Vegan Starter Guide (IVU)

8/6/2019 Vegan Starter Guide (IVU)

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VEGGUIDE

STARTER

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO EAT RIGHTFOR YOUR HEALTH, FOR ANIMALS, AND FOR THE

EARTH

INTERNATIONAL VEGETARIAN UNION


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BE VEG.GO GREEN.AND PRESERVEA FUTURE FOROUR CHILDRENAND OURSELVES.

CONGRATULATIONS!By opening this guide, youve just takenthe frst step toward one o the best choices

that you can make or yoursel, animals, and

the planet. The pages that ollow will give

you everything needed to know on how to

adopt a healthy and compassionate diet. Its

packed with important inormation, tips, and

recipes to help you establish eating habits

that youll eel great about.

Its easy to live and let live, and this guide will

show you how. Dig in!


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CONTENT

THE WHYS AND HOWSClimate Change and Consumption

World Leaders and Top Scientists on Plant-based Diet

Survival o the World in Your Hands

Save Our Planet The Smart Way

How Every Bite Aects Mother Nature

Meat The FactsVeg Foods: Powerul Tool For Health

DIETARY CHANGE:

The Key to Preserving Biodiversity,the Environment and Civilization

Learn More

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SPECIAL REPORT


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A recent authoritative report published by the World Watch

institute, authors Goodland and Anhang concluded that

over 51% o greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions come rom

Livestock.

A widely cited 2006 report by the United Nations Foodand Agriculture Organization, Livestocks Long Shadow,

estimates that 18 percent o annual worldwide greenhouse

gas (GHG) emissions are attributable to livestock; however,

recent analysis by Goodland and Anhang co-authors o

Livestock and Climate Change in the latest issue o World

Watch magazine ound that livestock and their byproducts

actually account or at least 32.6 billion tons o carbon dioxide

per year, or 51 percent o annual worldwide GHG emissions!

Meat production also uses a massive amount o water and

other resources which would be better used to eed the

worlds hungry and provide water to those in need.

Based on their research, Goodland and Anhang conclude

that replacing livestock products with soy-based and other

alternatives would be the best strategy or reversing climatechange. They say This approach would have ar more rap-

id eects on GHG emissions and their atmospheric con-

centrations and thus on the rate the climate is warming

than actions to replace ossil uels with renewable energy.

THE MAIN SOURCES OF GHGS FROM ANIMAL AGRICULTURE ARE:

1. Deorestation o the rainorests to grow eed or livestock.

2. Methane rom manure waste.

Methane is 72 times more potent as a global warming gas than CO2

3. Rerigeration and transport o meat around the world.

4. Raising, processing and slaughtering o the animal.

CLIMATE CHANGE

AND MEAT CONSUMPTION

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MITIGATION EFFORTS BASED ONDIETARY CHANGES SCENARIOS*

Dietary Changes already lowers 31-47% of the total

greenhouse gas emissions reduction target

Less emission reduction is needed in the Energy Sector

Net Present Value of Mitigation Cost of over 2000-2005 No Meats can reduce GDP cost by 70%

Non Animal Products can reduce GDP cost by 80%

Healthy Diet is a more Realistic Scenario

BENEFITS OF DIETARY CHANGES*

More Land Available

Due to the abandonment o crop and pasture land

Increase rom 170 EJ to 450 EJ

Reduction in Agricultural Land that leads to more land

available or other purposes such as energy crops or

nature reserve

* From Climate benefts o changing diet publication rom Netherlands

Environmental Assessment Agency by Elke Stehest, Lex Bouwman, Detle

P. van Vuuren, Michel G. J. den Elzen, Bas Eickhout, Pavel Kabat

The act is that we are being inormed o the dangerous

path we are on by depending greatly on animal esh or

human consumption. We still have the opportunity to make

the most eective steps in saving ourselves and this planet.

By simply choosing a plant based diet we can reduce our

carbon oot print by a huge amount.

We are gambling with our lives and with those o our uture

generations to come. Its madness to know we are ully

aware o the possible consequences but yet are ailing to act.

Please make a truly environmental, healthy and compas-

sionate choice, choose to drastically reduce your meat in-

take or simply go vegan. This is the single most powerul

action or preventing climate change as it is the single larg-

est source o greenhouse gas emissions.

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WHAT WORLD LEADERSAND TOP SCIENTISTSSAY ON CLIMATE CHANGEAND A PLANT-BASED DIET

AUSTRALIAFORMER SENATOR ANDREW BARTLETT (1997-2008)

AND PARLIAMENT Member Ronan Lee have called on all

Australians to urgently change to a plant-based diet, in re-

sponse to Australias prolonged water shortage and high

levels o methane emissions rom livestock.

BULGARIACO-FOUNDER OF BULGARIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY, MR.EDVIN SUGAREV: Producing meat requires a lot o re-

sources. For example rom water, big quantities are need-

ed to make meat into an alimentary product, whereas thats

not the case with plants. So its no doubt that we save re-

sources in this respect. And perhaps ecology will be one o

the actors that will lead more people into preerring the

vegetarian diet.(Interview with Supreme Master Television 18 September 2008)

INDIAPARLIAMENTARIAN AND FORMER INDIAN ENVIRON-

MENT MINISTER, MANEKA GANDHI: Unless we change

our ood choices nothing else matters because it is meat

that is destroying most o our orests, it is meat that pollutes

the waters, it is meat that is creating disease which leads to

all our money being diverted to hospitals, so its the rst

choice or anybody who wants to save the Earth.

We are so, so close to the red light, that we may wake up

tomorrow and nd there is nothing to save ater all.

UNITED KINGDOMLORD STERN, A FORMER CHIEF ECONOMIST OF THE

WORLD BANK AND NOW I. G. PATEL PROFESSOR OFECONOMICS AT THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOM-

ICS SAID Meat is a wasteul use o water and creates a

lot o greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the

worlds resources. A vegetarian diet is better.

NORWAYENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT MINISTER, ERIK SOL-

HEIM: We have to reduce the meat consumption and one

way o doing it is o course that a larger amount o what we

eat is vegetarian and everything else other than meat.

(Interview with Supreme Master Television - 17 September 2008)

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SWEDENJENS HOLM (MEP): Probably the biggest step a person

could take is to reduce the consumption o meat and other

animal products. And i you really want to become climate-riendly, well then you should become vegetarian and stop

eating meat totally.

But also, we should be active in politics and in organiza-

tions, and make sure that our governments and political

parties do what they have to do, and that is not to subsidize

the meat industry, promote vegetarian ood, or instance.

TAIWANPRESIDENT MAYING-JEOU AND VICE PRESIDENT VINCENT

SIEW led the entire presidential oce in the signing o a

declaration o measures to reduce CO2 and save energy,

which includes eating locally and partaking o more veg-

etables and less meat.

More than one million Formosans (Taiwanese) pledge to

go veg to save the Earth as a result o the No Meat NoHeat campaign. More than 1.2 million people in Formosa, in-

cluding government ocials, have promised to help reduce

carbon emissions by converting to vegetarianism, meaning

an animal ree diet, which will remove at least 1.5 million

tons o carbon emissions rom the atmosphere each year.

USAPROFESSOR OF GEOPHYSICAL SCIENCES AT UNIVERSI-TY OF CHICAGO, DR. DAVID ARCHER: Its very clear that

when you grow grain and then eed it to animals and then

eat the animals, you lose 90% o the energy rom the original

grain, and so not only can you eed ewer people on the

agriculture that you have but as they discovered, it also requires

a lot more ossil uel energy to make that happen.

UNITED NATIONSCHAIRMAN OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATECHANGE, DR. RAJENDRA PACHAURI, has said on many oc-

casions: Please eat less meat; meat is a very carbon inten-

sive commodity.

I would say its probably ar better to impose a tax on all

products, including meat, that lead to emissions o green-

house gases.

... I think we have to raise our voices as a scientic commu-

nity certainly, civil society, academia, to highlight this as an

area where there are multiple benets rom reducing meat

consumption.

(Interview with Supreme Master Television 12 September 2008)

UN Framework Committee on Climate Change Executive

Secretary, Yvo de Boer, has pointed out that a bigger part o

higher ood price increases comes rom eeding grain to ani-

mals being raised or meat. Secretary de Boer stated, The

best solution would be or us all to become vegetarians.

