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A dinner fork can be a powerful tool to fight global warming and preserve wilderness.

Vast areas of the Earth could be returned to CO2-absorbing wilderness with a big cut in meat production. There would also be a big drop in emissions of methane and nitrous oxide, two other powerful greenhouse gases. This is the conclusion drawn from a ground-breaking 2006 study by the United Nations. 

A vegetarian world could be fed using just 5% of the Earth’s surface versus the 30% currently used for meat production.

Livestock production accounts for 30 percent of the entire land surface of the planet! Feed crops are grown on a third of all arable farmland, and an even larger area is devoted to grazing – 26% of the ice-free land surface of the Earth.

“Livestock production is responsible for 18% of climate change – more than all of the world’s transportation!”
 _{– Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations}

VegE-News is a monthly news and events email service. It is free to subscribe. Their August issue's stories included:

• Feast or famine: Meat production and world hunger. The United Nations estimates that 854 million people – nearly 13 percent of the world’s human population – go hungry every day. And the problem is only getting worse. Josette Sheeran, executive director of the UN’s World Food Program, says, “The world’s misery index is rising.” So is our hunger for meat. Every year industrial animal factories in the U.S. feed 157 million metric tons of legumes, cereal and vegetable protein to livestock, resulting in 28 million metric tons of animal protein for human consumption (for a ratio of 5.6 to 1). Nutritious plant-based food that could feed humans instead goes to feed animals in a very inefficient use of resources.

• On trail of elusive carbon footprint. The most accurate calculators (such as the one by the Berkeley Institute of the Environment) take a cradle-to-grave approach, tallying everything related to an individual's consumption. For example, the Berkeley calculator will count not only tailpipe emissions from driving, but also those from a vehicle's manufacture. Most calculators are comparatively simple, counting only driving emissions. Food can also play a large role in a person's carbon footprint. Cows are notorious for their methane emissions, but feeding them also requires fuel and energy. A University of Chicago study found switching from a diet laden with red meat to a vegetarian one can lower a carbon footprint by 1.5 tons.

• Eating less meat and junk food could cut energy use almost in half. An estimated 19 percent of total energy used in the U.S. is taken up in the production and supply of food. By curbing junk food and over-eating, reducing processed food intake, switching to more traditional, organic farming methods and converting to diets lower in meat, that number could be cut to 10 percent. Conventional meat and dairy production is extremely energy intensive. Half of the energy used to make food in the U.S. is spent making animal products - meat, dairy and eggs. Also see ABCnews for an excellent story on this report.

• Kids are picking up on eco-friendly veggie lifestyle. PETA has recruited 200,000 youths this summer while tagging along with the music and sports festival Warped Tour, said Lara Sanders, the group's head of youth marketing. "Kids have been making the connection between the environment and a vegetarian diet and knowing that going vegetarian is the best thing that you can do for the environment."

Health

• Large study links meat consumption to increased cancer risk. A new large-scale study has provided stronger evidence linking the consumption of red and processed meats to an increased risk of cancer. Researchers from the U.S. National Cancer Institute examined data on 494,000 participants in the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-AARP Diet and Health Study. Researchers found that people who consumed the most red meat (beef, pork and lamb) had a 25 percent higher risk of developing colorectal cancer in the study period compared with those who ate the least, and a 20 percent higher risk of developing lung cancer. The risk of esophageal and liver cancer was increased by between 20 and 60 percent.
• Canada confirms 14th case of mad cow disease. Mad cow disease is believed to be spread when cattle eat protein rendered from brains and spines of infected cattle or sheep. The rendered protein was still allowed in pig and poultry feed until July 2007, when regulators, fearing cross-contamination, ordered that brains, spines and other high-risk material from old cattle be removed at slaughter and destroyed.
• Controlling diabetes might be easier than you think with vegan diet.
• Africa courts animal-spread diseases. It is estimated that about 75 per cent of the new diseases that have affected humans over the past 10 years have been caused by pathogens originating from animals. This was the case of the HIV - the virus that causes AIDS, which experts believe jumped the divide from apes to humans.

