For Compassions Sake
Hundreds of millions of farm animals suffer under industrialized farming
methods. Birds are confined in cages so small they can barely move, mother
pigs are kept in crates barely larger than their own bodies & chickens
raised for meat are kept in crowded barns where the air is painful to
breath. There are routine mutilations such as castrations, tail dockings,
toe clippings & brandings done without anesthesia. All these procedures
cause unimaginable pain & suffering. We would not stand for this to be
done to those animals we treat as pets.
Your health:
A national campaign by Johns Hopkins, Bloomberg School of Public Health
maintains that eating like a vegetarian just one day a week reduces
consumption of saturated fat by 15 percent, enough to ward off the
"lifestyle diseases" such as heart attacks, strokes & cancer. A weekly
commitment also adds the disease-fighting benefits of fresh fruits,
vegetables, grains & legumes.
A National Cancer Institute study of 500,000 people found that those who ate
4 ounces (114 grams) of red meat or more daily were 30 percent more likely
to die of any cause over 10 years than were those who consumed less.
Sausage, luncheon meats & other processed meats also increased the risk.
Your environment:
Animal agriculture is the leading source of methane & nitrous oxide
emissions, which, when combined with carbon dioxide, causes the vast
majority of
global warming.
- A United Nations report found that the meat industry produces more
greenhouse gases than all the SUVs, cars, trucks, planes, & ships in the
world combined. Scientists estimate that if every American
lowered meat consumption by just 20%, it would lower greenhouse gasses as
much as if everyone in the country switched to driving Toyota Priuses.
- Eliminate one pound of meat from your diet: The emissions from raising
one
pound of meat is the same amount of greenhouse gasses as driving an SUV 40
miles.
- According to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal
of
chicken per week & substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon
dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than a half-million cars
off U.S. roads.
- The official handbook for the Live Earth concerts says that "refusing
meat"
is the "single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon
footprint."
Your budget:
An additional bonus to cooking & consuming meat less often is that it
will save you money. Fresh, canned & frozen vegetables are almost always
less
expensive than meat at the grocery store. Grains, rice, & pasta are most
affordable, especially when bought in bulk.
The future:
If we don t take action now, the environment & the animals will suffer.
Stanford University, FSE Project , June 1, 2004 - May 31, 2006
Meat production is projected to double by 2050 due to increased incomes,
population growth & rising per capita global consumption of meat. In
order to meet this demand, industrialized animal production systems are
proliferating & grain production for feed is expanding. These trends will
have major consequences on the global environment-affecting the quality of
the atmosphere, water & soil due to nutrient overloads; impacting marine
fisheries both locally & globally through fish meal use; & threatening
human health, as, for example, through excessive use of
antibiotics.