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SURVIVAL OF THEWORLD IN YOUR HANDSGLOBAL WARMING IS CAUSING CATASTROPHIC DISASTERS WITH HEAVY

LOST OF HUMAN LIVES. AND THE RISING TEMPERATURES COULD SEND

MORE THAN A MILLION OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS TO EXTINCTION.

SAVE HUMANS LIVES

20% of the worlds population, or 1.4 billion

people, could be ed with the grain and

soybeans ed to U.S. cattle alone.

Millions of people across the globe are faced

with hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, oods,

wildres and water shortages.

Scientists predict that global warmingwould displace 150 million people over the

next 50 years.

SAVE OUR OWN LIVES

Increases life expectancy by up to 15 years

Reduces heart disease risk by 50%

Reduces heart surgery risk by 80%

Lowers blood pressure

Lowers cholesterol levels

Reduces Type 2 diabetes

Prevents stroke conditions

Reverses atherosclerosis

Prevents many forms of cancer

Stronger immune system

SAVE FARM ANIMALS LIVES

In the United States, 10 billion animals are

slaughtered every year. In the European Union, the annual figure is 300 million

cattle, sheep, and pigs, and 4 billion chickens.

In Canada, 650 million are killed annually.

SAVE OUR CHILDRENS LIVES

We hold the uture in our hands. Together,

we must ensure that our grandchildren will not have to

ask why we ailed to do the right thing, and let them to

suer the consequences. UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon

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SAVE WILD ANIMALS LIVES

The disappearance of 65 amphibian species

in Central and South America has a direct

correlation to global warming. Animal species like antelopes; tortoises and

birds ound only on the southern tip o Arica

cannot move arther south when warming

becomes unbearable.

Over two-thirds of bird species in Australia

and more than one-third o those in Europe

could simply be wiped o the ace o the Earth.

SAVE OCEAN SPECIES LIVES

Pollution from animal farms is destroying

the worlds oceans. Nitrogen rom animaleces and ertilizer causes massive increase

in algae, leaving little oxygen or other sea

lives. In many areas, virtually all the sea animals

and plants have died.

Fish farms creates massive amounts of

eces, sh carcasses and antibiotic is causing

the ocean oor to rot and toxiy.

Pollution and over-fishing causes diminished

ood supply or sea animals. Whales are

losing weight.

The diversity o lie on Earth is undergoing an

immense and hidden tragedy that requires the

scale o global response now being deployed to

tackle climate change, according to one o the

worlds most eminent biologists. Pro Edward

Wilson, an ecologist who has been described

as Darwins natural heir and hailed by novel-

ist Ian McEwan as an intellectual hero and

inspirational writer, told the Guardian that

the threat was so grave he is pushing or the

creation o an international body o experts

modeled on the UNs Intergovernmental Panel

on Climate Change (IPCC).James Randerson, The Guardian, Nov. 20, 2009

SAVE RAINFORESTSSPECIES LIVES

Livestock grazing leads to the destruction

o rainorests. And with it, the extinction o

over hal o the worlds animal and plant

species.

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1 PERSON GOING

VEG FOR 1 YEAR=REDUCES3,267 POUNDS OF CO2 EMISSIONS

Equivalent to savings rom not using all

these equipments or 1 year:

+STOPS

5 PEOPLE FROM STARVINGWe can eed 5 times more people i

we use the land to grow crops directly

or humans instead o growing crops or

livestock and then eating their meat.

+SAVES25 LIVES0.4 cow

0.5 pig

0.1 sheep

24 chickens

I the whole population o United Stateso 301 million people eat 2/3 less meat:

=655 BILLION POUNDS

o CO2 emissions could be reduced.

+1 BILLION o starving people could be ed.Enough to stop world hunger!

+5 BILLION o animal lives could be spared.

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SAVE OUR PLANETTHE SMART WAY

EFFECTIVENESS VS. CONVENIENCE(Ratings take into consideration how much an individual can

do on the average)

Install alternative energy like solar

panel and windmill.

Change to compact fluorescent

bulbs.

Take a shower instead of a bath.

You save more water by not eating 1

pound o bee than by not showering

or at least 6 months!

SAVE RESOURCESEFFECTIVENESS

CONVENIENCE

Use public transportation, ride a

bike or share a car.

Buy hybrid model if you are shop

ping or a car.

Producing 1 ast-ood hamburger uses

enough uel to drive a car or 20 miles!

Vegetarians do much more or the

planet than meat-eaters who recycle!

TRAVEL EFFICIENTLYEFFECTIVENESS

CONVENIENCE

Going Veg is something everyone o

us can do easily every day to save our

planet. And its much healthier too.

The World Cancer Research Fund says:

Eat mostly foods of plant origin.

Reusing meat is the single most

eective thing you can do to reduce

your carbon ootprint.

The ofcial handbook o the Live Earth

concerts that Al Gore helped organize.

GO VEGEFFECTIVENESS CONVENIENCE

HIGH

LOW

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GO VEG. FOR HEALTHY PLANET& HEALTHY LIFE.

STOP GLOBAL WARMING: Stop 80% of global warming

Save 4.5 tons of emissions per US household per year

SAVE RESOURCES:

Conserve up to 70% clean water

Save over 70% of the Amazonian rainforest

(3,433 billion hectares o land)

Free up 760 million tons of grain every year

(hal the worlds supply)

Free up 85% of the worlds soy

Free up 43% of the worlds cereal

Consume 2/3 less fossil fuels of those for meat product

STOP POLLUTION:

Stop deforest the lungs of the Earth

Reduce pollution from untreated animal waste

Maintain cleaner air

Maintain cleaner water bodies

SOLUTION FOR WORLDProblems:

Stop world hunger

Revive world economy

Trees revive the atmosphere by re-

plenishing oxygen while removing

carbon dioxide, methane, and oth-

er greenhouse gases. The livestock

sector drives 1/3 of the worlds de-

forestation and uses up 3.4 billion

hectares of land!

PLANT TREESEFFECTIVENESS

CONVENIENCE

Be a frugal shopper.

Reduce

Reuse

Recycle.

Vegetarians do much more or the

planet than meat-eaters who recycle!

RECYCLE THINGSEFFECTIVENESS

CONVENIENCE

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LEADING HEALTH EXPERTS AGREE THAT GOINGVEG IS THE SINGLE BEST THING THAT WE CAN DOFOR OURSELVES AND OUR FAMILIES. PLANT-BASEDDIET PROVIDES US WITH ALL THE NUTRIENTS THAT

WE NEED, MINUS THE SATURATED FAT, CHOLES-TEROL, HORMONES, ANTIBIOTICS, AND CONTAMI-NANTS FOUND IN MEAT AND DAIRY PRODUCTS.

Increases life expectancy by up to

15 years

Lowers blood pressure

Lowers cholesterol levels

Prevents stroke conditions

Reverses atherosclerosis

Prevents Infertility

Stronger immune system

Prevent animal diseases, 75% of

new diseases come rom animals.

Meat risks contamination with animal

diseases like the H1N1 (Swine u),

Bird u, Mad cow disease, Bluetongue

disease, E coli, Salmonella, etc.

REDUCE HEART DISEASE

Reduces heart disease risk by 50%

Reduces heart surgery risk by 80%

Over 17 million lives lost globally each year

Cost o cardiovascular disease is at least US$1 trillion

a year

PREVENT CANCER PREVENTS MANY FORMS OF CANCER

Over 1 million new colon cancer patients diagnosed

each year More than 600,000 colon cancer-related mortalities annually

In the Untied States alone, colon cancer treatment

costs about US$6.5 billion

Millions o people are newly diagnosed with other

meat- related cancers every year.

REDUCE DIABETES

REDUCES TYPE 2 DIABETES 246 million people are aected worldwide

An estimated US$174 billion spent each year on treatment

just in the United States

PREVENT OBESITY AT LEAST 2.6 MILLION PEOPLE DIE ANNUALLY FROM

PROBLEMS RELATED TO BEING OVERWEIGHT

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OUR EARTHHOW EVERY BITE AFFECTS MOTHER NATUREEating veg is one o the most important and eective actions

you can take to help stop global warming, conserve natural

resources, prevent water and air pollution, and save species

rom extinction. According to Dr. David Brubaker, PhD, at

Johns Hopkins Universitys Center or a Livable Future,The way that we breed animals or ood is a threat to the

planet. It pollutes our environment while consuming huge

amounts o water, grain, petroleum, pesticides and drugs.

The results are disastrous. As the Sierra Club put it in their

2002 report on animal actories violations by the meat

industry add up to a rap sheet longer than War and Peace.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Growing grain or animal eed is extremelyresource intensive and wasteul.

