Help unfuck the world - don't eat animals

Real Greenies don’t eat animals – and that includes dairy, fish and even organic meat. Land clearing, water use, climate change, energy use and the global food crisis are being worsened by food choices. If you want to do something for the planet and the world’s poor – just change your diet. If you don’t believe me fellow greenies then read the well researched document “Eating up the World”.

http://www.vnv.org.au/site/htmfiles/eatinguptheworld.htm
http://www.vnv.org.au/site/files/eatinguptheworld.pdf

Follow these link to read this excellent publication from the Vegetarian Network of Victoria on why eating animals is killing the planet and worsening poverty or read the extract below.

Below are just some of the costs of not adopting a healthy vegan diet.

WATER USE
Australia is currently facing significant fresh water shortages, primarily due to waste and misuse. This is compounded by the fact that Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth. Raising animals for food requires enormous amounts of water. It takes up to 50,000 litres of water to produce 1 kilogram of beef compared to only 2,500 litres to produce 1 kilogram of white rice, and much less for most fruit and vegetables.
In Victoria, 77% of agricultural water is used for pasture and hay production for grazing animals raised for meat and dairy products. In comparison, only 10% is used for the production of fruit and vegetables for human consumption.

CLIMATE CHANGE
Australia’s animal industries produce a large percentage of our greenhouse gas emissions. Over 30% of the greenhouse emissions produced in Australia can be attributed to animal industries. This is taking into account their direct emissions as well as their substantial fuel consumption and energy use from power stations.11 Methane has far greater global warming potential than carbon dioxide. Efforts to combat global warming

LAND CLEARING
An enormous proportion of our land is used to produce animal products.
Nearly 50% of the Australian continent is grazed by animals raised for human consumption11. This is in addition to the land that is cleared and used for the production of hay and other food for animals. Clearing of forests and bushland for animal industries results in habitat loss throughout Australia, which is the major cause of wildlife species becoming threatened, endangered and extinct.

OVER FISHING
Our oceans are dying. In order to cater to the growing worldwide market for fish, modern
fishing methods have depleted populations to such a level that the industry is now ‘fishing down the food web’, targeting deep sea fish and species not previously taken. Our appetite for seafood has created ‘dead zones’ in the ocean tens of thousands of square kilometres in area.1, 20 The destruction of fish populations is accelerating, with 13 of the
world’s 17 major ocean fishing zones already depleted or in serious decline, and the remaining four fully or over exploited

ENERGY
It takes a great deal more fuel to produce a kilogram of beef compared to a kilogram of grain or vegetables.
In addition, the raising of animals for food uses significant amounts of energy for:
• transport of feed and livestock
• operation of livestock facilities (including lighting, heating, cooling and slaughter)
• packaging, constant refrigeration and cooking

FOOD CRISIS
Poverty and malnutrition are widespread. 790 million people in the world are chronically undernourished.28
About 27,000 children under 5 die of poverty and starvation every day.29
Most edible grain is used to feed animals for meat, dairy and egg production.
We grow enough edible grain to provide 50% more than is required for every person in the world.4 Most of this edible grain is used to feed animals for meat, dairy and egg production. As a result, the price of grain has risen by hundreds of percent in recent years, pricing poor people out of the market for basic foods. The world’s cattle alone consume enough food to feed 8.7 billion people – more than the entire human population.

If we want to preserve and restore our environment in Australia, we must make changes to our diet. The food we eat has a major effect on our waterways, the quality of the air we breathe and on the environment around us. Eating fish and other sea life is killing our oceans, agricultural industries are polluting our waterways, and vast areas of land are wasted with the grazing of animals. These practices are unsustainable and the global impacts are being felt more than ever before.
By adopting a vegetarian diet you can make a significant contribution towards improving your health as well as that of the planet. The significant environmental benefits that can be made by adopting a vegetarian diet include:
• enabling fresh water to be redirected to more efficient uses and to restoring healthier river flows and aquatic habitats
• allowing the rehabilitation of grazing land into bushland which would greatly reduce land degradation and the loss of Australia's biodiversity
• reducing the drivers for climate change, including carbon dioxide and methane, and increasing the capture and storage of gases by the environment
• reducing oil consumption and dependence on foreign sources of energy and materials
• enabling our oceans to revert back to the vibrant ecosystems that they once were and allowing fish populations to recover to normal levels.
Animal industries are eating up the world. It is up to us to save it!