environmental effects of meat eating

8/6/2019 Environmental Effects of Meat Eating

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Thames Valley Vegans & Vegetarianswww.t3v.veggroup.org

1080 baths

1kg of beef

For 100,000 litres of water

(Figures from a study financed by the California Beef Council)

8100 toilet flushes

clean water for 2700 people

(According to UNESCO)

~ OR ~

~ OR ~

~ OR ~




Protein conversionrates

2 kg

3 kg

5.5 kg

10 kg

1 kg

1 kg

1 kg

1 kg

How much protein is required to be fed to an animal per kg of animalprotein produced?

Source: Council for Agricultural Science and Technology




Land usage

efficiency

Soyabeans

Rice Corn Wheat Milk Eggs Meat(all)

Beef 0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Usable protein yields per acre

Kg protein

Source: USDA; FOA/WHO/UNICEF Protein Advisory Group

A typical meat based diet uses 4½ times the landrequired for a vegan diet, and 2½ times that required

for a vegetarian diet.




Fossil fuel usageAll food production uses fossil fuel, releasing greenhousegasses into the atmosphere. This chart shows how manycalories of fossil fuel are required to produce 1 calorie of protein.

2 calories

3 calories

54 calories

Soya bean

Wheat/corn

Beef




Cars or cowsChanging from a typicalsaloon car to a hybrid.

Saves 1 tonne of carbon dioxideper year.

Changing from a typical meat based diet to a vegan diet.

Saves the equivalent of 1.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

According to the United Nations Food and AgricultureOrganization report of November 2006 Livestock's Long

Shadow , the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gasemissions as measured in CO2 equivalent – 18 percent more

than transport.

Worldwide, livestock accounts for 16 per cent of all global warmingemissions of methane. Methane is 20 times more effective atwarming the globe than CO2. Organic beef farming increases

methane production!




2.2 lbs. of beef produces the

equivalent amount of carbon that

the average European car doesevery 155 miles, burns enough

energy to light a 100 watt bulb for

almost 20 days

Is it better to drive your 4x4to get a veggie burger than

to cycle and buy a meatburger?




Going vegan

Stop flying

Based on 5.5 hours pa

Halving home energy use

Halving your car useSAVES

SAVES

SAVES

SAVES

Comparison of ways to reduceyour CO2 emissions

1.4 tons

0.9 tons

1.2 tons

1.5 tons




70% of Europe's animal feed is

imported from outside the EU.

How local is

British beef?

‘Europe’s agriculture is capable of feeding Europe’s people but not

of feeding Europe’s animal s’ - theEuropean Commission




The white stuff

and the brownstuff For every 17 litres of cow's milk

produced a day, you also get 57 litresof excreta.

Agriculture is thenumber one

water polluter inthe UK.

Animal slurry canbe up to 100times more

polluting thanraw untreated

domestic

sewage.




Depleted

Overexploited

Recovering

OK

Fully exploited

World fish

stocks80% of the world's fish stocks are either at or below

sustainable levels.

"We are faced with a paradox. Health recommendationsadvise increased consumption of oily fish and fish oils withinlimits, on the grounds that intake is generally low. However ...we probably do not have a sustainable supply of long-chain

Omega 3 fats."

British Medical Journal – March 2006




What is the most effective actiona typical Westerner can take to

reduce their ecological footprint?

The ultimate

green decision

Go to the web site of Earthday network (www.earthday.net) andrun your lifestyle through their ecological calculator. It will giveyou a number representing the number of planets required if

everyone lived like you.

Run through the calculator once again but this time change justone answer to be the most green choice, e.g. no car, no air

flights, all green energy, recycle everything, and see how youfoot print reduces.

But which one factor will make the biggest difference?

Go Vegan!




“Farming policies that do not

require intensive animal production systems would reducethe world demand for cereals. Useof land could be reappraised since

cereal consumption for directconsumption by the population ismuch more efficient and cheaper

than dedicating large areas togrowing feed for meat productionand dairying. Policies should begeared to the growing of plant

foods and to limiting the promotion of meat and dairy.”

World Health Organisation, Geneva, 1991. Diet, Nutrition and thePrevention of Chronic Diseases, Technical Report Series 797.




An ecological foot print is the amount of land, measure inhectares, required to sustain a given life style. If the planetwhere shared equally between the World's citizens they

would each get 1.8 hectares.

The above graph shows what particular life style choicescontribute to your ecological foot print in a standard westernlifestyle. As can be seen just eating meat exceeds ones wholeshare.

Data from www.earthday.net.




The importance of unprocessed and local foodThese figures show how much land is required to sustain a

diet. If the world was shared equally we would have 1.8hectares each. Data from www.earthday.net.

Using unprocessed and local foods

Meat based diet

Vegan diet

Difference

1.8 hectares

1.3 hectares

0.5 hectares

0.5 hectaresMeat based diet

Using processed and imported foods

Difference

1.9 hectares

1.4 hectares

Vegan diet

As you can see the environmental impact of themeat is so great that it dwarfs the environment

impact of processing and importing the food.

To choose locally produced meat is akin toprotecting the environment by choosing only local

airports.




Adopting a vegandiet saves

Saving 25 hours fly-ing a year

Replacing car withpublic transport

saves

Replacing 4x4 withstd saloon s aves

Replacing 4x4 withhybrid saves

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

h e c t

a r e s

Difference in life stylechoices

The above chart shows that adopting a vegandiet is● more important then adopting public transport.● more important than replacing a 4x4 with a standard

saloon.● roughly compensates for 25 hours of flying.

Data from www.earthday.net.




0.2 - 4

280 litres of methane a day

For milk & meat a cow produces

Vegans? Vegetarians? Meat eaters?

25 litres

A human produces

For wool & meat a sheep produces

Greenhouse Flatulencewho is responsible?




What is the most effect way for YOU to tackle global warming?

You could reduce you house hold energy requirements by 50%.

Maybe install £12,000 of photoelectric panels and £4,000 onsolar hot water? Replace all your appliance with low energyones and not use them a 1/3 of the time. Rebuild your house tomodern environments standards?

Reduce your car usage by 50%.

Maybe junk your car for a new hybrid (and ignore the CO2generated making the new car) and drive a lot less. Maybe waitfor the government to spend billions on new infrastructure soyou don't need your car so much? Stay at home a lot more?

Stop flying – for ever

Never fly ever again. Just 5.5 hours in the air would be 90% of

your yearly CO2 allowance.Go vegan

Yes, going vegan has the same environmental impact as theabove options and you can do it NOW and it is FREE. And youalso get the benefit of extending your life expectancy.

Bad news: You may well end up doing them all. The sooner we act

to reduce green house gas emission the few changes we will need to make.



Thames Valley Vegans & Vegetarians

These posters were created by Stephen Fenwick-Paul of Thames Valley Vegans and Vegetarians

(aka T3V).

Feel free to use and edit them for your own needs.

It would be great, but not required, if you could linkto

http://www.t3v.veggroup.org/downloads/index.html

so others can find the originals.



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