
farm to fork, on land use, climate change emissions,
freshwater use and water pollution (eutrophication) and air
pollution (acidification).
"A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce
your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but
global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water
use," said Joseph Poore, at the University of Oxford, UK,
who led the research. "It is far bigger than cutting down
on your flights or buying an electric car," he said, as
these only cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Humans just 0.01% of all life but have destroyed 83% of
wild mammals -- study
Read more
https://www.theguardian.com/environm...-mammals-study
"Agriculture is a sector that spans all the multitude of
environmental problems," he said. "Really it is animal
products that are responsible for so much of this. Avoiding
consumption of animal products delivers far better
environmental benefits than trying to purchase sustainable
meat and dairy."
Continues at:
https://www.theguardian.com/environm...mpact-on-earth
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.jai-maharaj
soc.culture.indian,alt.fan.jai-maharaj,alt.religion.hindu,alt.religion.vaisnava,a lt.food.vegan,alt.animals.ethics.vegetarian,alt.an imals.rights.promotion,alt.health.ayurveda,sci.env ironment,soc.culture.usa,soc.culture.india
Avoiding meat and dairy is 'single biggest way' to reduce your impact on Earth
Avoiding meat and dairy is 'single biggest way' to reduce
your impact on Earth
Biggest analysis to date reveals huge footprint of
livestock -- it provides just 18% of calories but takes up
83% of farmland
By Damian Carrington, Environment editor @dpcarrington
The Guardian, theguardian.com
Thursday, May 31, 2018
[Caption] Cattle at an illegal settlement in the Jamanxim
National Forest, state of Para, northern Brazil, November
29, 2009. With 1,3 million hectares, the Jamanxim National
Forest is today a microsm that replicates what happens in
the Amazon, where thousands of hectares of land are prey of
illegal woodcutters, stock breeders and gold miners.
Photograph: Antonio Scorza/AFP/Getty Images
Avoiding meat and dairy products is the single biggest way
to reduce your environmental impact on the planet,
according to the scientists behind the most comprehensive
analysis to date of the damage farming does to the planet.
The new research shows that without meat and dairy
consumption, global farmland use could be reduced by more
than 75% -- an area equivalent to the US, China, European
Union and Australia combined -- and still feed the world.
Loss of wild areas to agriculture is the leading cause of
the current mass extinction of wildlife.
The new analysis shows that while meat and dairy provide
just 18% of calories and 37% of protein, it uses the vast
majority -- 83% -- of farmland and produces 60% of
agriculture's greenhouse gas emissions. Other recent
research shows 86% of all land mammals are now livestock or
humans. The scientists also found that even the very lowest
impact meat and dairy products still cause much more
environmental harm than the least sustainable vegetable and
cereal growing.
More than 80% of farmland is used for livestock but it
produces just 18% of food calories and 35% of protein
[Chart]
The study, published in the journal Science, created a huge
dataset based on almost 40,000 farms in 119 countries and
covering 40 food products that represent 90% of all that is
eaten. It assessed the full impact of these foods, from
farm to fork, on land use, climate change emissions,
freshwater use and water pollution (eutrophication) and air
pollution (acidification).
"A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce
your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but
global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water
use," said Joseph Poore, at the University of Oxford, UK,
who led the research. "It is far bigger than cutting down
on your flights or buying an electric car," he said, as
these only cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Humans just 0.01% of all life but have destroyed 83% of
wild mammals -- study
Read mo
https://www.theguardian.com/environm...-mammals-study
"Agriculture is a sector that spans all the multitude of
environmental problems," he said. "Really it is animal
products that are responsible for so much of this. Avoiding
consumption of animal products delivers far better
environmental benefits than trying to purchase sustainable
meat and dairy."
Continues at:
https://www.theguardian.com/environm...mpact-on-earth
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.jai-maharaj