No – but you can, if you take notice of what I’m about to tell you.
The United Nations is powerless. Governments’ hands are tied with red tape and their eyes covered in green bills. Whatever they agree to in Copenhagen 2009, it will be based on their own policies, not the best interest of humanity (I hope they prove me wrong). We are the ones who will save our own world.
How? The only way to avoid global warming disaster is to…
Stop eating animals.
This isn’t even opinion any more:
- Animal Production releases massively more GHG than we thought – more than half of anthropogenic emissions;
- Methane (the GHG of choice for livestock) is a hugely relevant and underestimated GHG for the short term.
It’s Methane, not Carbon
When we’ve survived the next decade we can turn our attention to cO2. Animal products relate to methane which heats earth like crazy for just a few years. Methane is at the highest atmospheric for at least 800,000 years (that’s how far the ice core records go).
But we can sharply reduce these levels today. The levels are so high because we are constantly emitting mehane in huge amounts – the largest portion from livestock. Because methane lasts less than ten years before it’s oxidized in the atmosphere and because livestock contribute so much by land use and enteric fermentation (underestimated by the UN at 37%), and because we don’t actually need to farm livestock for any reason, a huge warming potential will be removed from our atmosphere in a short time.
And we need time.
And as for carbon dioxide – over decades the danger could be halved by regenerating vegetation on land used for grazing and growing feed for animals. Livestock production and forests inhabit the same sized areas of Earth’s ice-free land: 30%. Forests are integral in helping our atmosphere and biosphere keep a carbon equilibrium, as they have done for billions of years. More carbon – more growth; less carbon – less growth.
Any climatologists care to endorse or comment on this?
While our environment ministers are discussing outdated science and scoffing themselves full of medical emergencies this December – tell a few people what I’ve just told you.
Besides, living on a plant-based diet means you have less chance of developing cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other chronic conditions. Check out Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine’s health page.