Between 1990 and 1997, manure spills killedmore than one billion sh.

Feces runo rom actory arms oten pol-lutes local groundwater.

Countless acres o rainorest have beendestroyed to create land or cattle grazing.

Scientists agree that human activities arecausing our planet to warm up.

NATURAL DISASTERS HAVEDOUBLED IN THE LAST20 YEARS. AND MOST ARELINKED TO GLOBAL WARMING.

UNITED NATIONS

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GLOBAL WARMINGAccording to Livestocks Long Shadow,

a groundbreaking 2006 United Na-

tions report, raising animals or ood

causes more global warming than

all the cars and trucks in the world

combined.

This is due to a number o actors, in-

cluding the greenhouse gases emit-

ted rom the manure, belches, and

atulence o billions o armed animals.

Deorestation caused by the expan-sion o grazing and the growing o

animal eed also causes global warming,

since the trees are no longer there to

absorb the CO2. The burning o ossil

uels used to produce the massive

amount o eed crops, to heat and

cool the buildings that house the an-

imals, and to transport, process, andrerigerate the meat also contributes

to the problem.1

Researchers at the University o Chi-

cago calculated that eating a vegan diet prevents the

equivalent o 1.5 tons o CO2 emissions every year even

more than the 1 ton o CO2 emissions prevented by switching

rom a large sedan to a Toyota Prius.2

They also deter-mined that switching to a vegan diet is 50 percent more

eective than switching rom a regular car to a hybrid in

reducing your impact on global warming.

THE LIVESTOCK SECTOR EMERGES AS ONE OFTHE TOP TWO OR THREE MOST SIGNIFI CANTCONTRIBUTORS TO THE MOST SERIOUS ENVIRON-MENTAL PROBLEMS, AT EVERY SCALE FROM LO-

CAL TO GLOBAL. UNITED NATIONS

LIVESTOCKS LONG SHADOW REPORT 11/06

Livestock raising drives 1/3 o the worldsdeorestation. It uses up 3.4 billion

hectares o land or animal gazing andor growing crops to eed the animals.

Livestocks gas and waste produces theno.1 source o nitrous oxide and methane,

which are 310 times and 72 times morepower than carbon dioxide respectively.

Livestock industry produces more

carbon dioxide than all the worlds cars,trains and planes combined - by raisingthe animals, transporting them to theslaughterhouses, the slaughtering pro-cess, rerigerating and transporting theircarcasses all over the world.

LIVESTOCK: A MAJOR CAUSEOF GLOBAL WARMING

1 2

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WASTING RESOURCESFeeding large amounts o grain to armed animals in order

to produce a small amount o meat is a waste o limited

resources. A July 7, 2002 Time magazine article reported onthe ndings o Cornell ecologist David Pimentel: Pimen-

tel argues that vegetarianism is much more environment-

riendly than diets revolving around meat. In terms o caloric

content, the grain consumed by American livestock could

eed 800 million people... Animal protein also demands tre-

mendous expenditures o ossil-uel energy eight times as

much or a comparable amount o plant protein.

THE COSTS OF MASS-PRODUCING CATTLE,POULTRY, PIGS, SHEEP AND FISH TO FEED OURGROWING POPULATION... INCLUDE HUGELYINEFFICIENT USE OF FRESHWATER AND LAND,HEAVY POLLUTION FROM LIVESTOCK FECES...AND SPREADING DESTRUCTION OF THE FORESTSON WHICH MUCH OF OUR PLANETS LIFE DEPENDS.TIME MAGAZINE, 11/8/99

The meat industry is a major cause o resh water deple-

tion. According to Ed Ayres o the World Watch Institute,

Around the world, as more water is diverted to raising pigs

and chickens instead o producing crops or direct consump-

tion, millions o wells are going dry. India, China, North A-

rica and the U.S. are all running reshwater decits, pump-

ing more rom their aquiers than rain can replenish. Ayres

states, Pass up one hamburger, and youll save as muchwater as you save by taking 40 showers with a low-ow

nozzle. 3

EXTINCT IS FOREVERThe United Nations reports that, the livestock sector may

well be the leading player in the reduction o biodiversity,

since it is the major driver o deorestation, as well as one o

the leading drivers o land degradation, pollution, climate

change, overshing, sedimentation o coastal areas and a-

cilitation o invasions by alien species. 1

In the United States, grazing has contributed to the demise o

26% o ederally listed threatened and endangered species.4

The situation is no better in South America where ranching-

induced deorestation is one o the main reasons or the loss

o plant and animal species in tropical rainorests.1

AIR & WATER POLLUTIONAccording to the United Nations, animal agriculture is prob-

ably the largest sectoral source o water pollution, contributing

to eutrophication, dead zones in coastal areas, degradation

o coral rees, human health problems, emergence o antibi-

otic drug resistance and many others. The major sources opollution are rom animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones,

chemicals rom tanneries, ertilizers and pesticides used or

eed crops, and sediments rom eroded pastures. 1

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THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW!Our planet is well on the way to 1C rise in temperature

and beyond. Earths temperature hasnt varied by more

than 1.8F (1C) in the past 10,000 years. But in the last 100years alone, it has increased by 1.1F (0.6C). And it leads

to catastrophic disasters all over the world.

WHAT EXACTLY IS GOING TO HAPPEN AS EARTHHEATS UP? HERE IS THE DEGREE-BY-DEGREE GUIDE:

1C increase

Ice-ree sea absorbs more heat and accelerates global

warming; resh water loss rom a third o the worlds surace;

low-lying coast-lines ooded...

2C increaseEuropeans dying o heatstroke; orests ravaged by re;

stressed plants beginning to emit carbon rather than absorb-

ing it; a third o all species ace extinction...

3C increase

Carbon release rom vegetation and soils speeds global

warming; death o the Amazon rainorest; super-hurricanes

hit coastal cities; starvation in Arica...

4C increase

Runaway thaw o permarost makes global warming un-

stoppable; much o Britain made uninhabitable by severe

ooding; Mediterranean region abandoned...

5C increase

Methane rom ocean oor accelerates global warming; icegone rom both poles; humans migrate in search o ood

and try vainly to live like animals o the land...

6C increase

Lie on Earth ends with apocalyptic storms, ash oods, hy-

drogen sulphide gas and methane reballs racing across the

globe with the power o atomic bombs; only ungi survive...

Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet by Mark Lynas.

Based on authoritative scientic articles, the latest com-

puter models, and inormation about past warm events in

Earth history.

Global temperatures are expected to rise a urther 1.8 - 4.0C(3.2 - 7.2F). IPCC, United Nations

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CONSIDER THIS

AMOUNT OF U.S. GRAIN FED TO FARM ANIMALS: 70%

POUNDS OF CORN AND SOY REQUIRED TO PRODUCE

JUST ONE POUND OF PORK: NEARLY 7

WATER NEEDED TO PRODUCE A POUND OF WHEAT:

14 GALLONS

WATER NEEDED TO PRODUCE A POUND OF MEAT:

441 GALLONS

OF ALL WATER USED FOR ALL PURPOSES IN THE

UNITED STATES,

MORE THAN HALF GOES TO: LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION

THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES IMPERILED BY

LIVESTOCK GRAZING: 161

AMOUNT OF FARMED ANIMAL MANURE PRODUCED IN THE

UNITED STATES: 5 TONS OF WASTE FOR EVERY PERSON

Sources or above statistics: USDA81,85, Cattle-Fax82, Journal o Animal

Science83, National Audubon Society84, U.S.

1: F.A.O., United Nations. (2006). Livestocks long shadow.

2: NewScientist.com (2005, Dec 17). Its better to green your diet

than your car.

3: Ayres, E. (1999, Nov. 8). Will we still eat meat? Time.

4: USDA-NRCS. (1997). Americas private land: a geography o hope(p. 54). Program Aid 1548.

RAISING ANIMALS FOR FOOD IS ONE OF THE TOPTWO OR THREE MOST SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTORSTO THE MOST SERIOUS ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS,AT EVERY SCALE FROM LOCAL TO GLOBAL.

UNITED NATIONS

IF ANYONE WANTS TO SAVE THE PLANET, ALLTHEY HAVE TO DO IS JUST STOP EATING MEAT. ITS STAGGERING WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT.VEGETARIANISM TAKES CARE OF SO MANY THINGSIN ONE SHOT: ECOLOGY, FAMINE, CRUELTY.SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY

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12 POUNDS OF GRAINIt takes 12 pounds o grain to produce one pound o hamburger.This could make eight loaves o bread, or 24 plates o spaghetti.Grain consumption by livestock is increasing twice as ast asgrain consumption by people. Cattle consume 70 percent o allU.S. grain.