Lifestyles and Trends

• Bringing an end to food waste. There are people out there that can afford to buy food first-hand, but they would rather live off discarded, yet perfectly edible [mostly vegan] food that would otherwise clog up land fill sites. They are called freegans.
• Answers about the vegan lifestyle in New York (and elsewhere). Sample question: Why are so many omnivores so incredibly hostile towards vegans? Answer: Vegans are culinary gadflies whose very existence sting people into re-examining the morality of eating murdered animals.
• Just right for the UK garden: A mini-cow. Registrations of the most popular breed, the Dexter, have doubled since 2000 and websites are sprouting up offering "the world's most efficient, cutest and tastiest cows." For between £200 and £2,000, people can buy a cow that "stands no taller than a large German shepherd dog, gives 16 pints of milk a day that can be drunk unpasteurised, keeps the grass 'mown' and will be a family pet for years before ending up in the freezer."

Animals

• In a flap over caged hens. A November ballot measure seeking more space for calves raised for veal and breeding pigs could also make California the first U.S. state to ban the housing in small wire cages of egg-laying hens. An undercover investigation in May by Mercy for Animals showed video of rotting hen carcasses in cages with live hens and scrawny hens covered in excrement.
• From battery farm to family pet. Chickens have real characters: they can be very curious and cheeky. They're like little cats and dogs with feathers.

Books and Perspectives

• Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals by Karen Dawn. "After reading her description of how the deli meat got to my Tupperware container, I put off lunch until late in the afternoon . . . With each bite into the ham, I heard the shrieking of pigs in my head. When will the pigs stop screaming, Karen Dawn? When? When the world converts to vegetarianism, she writes in the book. This will happen eventually. She's not militant about this point. She's logical. She's levelheaded. She's funny. That's why her message is so . . . darn . . . persuasive." – Dan Zak of the Washington Post.
• KidLit: Wild Animals in Captivity is a book by Rob Laidlaw, director of Zoocheck Canada.

The current crisis is a wake up call for going vegetarian, eating local, not over-eating, and reducing waste

Anyone who likes Urban Herbivore’s delicious vegan muffins (and who doesn’t?) came face to face with the global phenomena of raising grain prices recently – the price went from $2 to $2.50. A sign posted by the muffins explained that prices for flour had risen by as much as 141% since last October.

In Canada higher prices for food is a minor inconvenience compared to places like Egypt and Haiti where food riots have erupted, and in the Philippines where the very survival of the population is dependent on importing rice. According to the World Bank, 33 countries are now vulnerable to social unrest and political instability because of food insecurity.

Meat prices are also on the rise, but so far not nearly as fast as for grains. The lag is due to meat producers responding to soaring feed cost by sending more animals to slaughter creating a temporary glut, agricultural subsidies and bailouts, and cheap exports of beef from South America.

Chart information from the May 2008 issue of Food Outlook, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

What is causing the current food crisis?

A number of elements have come together in deadly tandem: diversion of grain to biofuel production for cars, a growing appetite for grain-fed meat in China and India, water and fertilizer scarcity, and soaring global fuel prices. Add to that the continuing addition of 70 million people per year to the earth’s population, souring obesity rates, and the impacts of climate change and it is not hard to understand the why prices are rising so fast.

But there are reasons for hope

• More people around the world will be moving in the direction of a plant-based diet as meat becomes less affordable.
• Vegetarian diets are generally healthier and require much less land.
• The current crisis is a wake up call for the importance of locally-grown foods.
• Higher food prices should put a dent in obesity rates.
• High rates of food wastage, especially in the West, will likely decline as food becomes more expensive.

An in depth look at this issue will be posted here soon.

Here are some tips for vegetarian-friendly restaurants, natural food stores, or other places that provide natural, environmental products or services. Running a green business location is a great way to be consistent and to demonstrate commitment to the environment.

If you aren't involved in running a business yourself, perhaps you know someone who is? If so let them know about this page. 

1. Serve a wide selection of vegetarian and vegan options. Use locally-grown seasonal produce and organic ingredients as much as possible. 

2. For take-out, provide biodegradable containers. For eat-in, provide real dishes or use compostable plates and cutlery.

3. Discourage the use of plastic bags. Charge customers for them, reward those who bring their own, or provide a suitable alternative. 

4. Provide filtered water instead of bottled water. Plastic bottles are especially bad for the environment, and trucking or shipping water long distances causes pollution.

5. Consider using non-toxic humane pest control if you have problems with mice, rats or insects.

Other ideas: Use non-toxic cleaners, switch to green energy such as Bullfrog Power, use water conservation measures, provide discounts for cyclists and transit riders, install a green roof, upgrade your refrigerators and dishwashers, and more. 

