THE VEGETARIAN BLOG

Since 2006 we have been aware that livestock’s greenhouse emissions account for 18% of the total that goes into the atmosphere and causes global warming. Contrast that with transport’s share at 13% and you get an idea of how environmentally unsound animal agriculture and its products and byproducts are. Did I mention the unspeakable suffering inflicted on animals by this horrible industry?That figure was calculated by the UN’s Food and Agriculture arm and published in a report called Livestock’s Long Shadow, which has since become a staple of the environmental argument in favor of veganism.But that was 2006. A new report by the Worldwatch Institute has remade the calculations, which the reputed thinktank says underestimated the real contribution that livestock makes towards greenhouse emissions. Called Livestock and Climate Change, the report concludes that livestock’s contribution to greenhouse emissions actually accounts for 51% of the total. That’s nearly three times the previously estimated figure.“Recent analysis by Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang finds that livestock and their by-products actually account for at least 32.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year, or 51 percent of annual worldwide GHG emissions”, the organization says on its website.The report can be downloaded for free here  and you can see for yourself how the new calculations were made.So what is there to do about this dreadful situation? As the report suggests, adopting a plant-based diet is the only way out this terrible mess. Going vegan is the most significant shift in the fight against global warming.And let’s not forget the animals. If we go vegan, we reduce our contribution to animal suffering and stop breeding sentient creatures into a life of misery, pain and early death. Besides, it will help protect the habitats of free-living non-humans whose territories are constantly being invaded by ranchers.

Via Energy Refuge

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