55 SQUARE FEET OF RAINFORESTWhile not all hamburgers come rom the rainorest, or everypound o rain orest bee, approximately 660 pounds o preciousliving matter is destroyed, including 2030 dierent plantspecies, over 100 insect species, and dozens o mammals andreptiles.

2,500 GALLONS OF WATERIt takes2,500 gallons o water to produce one pound o

hamburger. This could be used to grow more than 50 pounds oruits and vegetables. Hal o all water consumed in the United

States is used to grow eed and provide drinking water or cattleand other livestock.

THE TRUE COST OF A HAMBURGER

Source: Earth Save International (www.EarthSave.org)

Did you Know?

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NASA-GISS director Dr. James

Hansen states: I you eat urtherdown on the ood chain rather

than animals, which have pro-duced many greenhouse gases,and used much energy in the

process o growing that meat,you can actually make a biggercontribution in that way than justabout anything. So that, in terms

o individual action, is perhapsthe best thing you can do.

UN Framework Convention on

Climate Change (UNFCCC) chie

Yvo de Boer, states: The bestsolution would be or us all tobecome vegetarians.

Henning Steineld, UN FAO Livestock

Inormation and Policy Branch Chie

states:Livestock are one o the most

signifcant contributors to todaysmost serious environmental problems.Urgent action is required to remedythe situation.

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MEAT THE FACTSMORE THAN 30 BILLION ANIMALS ARE KILLED BY THE

AMERICAN MEAT INDUSTRY EACH YEAR IN WAYS

THAT WOULD HORRIFY ANY COMPASSIONATE PERSON

AND THAT WOULD BE ILLEGAL IF CATS OR DOGS WERE

THE VICTIMS.

CHICKENSWHAT HAPPENS TO CHICKENS?

Most small arms have been replaced

by massive corporate-run actory

arms in which chickens, pigs, turkeys,

and cows are treated like machines

instead o living, eeling individuals.

Now, virtually all the meat, eggs, and

dairy products purchased in super-

markets and restaurants come rom

animals raised on such arms. The

giant corporations that prot rom ac-

tory arming spend millions trying to obscure reality with

images o animals who are living peaceully in an idyllic

barnyard. Unortunately, this pretty picture couldnt be

any urther rom the truth.

More chickens are raised and killed or ood than every

other armed animal combined, yet not a single ederal

law protects chickens rom abuseeven though two-

thirds o Americans say that they would support such a

law.

Chickens raised and killed or their esh spend their entirelives in lthy, ammonia-laden sheds with tens o thousands

o other birds. They are dosed with a steady stream o

drugs and bred to grow so large so ast that many become

crippled under their own weight or suer organ ailure.

A New Yorker writer who visited a major chicken actory

arm wrote, I was almost knocked to the ground by the

overpowering smell o eces and ammonia. My eyes burned

and so did my lungs, and I could neither see nor breathe.

Many chickens suer rom chronic respiratory diseases,

weakened immune systems, and bronchitis. According to

a report by the USDA, more than 99 percent o chicken

carcasses are contaminated with E. coli bacteria by the

time they reach the market, largely because o the lthy

conditions in the sheds in which they are raised.

Ater six weeks in these horrible conditions, the birds are

roughly thrown into cages that are stacked on the back

o a truck, and then they are shipped through all weather

extremes to the slaughterhouse.

Chicks have their sensitive beaks cut owithout any painkillers.

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At slaughter, workers violently grab them and hang them

upside-down by their legs, which they orce into shackles,

breaking many o them in the process. Then, the chickens

throats are slit, and they are dragged through tanks o

scalding-hot water, oten while they are still conscious.

Birds who are raised or their eggs are packed, ve to 11 at a

time, into wire cages that are so small that they dont have

enough room to spread even a single wing. Their wings and

legs atrophy rom disuse, and their legs and eet become

deormed rom standing on slanted wire cage bottoms. The

tip o each hens sensitive beak is cut

o with a burning-hot blade. It takes34 hours to produce just one egg. A-

ter about two years o connement,

they are violently pulled rom their

cages and shipped to slaughter. Their

bodies are already so battered and

emaciated that they can only be used

or soup or companion animal ood.

Male chicks are worthless to the egg

industry because they dont lay eggs

and because their breed is too small

to be raised or esh. The egg industry

kills millions o newborn male chicks

every year by suocating them to

death in bags or by dropping them

alive into high-speed grinders.

AMAZING ANIMALS: CHICKENSResearch has proved that chickens

are smarter than dogs, cats, and even

some primates. In a natural setting, a

mother hen begins to teach her chicks

various calls beore they even hatch

she clucks sotly to them while sitting

on the eggs, and they chirp back to her and to each other

rom inside their shells. Unortunately, chickens in actoryarms never meet their mothers.

Ammonia levels in chicken arms are so highthat the corrosive substance burns the birdslungs and skin.

Turkeys and chickens have their wings andlegs broken when they are shoved into trans-port trucks, and they are shipped through allweather extremes with no ood or water.

Hens are crammed by the tens o thousandsinto lthy sheds, with 5 to 11 hens per cagethe cages are so small that the birds cantspread even one wing.

Chickens are genetically manipulated anddosed with antibiotics to make them grow solarge so quickly that they become crippledunder their own weight.

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Veal calves are conned to crates so smallthat they cant even turn around.

Cows spend their lives in cramped sheds andenced-in enclosures, mired in mud and theirown waste.

COWSDOWN ON THE DAIRY FARM

The corporate-owned dairy actories that have replaced

most small arms treat cows like milk machines. To boostproduction, many armers inject cows with synthetic

growth hormones, which increase the cows risk o devel-

oping mastitis, a painul inection. Cows produce milk or

the same reason that humans do: to nourish their babies.

Their calves are traumatically taken rom them shortly a-

ter birth. Female calves are added to the dairy herd or are

slaughtered or the enzyme rennet in their stomachs (used

to make cheese). When their milk production wanes ater

about our or ve years, the mother cows are killed and

ground up to make burgers.

The Link Between Dairy Products and Veal

Even on small amily dairy arms, unwanted male calves

are sold to the veal industry. Chained by their necks inside

tiny stalls that reek o ammonia rom accumulated waste,

they are unable to take even one step in any direction, turn

around, or lie down comortably. Calves raised or veal are

killed when theyre just a ew months old.

What Happens to Beef Cattle?

Bee cattle spend most o their lives on extremely crowd-

ed eedlots. Ranchers have ound that they can maximize

prots by giving each steer less than 20 square eet o

living spacethe equivalent o putting a dozen hal-ton

steers in a typical American bedroom! Steers undergopainul procedures like branding, castration, and dehorn-

ing without pain relie. They oten die o pneumonia, de-

hydration, or heat exhaustion rom spending long periods

without ood or water in crowded trucks while being trans-

ported to eedlots or slaughterhouses.

AMAZING ANIMALS: COWS

Scientists in the United Kingdom discovered that cows en-

joy solving problems and even experience Eureka! mo-

ments (in which their heart rate speeds up, their adrenaline

ows, and they jump) when they are successuljust like

human beings. Cows also interact in socially complex ways,

so that a herd o cows is very much like a pack o wolves,

with alpha animals and complex social dynamics, including

riendships that develop over time.

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PIGSWHAT HAPPENS TO PIGS?

Pigs in actory arms are castrated and have hunks o esh

cut rom their ears, bits o their teeth cut o with wire cutters,and their tails chopped oall without any painkillers.

Sometimes, the stalls that they are conned to are stacked,

and excrement rom the pigs in the upper tiers alls onto

those below. Breeding pigs in actory arms are articially

impregnated several times during their short lives and

are conned to stalls that are barely larger than their own

bodies; they literally go insane rom being unable to turn

around their entire lives. These crates have been banned in

many countries and will be totally banned across the European

Union as o 2013.

The accumulation o lth, eces, and urine in the sheds

causes more than one-quarter o pigs to suer rom ago-

nizing mange, and three-ourths o pigs have pneumonia

by the time they reach the slaughterhouse. Drugs and ge-

netic breeding cause pigs to become so lame that they are

crippled or, at best, can barely walk420,000 pigs a year

arrive crippled at the slaughterhouse, and another 1 million

arrive dead rom the journey.

