Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. I've been participating in this event for the past few years and I just registered my blog to the almost 10,000 participating blogs from 150 countries. British PM Gordon Brown unexpectedly kicked off the event with a blog post himself earlier this morning and the event was just covered by CNN.
Dozens of nonprofits are also involved, including the UN Foundation, Oxfam, World Wildlife Fund, CARE, 350.org, 1Sky, and The Nature Conservancy.
To participate, write a single post about the event or the topic of climate change sometime today, and it will appear in the live feed on the www.blogactionday.org homepage with thousands of others around the globe.
If you have a blog, I hope you will participate this year too. If you don't have a blog, you can participate by adding your name to this petition about taking action on climate change.
In the run up to the Copenhagen climate change conference, it is vital the following information be disseminated to the public as well as to our political leaders.
A widely cited 2006 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Livestock's Long Shadow, estimates that 18 percent of annual worldwide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are attributable to livestock….however recent analysis by Goodland and Anhang co-authors of "Livestock and Climate Change" in the latest issue of World Watch magazine found that livestock and their byproducts actually account for at least 32.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year, or 51 percent of annual worldwide GHG emissions!
www.51percent.org
The main sources of GHGs from animal agriculture are: (1) Deforestation of the rainforests to grow feed for livestock. (2) Methane from manure waste. – Methane is 72 times more potent as a global warming gas than CO2 (3) Refrigeration and transport of meat around the world. (4) Raising, processing and slaughtering of the animal.
Meat production also uses a massive amount of water and other resources which would be better used to feed the world’s 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 for reversing climate change. They say "This approach would have far more rapid effects on GHG emissions and their atmospheric concentrations-and thus on the rate the climate is warming-than actions to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy."
The fact is that we are being informed of the dangerous path we are on by depending greatly on animal flesh for human consumption. We still have the opportunity to make the most effective steps in saving ourselves and this planet. By simply choosing a plant based diet we can reduce our carbon foot print by a huge amount.
We are gambling with our lives and with those of our future generations to come. It's madness to know we are fully aware of the possible consequences but yet are failing to act.
Promoting a plant based diet to the public is would be the most effective way to curb deforestation, we hope this will be adopted as a significant measure to save the rainforests and protect the delicate ecology.
Thank you for your consideration.
Posted by: SAAW International | November 04, 2009 at 11:51 PM
These are great points - not to mention the health benefits of eating a plant-based diet. There are so many very important reasons to eliminate meat - and this is coming from someone who until recently enjoyed meat at least 7 times a week. But after reading The China Study, I instantly became "vegan" and in 3 weeks have lost 5 stubborn pounds and my gastric distress has been eliminated. Climate change, health (heart disease, cancer, diabetes and autoimmune diseases) have all been scientifically linked to the massive meat consumption of the western world.
Posted by: Meg Montgomery | December 19, 2009 at 08:21 AM