The UN’s 2006 report Livestock’s Long Shadow (FAO 2006, see below) estimated that 18% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are attributable to livestock farming. But this analysis by the Worldwatch Institute finds that livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide, or 51% of GHG emissions.

The researchers are both from World Bank backgrounds, and their research finds that emissions from livestock have been underestimated in three crucial areas, detailed in the report:

 - Methane:  Livestock is a major emitter of methane, a potent GHG.  The FAO measures methane’s global warming potential based on its effects over a 100 year period, but because it has only an 8-year half-life in the atmosphere, the IPCC now supports measuring it over a 20 year timeframe.  When recalculated on this basis, this raises the GHGs attributable to livestock by 7.9 percentage points.

- Land use:  the FAO’s calculations only consider changes in land use each year resulting from increasing annual land used for livestock grazing and feed production. However, it does not step back and consider the vast potential for mitigating climate change which would be achieved by either allowing land currently used for these purposes to regenerate as forest or to grow crops to be converted more directly to food for humans and to biofuels.

- Respiration:  the CO2 exhaled by the billions of livestock bred for human consumption has hitherto been excluded from global GHG inventories on spurious grounds

If correct, the findings mean that it will no longer be possible to sideline our food choices in the fight to prevent climate chaos:

“replacing livestock products with better alternatives would be the best strategy for reversing climate change. In fact, this approach would have far more rapid effects on GHG emissions and their atmospheric concentrations than actions to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy.”

Although my reasons for being vegan begin with the intolerable suffering inherent in humans’ use of animals for food and other products, the environmental reasons in themselves make an unanswerable case for making this simple lifestyle choice.  A vegan saves on average 2 tonnes of GHG emissions per year.  If we were to operate under a true ‘contraction and convergence’ model, this would amount to one individual’s entire annual quota.  And this recent Worldwatch Institute research suggests the reduction in impact may be even more significant.

MEET YOUR MEAT - video embedded under the Comment Board on the right

This answers the question 'why vegan' from the perspective of non-violence with a clarity that words alone cannot achieve.  

For those who would counter that there are 'humane' ways of being a meat-eater, I would certainly encourage them to take that first step, and seek always to know the origins of the animal products that they consume.  However, the current reality in a world where meat consumption is increasing exponentially is that factory farming accounts for the vast majority of meat.  And it must be recognised that even organically reared animals end their lives at the slaughter house, whose horrors I believe no meat eater should be blind to: the video on the right will provide enlightenment to those who have so far closed their eyes to this reality.  For those who, steadfast in their 'speciesism', hold fast to the notion that the suffering of one species (say, a pig) is less important than that of another (say, a pet dog), they may wish to consider that research has proven that those who practise animal cruelty are also more likely to be violent to their fellow humans:

'The Link': Cruelty to Animals and Interpersonal Violence

"For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love".

                                                      Pythagoras (mathematician)

The Animal Rights FAQ section on food provides careful considered answers to commonly arising questions about meat, which are often based on 'what if' scenarios.  I would recommend anyone who is interested in exploring these philosophical questions to have a look:  

- FARMING

- HUNTING AND FISHING

DR RACHENDRA PACHAURI - LESS MEAT, LESS HEAT VIDEO

Pachauri Less meat less heat (the page is in Flemish but the talk is in English, so just scroll down the page to the video and press play)

On 30th August 08, I went to a talk by Dr Rachendra Pachauri of IPCC and Nobel Prize fame at Ghent University entitled "Less Meat, Less Heat", on the impacts of the meat industry on climate change (and other environmental problems). Really interesting and important material, and a great talk by a very warm and gentle spirit (he managed not to make it grim, somehow!) - it's available to watch online via the above link, and here also is a link to his powerpoint slides…

LIVESTOCK'S LONG SHADOW

In this UN report (FAO, 2006), the livestock sector emerges as a major contributor to the most serious environmental problems, at every level from local to global: land degradation, climate change, air pollution, water shortage, water pollution and loss of biodiversity.

http://www.virtualcentre.org/en/library/key_pub/longshad/A0701E00.htm

SOPHIE PRIZE TENTH ANNIVERSARY DEBATE: 54 MINUTE VIDEO

Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder, author of Sophie's World, donated a large sum of his fortune from book sales to setting up the Sophie Prize, an international award for environment and sustainable development, awarded annually inspire the cause of sustainability. To celebrate its tenth anniversary in 2007, the Norwegian Sophie Foundation hosted this debate entitled From Know How to Do Now with eight of its laureates :

üProfessor Wangari Maathai, Nobel laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement; ý Sheri Liao, founder of Global Village of Bejing; ü Göran Persson, Former PM of Sweden; ü Bernard Cassen, ATTAC: activist organisation proposing alternatives to neo-liberal economic policies; þ Romina Picolotti, Environment Minister of Argentina and pioneer of connection between law, the environment and human rights; þ Thomas Kocherry, priest, lawyer and trade union leader; þ Sheila Watt-Cloutier, former chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council; ü Nnimmo Bassey; Environmental Rights Action / Friends of the Earth Nigeria

http://www.sofieprisen.no

THE ANIMAL RIGHTS FAQ

Detailed arguments setting out the reasons for choosing to live a compassionate lifestyle that minimises the suffering of non-human animals.

http://animal-rights.com/faqfile.html

KILLNG FROM A DESK...

On a related theme, read about Platform's forthcoming book, "Desk Killer" at: www.platformlondon.org/kus.asp, which explores the ideas encapsulated in this quotation from C.S. Lewis:

“I live in the Managerial Age, in a world of ‘Admin’. The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid ‘dens of crime’ that Dickens loved to paint. It is not even done in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices."

DRAFT INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT 

This is a draft covenant prepared by the Commission on Environmental Law of the IUCN (World Conservation Union) in cooperation with the ICEL (International Council of Environmental Law). Its aim is to consolidate major existing and emerging legal principles related to environmental conservation and sustainable development into a draft of an internationally binding legal instrument. Inspirational. Latest edition 2004.

http://www.i-c-e-l.org/english/EPLP31EN_rev2.pdf

THE CORPORATION

If you haven't seen this film yet (or even if you have), please take a look... It is online in two parts via google video:
¬ Part 1   ¬ Part 2