The sheer number o animals killed makes it impossible or

them to be given humane, painless deaths. Because o im-

proper stunning, many pigs drown or are scalded to death

when they are put, still alive, in the scalding-hot water tanksthat are intended to soten their skin and remove their hair.

Pigs spend their lives in crates so small thatthey cant even turn around.

Pigs do not receive any pain relie whenthey have the ends o their teeth cut owith wire cutters.

Many pigs go insane rom extremely crowdedconditions in actory arms and compulsivelychew on the bars o their pens.

AMAZING ANIMALS: PIGSPigs are smarter than dogs and every

bit as riendly, loyal, and aection-

ate. Pigs can play video games ar

more successully than dogs can and

even better than some primates can

(watch a video about this at PETA.

org). Asked to compare a pigs cognitive development to

that o a 3-year-old human child, proessor Donald Broomo Cambridge University Veterinary School says, [Pigs]

have the cognitive ability to be quite sophisticated. Even

more so than dogs and certainly [more so than] 3-year-

olds.

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The thin mesh o commercial shing netsslices into the esh o many sh, causingblood loss and strangling them in the wateror in the net as it is dragged aboard.

Dragged rom the ocean depths, sh suerrom decompression, suocation, and beingcrushed.

FISHWHAT HAPPENS TO FISH?

Like other animals, sh eel pain and experience ear. Dr.

Donald Broom, animal welare advisor to the British gov-ernment, says,Anatomically, physiologically, and biologi-

cally, the pain system in sh is virtually the same as in birds

and mammals. When they are dragged rom the ocean

depths, sh undergo excruciating decompressionthe

rapid pressure change oten ruptures their swim bladders,

pops out their eyes, and pushes their stomachs through

their mouths. Then theyre tossed onboard ships, wheremany slowly suocate or are crushed to death. Others are

still alive when their throats and bellies are cut open.

Now that commercial shing has basically emptied the

oceans o target sh, the seaood industry has turned

to raising sh in contained sh arms, a practice known as

aquaculture, which uses either tanks on land or cagesin the ocean. The sh are packed so tightly together that

they constantly bump into each other and the walls o the

enclosure, causing painul sores and damage to their ns.

The enormous amount o eces in the enclosures leads

to rampant outbreaks o parasites and disease. In order

to keep the sh alive in such unhealthy conditions, large

quantities o antibiotics and other chemicals are pouredinto the water. When the sh are ully grown, they are killed

by having their stomachs cut open or die o suocation

when the water in their tank is simply drained away.

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VEG FOODSPOWERFUL TOOL FOR HEALTH

A HEALTHY HEARTVegetarians have much lower cholesterol levels than meat

eaters, and heart disease is less common in vegetarians. The

reasons are not hard to nd. Vegetarian meals are typically

low in saturated at and usually contain little or no choles-

terol. Since cholesterol is ound only in animal products such

as meat, dairy, and eggs, vegans consume a cholesterol-

ree diet.

The type o protein in a veg diet may be another important

advantage. Many studies show that replacing animal protein

with plant protein lowers blood cholesterol levels even i

the amount and type o at in the diet stays the same. Those

studies show that a low-at, veg diet has a clear advantage

over other diets.

CANCER PREVENTIONA veg diet helps prevent cancer. Studies o vegetarians

show that death rates rom cancer are only about one-hal

to three-quarters o the general populations cancer-death

rates. Breast cancer rates are dramatically lower in countries

where typical diets are plant-based. When women rom

those countries adopt a Western, meat-based diet, their

rates o breast cancer soar. Vegetarians also have signi-

cantly lower rates o colon cancer than meat eaters. Colon

cancer is more closely associated with meat consumption

than any other dietary actor.

Why do veg diets help protect against cancer? First, they

are lower in at and higher in ber than meat-based diets.

But other actors are important, too. Plants contain other

cancer-ghting substances called phytochemicals. For ex-ample, vegetarians usually consume more o the plant pig-

ments beta- carotene and lycopene. This might help to ex-

plain why they have less lung and prostate cancers. Also,

some studies have suggested that diets that avoid dairy

products may reduce the risk o prostate and ovarian can-

cers.

Some o the anticancer aspects o a veg diet cannot yetbe explained. For example, researchers are not quite sure

why vegetarians have more o certain white blood cells,

called natural killer cells, which are able to seek and destroy

cancer cells.

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CONTROLLING DIABETESThe latest studies on diabetes show that a veg diet high

in complex carbohydrates and ber (which are ound only

in plant oods) and low in at is the best dietary prescrip-

tion or controlling diabetes. A diet based on vegetables,legumes, ruits, and whole grains, which are also low in at

and sugar, can lower blood sugar levels and oten reduce or

even eliminate the need or medication. Since individuals

with diabetes are at high risk or heart disease, avoiding

at and cholesterol is important, and a veg diet is the best

way to do that.

LOWER BLOOD PRESSUREAn impressive number o studies, dating back to the early

1920s, show that vegetarians have lower blood pressure

than non-vegetarians. In act, some studies have shown

that adding meat to a veg diet raises blood pressure levels

rapidly and signicantly. A veg diet also reduces sodium

intake: When patients with high blood pressure begin a

vegetarian diet, many are able to eliminate the need ormedication.

THE CALCIUM CONNECTIONVegetarians are less likely to orm either kidney stones or

gallstones. In addition, vegetarians may also be at lower risk

or osteoporosis because they eat little or no animal protein.

A high intake o animal protein encourages the loss o cal-cium rom the bones. Replacing animal products with plant

oods reduces the amount o calcium lost. This may help to

explain why people who live in countries where the typical

diet is plant-based have little osteoporosis, even when calcium

intake is lower than that in dairy-consuming countries.

PLANNING VEG DIETSGrains, beans, and vegetables are rich in protein and iron.Green leay vegetables, beans, lentils, tou, corn tortillas,

and nuts are excellent sources o calcium, as are enriched

soymilk and ortied juices. Vitamin D is normally made

in the body when sun shines on the skin. People who are

dark-skinned or live at northern latitudes have some di-

culty producing vitamin D year-round. Vitamin D can easily

be obtained rom ortied oods.

Regular intake o vitamin B12 is important. Good sources

include all common multiple vitamins (including vegetarian

vitamins), ortied cereals, some brands o nutritional yeast,

and ortied soymilk. When reading ood labels, look or the

word cyanocobalamin in the ingredients list. This is the orm

o vitamin B12 that is best absorbed by the body.

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DIETARY CHANGE:THE KEY TO PRESERVING BIODIVERSITY, THE

ENVIRONMENT AND CIVILIZATION

A NEW VISION FORBIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

In 2002, world leaders rearmed the commitment made at

the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Summit

in Rio de Janeiro to halt and begin to reverse the rate o

biodiversity loss by 2010, but the chances o meeting this

target look increasingly remote; the consequences o ailure

increasingly unnerving. With another saga o slipped targets

leaving many o the worlds vital ecosystems in a precarious

position, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has called oran urgent rethink on the policies and mindset o tackling

biodiversity loss. The imperative immediacy o the problem

requires the corresponding recognition and implementation

o eective, i necessary unprecedented, solutions.

30

The role livestock play in biodiversity loss is so great, the

recently published (May 2010) United Nations Environment

Programmes (UNEP) Global Biodiversity 3 recommends

that governments immediately institute programs to reduce

meat consumption, including the abolition o harmul sub-

sidies. In act, as early as 2006, in their Livestocks Long

Shadow report, the United Nations Food and Agriculture

Organization (UN FAO) identied livestock as being most

likely the single greatest cause o biodiversity loss on theplanet, as well as being the root cause o many such civili-

zation buster trends. The report states:

The livestock sector emerges as one o the top

two or three most signifcant contributors to

the most serious environmental problems, at

every scale rom local to global. The fndings

o this report suggest that it should be a ma-jor policy ocus when dealing with problems o

land degradation, climate change and air pol-

lution, water shortage and water pollution and

loss o biodiversity.

We need a new vision or bio-

logical diversity or a healthy

planet and a sustainable uture

or humankind.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon,

Global Biodiversity Outlook 3, Foreword

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BIODIVERSITY LOSS:RACING TOWARDS A SIXTH GREATEXTINCTION EVENT?

Biodiversity continues to be lost at an astounding rate1,000 times higher than the background extinction rate

o the 600m-year ossil record. The situation is so dire

that many scientists ear we may be experiencing the sixth

great extinction and warn the situation is as critical as cli-

mate change. The UN highlights that any perturbance in

the environmental integrity that biodiversity and ecosys-

tems provide threatens humanity with the potential loss o

water supplies, rising ood prices and even the increasedlikelihood o war.