Click "This post continues" for more information about the above tips.

McCartney urges vegetarianism to fight climate ills

"The biggest change anyone could make in their own lifestyle would be to become vegetarian. I would urge everyone to think about taking this simple step to help our precious environment and to save it for the children of the future."

Scientists flesh out plans to grow (and sell) test tube meat

In five to 10 years, supermarkets might stock vat-grown meat that is cheaper to produce than livestock and less damaging to the environment. According to a new economic analysis presented at the In Vitro Meat Symposium in Norway, meat grown in giant tanks known as bioreactors would be cost competitive with European beef prices. With a rising global middle class projected by the UN to double meat consumption by 2050, and livestock already responsible for 18 per cent of greenhouse gases, the symposium is drawing a variety of scientists, environmentalists and food industry experts.
• From Wired.com - April 11, 2008

Seizing the moment, PETA is offering a million dollar reward to the first to make in vitro meat at competitive prices by 2012. Whether it is ethical or not (i.e: GMOs), PETA has generated a lot of media buzz including a feature article in this week's issue of Toronto's Now Magazine, where they are quoted: “For people who are addicted to the cholesterol and saturated fats in flesh, we’re rooting for science to provide an eco-friendly ‘methadone’ for their ‘heroin.’”

Is changing our diet the key to resolving the global food crisis?

People are dying because of the global food shortage, which has sparked a sudden surge in food prices. Even in Toronto there are reports of small-scale rice-hoarding in Asian neighbourhoods, spurred by tales of shortages and rationing worldwide. Some stores have imposed caps on how much rice customers can buy.Fortunately, a simple solution to the food crisis exists – eat less meat.  Meat is a very inefficient way of producing food. "It takes 8 kg of grain to produce 1 kg of beef, and large tracts of forest have been cleared for grazing land that might have been used to grow crops. To maximize food production, it is best to be vegan. According to Simon Fairlie, in his magazine The Land, it would take just 3 million hectares of arable land to meet Britain's food needs, half the current total, if the population were vegan."
• From The Independent, UK - April 16, 2008

Adapted from the April edition of VegE-News' monthly news and events email service. It is free to subscribe. Their April issue's environmental stories also include:

• Seafood not so healthy after all - for us or the planet.
• Toxic fumes, blisters & brain damage: Got milk? After years living next to Willet Dairy, the largest industrial farm in New York State, Strecker and her neighbors are reporting serious health problems.

Jade and Nimisha at our table on Friday, April 25, 2008. See below for another photo.

Despite the Toronto transit strike over the weekend, our table at the Green Living Show was a huge success. A thousand factsheets explaining the connection between meat and the environment were handed out, well over 100 people signed up to take the Veggie Challenge, and we went through two boxes of Vegetarian Starter Kits.

Our large table banner titled A Planet at "Steak"! prominently told show visitors that:

Livestock production accounts for 30% of the entire land surface of the planet and 18% of climate change.

– Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN

Ed Begley, Jr, one of the featured speakers at the show, gave a talk entitled: "Live Simply So Others Can Simply Live" that touched on the green reasons to be vegetarian.

Begley, an actor and activist, is known for turning up at Hollywood events on his bicycle. His 37-year journey to become an environmentalist began in 1970. Around the same time, he became more or less vegetarian. In 1992, he switched to a vegan diet.

"I am [vegetarian] for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the environmental impact ...

Jane Porter, who lives in Finland, has written an inspiring entry in her blog about taking a big step towards a vegetarian diet by ceasing to buy meat. She writes: "Although there are plenty of reasons for people going vegetarian (animal rights etc.), the clincher for me was reading about its environmental impact."

She cites the fact that the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalent – 18 percent – than all of the world's transport vehicles, and that a meat-based diet requires 7 times more land than a plant-based diet. She also mentions the emerging crisis in food scarcity. Cost of grain is soaring, partly due to the increased demand for meat in China, India and other rapidly developing countries. Cows, pigs and chickens are fattened on huge amounts of grain and soy.

Her initial step has been to eliminate meat in the home, but still eat it sometimes when going out, but today she wrote us: "I just signed up for the Veggie Challenge. I'm in need of some better cooking tips! On the plus side, I save money by not eating meat - which allows me to spend more on really good gourmet ingredients."