Eat vegan to save the planet

Jack Hurley
Claremont
To the editor,

Animal agriculture is an environmental disaster. Raising animals for human consumption is the largest single contributor to global warming — more than exhaust fumes from all transportation combined.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that direct emissions from meat production are about 18 percent of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Transport by contrast, accounts for just 13 percent of humankind’s greenhouse gas output, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Further, according to World Bank environmental advisers, when accounting for deforestation for grazing cattle and loss of carbon from soils, animal agriculture contributes up to 51 percent of the human-induced warming effect.

What can a responsible environmentalist do with this truth?

The answer: stop eating animal “products” (all meat including fish, eggs, dairy). True environmentalists who connect diet with its impact on the environment act accordingly and don’t eat animal-based foods. Given the science, and the fact that no one says a plant-based diet is unhealthy, there is no need to eat animal-based foods.

Moreover, eating a plant-based diet contributes to good health. Meat and dairy are linked to heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and even cancer. The World Health Organization categorized processed meats as Group I carcinogens (along with asbestos and cigarettes) and all unprocessed meats as Group II carcinogens.

According to an American Journal of Clinical Nutrition report, plant-based vegan diets tend to lower body weights, lower blood pressure,and lower cholesterol.

Only when all of us stop eating animals and their “products” can our dying planet heal.

 

Jack Hurley

Claremont