Perhaps more worryingly, the UNEPs Global Biodiversity 3

reports that the loss in lie-sustaining natural systems and

habitats could reach the point o irreversibility, with one

result o the degradation being that the world moves clos-

er to tipping points beyond which some ecosystems that

play a part in natural processes such as climate regulationor ood chains may be permanently damaged or even lost.

With deorestation, pollution and overexploitation damag-

ing the productive capacity o the most vulnerable envi-

ronments, including the Amazon rainorest, lakes and coral

rees, Ahmed Djoghla, Executive Secretary o the UN Con-

vention on Biological Diversity, was led to the conclusion

that we are reaching the tipping point where irrevers-

ible damage to the planet is going to be done unless we

act urgently.

The UNEP report adds to data rom the International Union

or Conservation o Nature (IUCN) which shows that 21 per

cent o all known mammals, 30 per cent o amphibians and

35 per cent o invertebrates are threatened with extinction,

the present time being the rst since the dinosaurs that hu-

mans are driving plants and animals to extinction aster than

new species can evolve. Dr. Djoghla noted that countries

had ailed to honour pledges to reduce the rate o biodiver-

sity loss and warned that the magnitude o the damage

[to ecosystems] is much bigger than previously thought.

31

Aside rom the removal or signicant reduction o livestock-

related subsidies, the instigation o ar-reaching education

and public inormation initiatives and various other legisla-

tive and economic levers, a sea-change in perception be-

tween individual and environment must be engendered ithe Millennium Development Goals are to be met and biodi-

versity decline reversed.


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32

PRICING THE PRICELESS:THE ECONOMIC RAMIFICATIONS OFBIODIVERSITY LOSS

Some o the global economic considerations related tobiodiversity loss and ecosystem decline were elucidated

in the Economics o Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)

Review, released at the Convention on International Biodi-

versity in Bonn in 2008 which looked at how, i the goods

and services provided by the natural world are not valued

and actored into the global economic system, the environ-

ment will become more ragile and less resilient to shocks,

risking human lives, livelihoods and the global economy.

Oten reerred to as the Stern Review o Biodiversity, it

showed that global GDP could all 7% by 2050 i biodiver-

sity levels and ecosystems are not suciently protected,

and that humankind is causing terrestrial ecosystems dam-

age amounting to 40bn annually; the cost o species

loss arguably unquantiable.

The most up to date TEEB paper, which will be released

this summer 2010 in advance o the CBD summit in Japan,

investigates the ratio o costs o conserving ecosystems or

biodiversity to the benets o doing so. In a recent inter-

view, TEEB report team leader, economist Pavan Sukh-

dev stated that Our studies ound ranges o 1:10, 1:25, 1:60

and 1 to almost 100 The point is they are all big ratios.

He continuedWe need a sea-change in human thinking

and attitudes towards nature: not as something to be van-

quished, conquered, but rather something to be cherishedand lived within, also urging us to recognize our [ail-

ure] to recognize the extent to which we are dependent

on natural ecosystems, and not just or goods and ser-

vices, but also or the stability o the environment in which

we survive.

WE KNOW WHAT WE NEED TO DO.WE KNOW WHAT WORKSSpeaking on May 21, 2010, the International Day or

Biodiversity, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-

Moon emphasized this warning that the current rates o

ora and auna loss are pushing ecosystems to points

beyond which they can actually no longer sustain lie;

Let us reect on the root causes o biodiversity decline

and take action to arrest it. Let us adjust policies andmindsets to reect the true value o species and habitats.

Let us recognize that biodiversity is lie; our lie. Let us

act now to preserve it, beore it is too late. We need

ocused action. We know what we need to do. We know

what works. The time or delay is over. The time or

delivery is now.

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UN: LIVESTOCK MOST LIKELY LEADINGCAUSE OF BIODIVERSITY LOSSIn the Livestocks Long Shadow report, the livestock group

within the UNs Food and Agriculture Organization empha-sized how consumption o animal products is threatening

biodiversity and ecosystems:

Livestock now account or about 20 percent o the to-

tal terrestrial animal biomass, and the 30 percent o the

earths land surace that they now pre-empt was once

habitat or wildlie. Indeed, the livestock sector may well

be the leading player in the reduction o biodiversity,

since it is the major driver o deorestation, as well as one

o the leading drivers o land degradation, pollution, cli-

mate change, overshing, sedimentation o coastal areas

and acilitation o invasions by alien species.

In an overview o this report, the FAO published that an

estimated 80 percent o growth in the livestock sector

comes rom industrial production systems, causing live-

stock to enter into direct competition or scarce land, wa-ter and other natural resources, with the sector being by

ar the single largest anthropogenic user o land; grazing

occupying 26 percent o the Earths terrestrial surace and

eed crop production requiring approximately a third o all

arable land. It also reveals how the expansion o grazing

land or livestock is a key actor in deorestation, especially

in Latin America: some 70 percent o previously orested

land in the Amazon is used as pasture, and eed crops cov-

er a large part o the remainder. Furthermore, 70 percent

o all grazing land in dry areas is considered degraded,

mostly because o overgrazing, compaction and erosion

attributable to livestock activity.

The best solution would be or us all to becomevegetarians.

Yvo de Boer, Former head o UNFCCC

CATTLE CONSUMERS RESPONSIBLE FOR80% OF AMAZONIAN DEFORESTATIONThe Millennium Ecosystem Assessment conrmed the most

important direct causes o biodiversity loss to be changes

in habitats (predominantly caused by land-use change),

overexploitation, the introduction o non-native species,

pollution and climate change; with livestock productioncontributing signicantly to each o these actors and hav-

ing the biggest impact upon the change o land use.

Introducing a more remonstrative tone, the 2009 Green-

peace report Slaughtering the Amazon highlighted how

the cattle sector in the Brazilian Amazon is responsible

or 14% o the worlds annual deorestation. The Brazilian

government is quoted therein, Cattle are responsible or

about 80% o all deorestation in the Amazon region. Suchover consumptive practices are shown to have caused de-

privation o diverse species o ood sources, chronic deor-

estation and expansion o dead zones or oxygen-depleted

zones in the tropical Atlantic and Pacic.

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34

UN: REDUCE MEAT TO PROTECTBIODIVERSITYAmong the actions recommended to reverse such decline

is the reduction or minimization o livestock raising, which

is recognized by the UN as a signicant cause o biodiver-

sity loss. Livestocks role in biodiversity loss is so grave

that the UN has started to call or governmental policy

changes. The UNEPs recent (May 2010) Global Biodiver-

sity Outlook 3 assertively recommends a reduction in meat

production/consumption, highlighting the need to remove

or [avoid] perverse subsidies to minimize unsustainable

resource use and wasteul consumption, in reerence to

underlying causes and indirect drivers o biodiversity de-

cline, including livestock. The report urther encourages

the promotion o market incentives that encourage health-

ier ood options and better use o natural resources, such

as more moderate, less wasteul and more healthy

levels o meat consumption.

At the launch o the Lancets Health Benets o Tack-

ling Climate Change series in November 2009, in which

one o the recommendations was to reduce meat intake

to mitigate climate change while reducing deaths due to

ischaemic heart disease, UN Secretary General Ban stated:

Experts say that eating less meat will also minimize our

impact on the environment and help reduce GHGs.

THE CALL OF THE FUTUREWhile there have been such notable voices calling or indi-

vidual and collective consumption pattern change, to date

there has little evidence o the vision, and indeed legislation,

required to eect such breakthrough policies o livestock-

lessening that could stem the ow o species loss, deor-

estation, water shortage and other livestock-contributory

perils. With regard to the direction the uture must take,

one voice has always been loud and clear: United Nations

IPCC Chairman Dr. Rajendra Pachauri commented duringa 2009 interview that Government [livestock] subsidies

must be removed, because clearly they point you in the

wrong direction, they create conditions by which externali-

ties or external impacts, such as emission o greenhouse

gases, only increase Governments must look at this ob-

jectively and in its entirety, both in terms o environmental

benets and nancial benets that clearly would accrue i

these subsidies were removed as quickly as possible.

FROM UNPALATABLE TOUNPARALLELED:HELPING THE PUBLIC TO LIVE WITHOUTLIVESTOCK

While the promotion o livestock-ree liestyles was not

previously widespread even among notable environmentalgroups, the urgent need to legislate and educate to radically

reduce particular consumption patterns has now been ac-

cepted into the mainstream o environmental consciousness

as an aordable, accessible and eective course o action.

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REVERSING OTHER THREATS TOCIVILIZATION AND THE ECOSYSTEMIn the ollowing section, we explore the linkage between live-

stock and consumption o animal products to other major

trends threatening environmental and civilization collapse.

Climate Change

Dietary change is the astest way to bring global tempera-tures down, afordably.

Climate change is now happening at a rate equivalent to the

worst case scenario predicted by the IPCC, displacing people

due to severe weather conditions, with intense storms at one

extreme, and lack o water and drought at the other. Even i

the current pledges by governments are adhered to, it is still

estimated there will be an average global warming o 3.5C by

2100, which threatens island nations, the continent o Arica,

coastal areas and the global ood supply.

CO2 reductions will not act ast enough to save us. Bold-

er moves that act quickly are necessary to avoid civiliza-

tion collapse; however the current ocus on carbon diox-

ide (CO2) reductions cannot bring about change quickly

enough. CO2 rom ossil uels is now estimated to be ca-

pable o warming the atmosphere or tens o thousands

o years, meaning reliance on CO2 reductions are not su-

cient to save civilization.

35

For example, Friends o the Earths Vicki Hird echoes that

biodiversity loss is being caused by human behaviour,

including the way we eat The Government[s] must act to

protect the worlds vital natural diversity; by helping us cut

back on products that are driving the destruction o orestsand other habitats. This means passing a new law to reduce

the impact o the meat and dairy industry...

Success in acilitating the global re-evaluation o the once

thought unpalatable to the now known unparalleled live-

stock-independent diets (such as the vegan diet) requires

giant steps; but steps that can be taken with the collective

will, bold vision and unprecedented leadership that the

present critical times necessitate.

As Ban Ki-Moon urged, Let us adjust policies andmind-sets to reect the true value o speciesand habitats. Let us recognize that biodiversityis lie our lie. Let us act now to preserve it,beore it is too late.

Lietime and potency o greenhouse gases and aerosols

Source: UN IPCC, University o Chicago, Stanord University

Climate Forcer Atmospheric Lifetime

Carbon Dioxide

(CO2)

Methane (CH4)

Ozone (O3)

Black Carbon

(soot)

10,000 years

12 years 3 years

Hours to days

Weeks to months

1

100

0.5

4,470

1

33

1,055 2,240

Global Warming

Potential (20 yrs)

Global Warming

Potential (100 yrs)


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36

SPECIAL REPORT

Reducing shorter-lived climate orcers may save us.

There is a growing call or ocusing on reducing methane,

ozone and black carbon. These are much more potent than

CO2 at creating warming in the atmosphere, and they have

very short lietimes, meaning reductions may bring about

rapid planetary cooling. Methane, the most prevalent, is

100 times more potent than CO2 over a 20 year period,

and black carbon is 4,470 times more potent. Methane

dissipates within about a decade, while black carbon takes

about a month and ozone takes a ew hours or days.

Dietary shit to a vegan diet: the astest way to reduce

shorter-lived climate orcers. Because livestock are respon-

sible or 36 percent o human-caused methane, the glob-

al adoption o a vegan diet will have a signicant eect.Furthermore, because ozone has been ound to be created

through a series o chemical reactions starting with meth-

ane, any reductions in methane are expected to bring about

rapid reductions in ozone. Livestock and consumption o

animal products are the single greatest source o black car-

bon in Western Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula, re-

gions experiencing some o the astest rates o warming.

The black carbon in Antarctica is coming rom the slash

and burn agriculture involved in raising cattle and growinganimal eed in the Amazon, and it and may also be playing

a signicant role in the melting o Andean glaciers. Even

without accounting or how ast cooling might occur due to

the climate orcers created by the demand or animal prod-

ucts, livestock play a signicant role in climate change. The

UN estimate livestock create 18 percent o global emissions,

while environmental researchers rom the World Bank esti-

mate livestock may be responsible or as much as 51 percent

o emissions. The bottom line is that a plant-based diet willplay a signicant role in addressing climate change without

the capital expenditures associated with buying a more e-

cient car or installing solar panels.

A vegan diet will reduce climate change mitigation costs

80 percent. The Netherlands Environmental Assessment

Agency estimates that global adoption o a diet with no

animal products will result in a reduction o climate change

mitigation costs o over 80 percent. The benets come

rom a combination o eliminating livestock emissions aswell as land use changes, as discussed above.

37%

6%

18%

2%

17%

15%

5%

UNITED KINGDOM

Enteric Fermentation

Manure

Oil & Gas

Waste Water

Coal

Stationary & Mobile Sources

Landfill

ANTHROPOGENIC SOURCES OF METHANESource: Methane to Markets


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37

33%

29%

13%

11%

12%

2%

GERMANY


Manure

Oil & Gas

CoalStationary & Mobile Sources

Landfill

22%

8%

25%7%

24%

11%

2% 1%

UNITED STATES


ManureOil & Gas

Waste Water

Coal

Stationary & Mobile Sources

Rice

Landfill

UNITED KINGDOM

No.1-Livestock(43%)

No.2-Landfll(18%)

No.3-Oil&Gas(17%)

GERMANY

No.1-Livestock(62%)

No.2-Landfll(13%)

No.3-Oil&Gas(11%)

UNITED STATES

No.1-Livestock(30%)

No.2-Landfll(25%)

No.3-Oil&Gas(24%)

BRAZIL

No.1-Livestock(75%)

No.2-Landusechange(14%)

No.3-Wastes(6%)

69%

3%

14%

3%

6%2%

2%1%

BRAZIL

EntericFermentation

(cattle)

Enteric

Fermentation(other animals)

Landuse change

Animal wastes

Fossil fuel

Rice fieldsBurning of

agriculturalresiduesWastes


38/44

38

SPECIAL REPORT

Water and Food Security A plant-based diet: the easiest way to eed and water

more with less.

History is littered with great civilizations who met their de-

mise when they lost control o their ood supply. Our civi-lization is on the brink with soil loss, extreme weather and

growing water scarcity. For the rst time in recent history,

ood price increases in 2008 which caused global pro-

tests were trend driven rather than event driven, ringing

a warning bell to governments and policymakers across

the globe. The situation is exacerbated by climate change,

which is causing crop losses due to weather extremes rom

ooding to drought. Growing water scarcity is also oneo the greatest threats acing humanity over the next ew

decades.

The best way to do more with less is to adopt a vegan diet.

The Stockholm International Water Institute estimates 70

percent o all water is used by arming, and that it takes

about 10 times as much water to grow bee as it does to

grow the same amount o wheat. We can conserve water

by consuming a plant based diet. Evaluating water usagein Caliornia, USA agriculture, University o Caliornia-Da-

vis ound three complete vegan meals can be grown or

the same water as one serving o chicken, and 13 complete

vegan meals can be made using the same amount o wa-

ter needed to produce one serving o bee. From a ood

standpoint, animal products are highly inecient because

most o the ood ed to livestock is used up in the animals

metabolic processes. It takes around 5 kg o grain to cre-ate 1 kg o meat. Livestock also consume 36 percent o

global grain, compared to 5 percent used or biouels. The

best way to make limited ood go arther is to eat plant-

based oods.

Source: US Department o Agriculture,

FAO/WHO/UNICEF Protein Advisory Group

Soyabean356

Rice261

Corn211

Otherlegum

e192

Wheat138

Milk82

Egg

s78

Maet(a

lltypes)45

Beef20


39/44

39

DeforestationA plant based diet would enable all pastureland to be

reorested.

Over 50 percent o the worlds orests have been lost,

with much o the rest under threat. In Climate Benets o

Changing Diet, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment

Agency estimates that plant-based diets are so ecient

at eeding people that a shit to a plant based diet would

allow all lands currently being used as pastureland to bereorested. The rainorests provide much o the worlds

resh water, regulating the overall temperature. They also

sequester CO2, and their destruction has been associated

with up to 25 percent o greenhouse gas emissions. Trees

act as large water pumps, with one single rainorest or

conierous tree estimated to have an evaporative surace

area equal to a 40 acre lake. Once trees are decimated

or deorested, a region tends to experience desertication

because the trees are no longer pumping groundwater

back into the atmosphere to create rain. They are also the

lungs o the world, acting as one o the earths natural air

conditioners.

Most o the emphasis in saving orests tends to ocus on

logging while ignoring that orested land has been con-

verted to pastureland or agricultural land to eed live-

stock. Demand or meat and dairy continues to play a rolein global deorestation, especially in the three remaining

tropical rainorests in Asia, Arica and South America. The

largest by ar is the Amazon in South America, where Bra-

zilian researchers estimate 75 percent o deorestation has

occurred to create pastureland or livestock, with much o

the rest used or growing soya crops, which are then ex-

ported to Europe and others as livestock eed. In Arica,

orested areas are oten burned down to expand agricul-tural land or ruminant animals. The UN Environmental

Program estimates overgrazing o livestock transormed

Sudans ormerly ertile land into a desert, as livestock

populations swelled rom 27 million to 135 million. Within

Source: Water Footprint Network

PRODUCING MEAT IS INEFFICIENT


40/44

40

SPECIAL REPORT

Oceanic Ecosystems collapse

Avoid a complete collapse by 2048 with plant oods.

Many people mistakenly think that by shiting their diet

rom meat to sh, they will be averting the environmen-

tal or health destruction associated with eating meat. This

is a dangerous misconception. I the planet is in peril, the

oceans are in double jeopardy. By comparison, 30 percent

o animal species have been lost since the 1970s, but 91percent o the oceans sh have been halved in number,

and 45 percent have either nearly disappeared or become

extinct. Loss o marine lie is already estimated to be im-

pairing the oceans ability to maintain water quality and

recover rom perturbations. Scientists estimate that the

current trends are leading us to a complete collapse o

global sheries by around 2050. Aquaculture is no an-

swer, either, because the arm-raised sh are typically ed

between one to two kilograms o sea-caught sh to grow

one kilogram o arm-raised sh, making them an articial

predator in the ocean.

15 years, slash and burn agriculture, much o which oc-

curred to create pasture or the growing animal popula-

tion, led to a deorestation crisis reducing Sudans orests

to 12 percent o their previous orest cover. The resulting

decline in rainall and increased temperatures have beenassociated with the genocide in Darur. In Asia, where or-

ests are torn down to create palm tree plantations, one o

the three main products, palm kernel expeller, is used as

animal eed.


41/44

41

Source: Dalhousie University

THERE MAY BE NO MORE FISH IN THE OCEANS BY 2050

NUTRITIONAL SUPERIORITY OF PLANT-BASED DIETSImproves health and reduces health care costs. The American Dietetic

Association (ADA), the largest group o proessional nutritionists in the

world, has veried that well-planned vegan diets are nutritionally sound or

all stages o the human liecycle. The ADA states:

It is the position o the American Dietetic Association that ap-

propriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian

or vegan diets, are healthul, nutritionally adequate, and may

provide health benets in the prevention and treatment o cer-

tain diseases.

Vegetarians have less cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and lower

rates o certain cancers than meat-eaters. A growing number o medical

doctors have also been successul in developing dietary programs to cure

cardiovascular disease and diabetes within a very short period o time.

THE VEGAN CHOICE:The Common Denominator o a Sustainable World or AllIn summary, the livestock industry and public demand or animal-based

oods are some o the most signicant common denominators driving

biodiversity loss, climate change, deorestation, ood and water security

and oceanic ecosystems collapse. Through ast-acting, orward think-

ing measures, biodiversity can be brought back rom the brink and the

Millenium Development Goals can yet be met. Additionally, people who

choose a plant-based diet are likely to be healthier and can eel con-

dent that their dietary choice is not only nutritionally sound but that itdirectly promotes the sustenance o lie and the abundance o biodiver-

sity planet-wide: every vegan meal chosen over a meat- or dairy-based

meal is a step towards a sustainable and healthy planet or all co-inhab-

itants. Through a new vision which supports the removal o livestock-

related subsidies, the instigation o ar-reaching education and public

inormation initiatives and other socio-economic inuencers, the req-

uisite sea-change in perception can be eected, and or the rst time,

humanity will have acted as one in overcoming a civilization-threateningevent; an inspiration or uture generations who may thereby prosper in

our legacy o ever greater health, biodiversity, planetary stability and

environmental afuence.


42/44

IVU.ORG

World Union o Vegetarian/Vegan Societies - Promoting

vegetarianism worldwide since 1908.

SUPREMEMASTERTV.COM

Features programs that support a modern liestyle that is

green, healthy, and compassionate.

WORLDPRESERVATIONFOUNDATION.ORG

Materials and guidance or individuals to encourage the

media and governments and other institutions to introduce

benecial legislation and policies resulting in decreased

consumption o animal products.

MERCYFORANIMALS.ORG

The oicial website o MFA. Oers ino on animal rights

issues, online store, & more.

CHOOSEVEG.COM

MFAs online edition o this guide. Oers recipes, videos,

tips, & more.

EGGCRUELTY.COM

Photos, videos, and ino regarding MFA under-cover inves-

tigations into animal cruelty at Ohio egg arms.

VEGGUIDE.ORG

The ultimate restaurant and shopping guide or vegetar-

ians and vegans.

GOVEG.COM

Resources or activists, news articles, hundreds o recipes,

& more.

VEGANHEALTH.ORG

Ino on how to live a healthy vegan liestyle.

VIVA.ORG.UK

Popular campaigns, solid research, undercover exposs

and eective media skills Viva! have brought the reality o

modern arming into peoples living rooms.

LEARN MOREEDUCATION IS KEY TO LIBERATION

42


43/44

Supreme Master Television

SUPREME MASTER TV is a ree-to-air satellite channel

broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with avariety o engaging programs in English with over40 languages and subtitles. Being the ideal televisionchannel that brings to your lie Nobility and Spirituality.Broadcasting on 14 satellites platorms across the globe.

www.SupremeMasterTV.com

International Vegetarian Union (IVU)

The International Vegetarian Union (IVU) was ounded

in 1908 when the rst World Vegetarian Congress washeld in Dresden, Germany. The idea or IVU came romthe French Vegetarian Society, the rst Congress wasorganised internationally by the British Society andlocally by the Dresden Society with support rom theDeutsche Vegetarier-Bund. Since then a series o WorldCongresses have been held all around the world, and in2008 IVU returned to Dresden or the Centenary 38th

Congress.www.IVU.org


44/44

THE SURVIVAL OF THEWORLD IS IN YOUR HANDS.

SO IS THE SOLUTION.We have a climate crisis thatis a planetary emergency. Al Gore

Environmental activist and ormer

Vice President o the United

States

The hour is late, its time todecide. Im quite condentthat you will make the choicewisely.

Ban Ki-moonSecretary-General, United Nations

It (Climate Change) is theonly thing that I believehas the power to unda-mentally end the march ocivilization as we know it. Bill Clinton

Former President o the

United States

The doomsday clock oclimate change is tickingever aster towards mid-night; we are simply not

reacting quickly enough. Prince Charles

Prince o Wales

THE CRISISTHE ARCTIC OCEAN COULD BE NEARLY ICE-FREE

AT THE END OF SUMMER BY 2012.

DR. JAY ZWALLY NASA CLIMATE SCIENTIST

THE CONSEQUENCES

THIS NEXT YEAR OR TWO YEARS ARE THE CRITICAL TIME PERIODS... BEYONDWHICH IT WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE TO AVOID CLIMATE CHANGE WITH FAR-RANGING

UNDESIRABLE CONSEQUENCES.

DR. JAMES HANSEN DIRECTOR OF NASA

Just 1C increase alone can flood the low-lying coastlines, which includemany major cities. And urther increase may trigger the release o massiveamounts o poisonous methane gas in the deep oceans.

THE SOLUTIONPLEASE EAT LESS MEAT - MEAT IS A VERY CARBON INTENSIVECOMMODITY.

DR. RAJENDRA PACHAURI CHIEF OF IPCC (UNITED NATIONS PANEL

OF 2,500 SCIENTISTS ON CLIMATE CHANGE)

One person eating plant-based diet reduces 1.5 tons o carbon emission peryear: equivalent to reducing an average households electricity by 50%.

80% o the global warming will be stopped i all people begin to bevegetarian. ...i they dont x it, 4-5 years time, nito. No more. Its really

that urgent.

Supreme Master Ching Hai

World-renowned humanitarian and respected spiritual teacher

It takes decades to change our massive infrastructure of cars and powerplants. Whereas cutting back on meat consumption is some thingevery person can do every day to eectively combat global warming.

Leading medical organizations agree that balanced plant-based dietsprovide the best protection against the three biggest killers: heartdisease, cancer and strokes.

Documents

Vegan Starter Guide (IVU)