Do Your Part To End Climate Change – Go Vegan!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) December 6, 2009 -- The Obama administration announced that the U.S. would commit to a CO2 cut of about 17 percent below the 2005 levels by 2020. Although this figure appears promising, it would only drop CO2 emissions by 4 percent below 1990 levels.

While asking governments to do something about the negative effects of climate change is a good first step, we are all equal participants in this crisis and must do our part.

On 25 November, The Lancet reported that our demand for meat and dairy products is a major contributor to climate change, and the British government is urging its citizens to reduce their consumption of meat and dairy products.

We are now more aware of how agriculture affects global warming. The biggest offender is animal agriculture, which contributes a whopping 80 percent of all methane gas emissions. Even small family-owned farms contribute to this figure – an organic dairy or chicken farm can produce more greenhouse gases than an industrial factory. According to the Department of Agriculture, it takes 15 pounds of grain to produce just one pound of beef . One acre of land can grow 20,000 pounds of potatoes. Compare the same acre used to produce cattle feed – and you only get 165 pounds of beef.

Researchers at the University of Chicago revealed that, in the United States, switching from an omnivore’s diet to a vegan diet reduces a person’s CO2 output by 1.5 tons per year. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization's 2006 report Livestock's Long Shadow conservatively estimated that dairy and meat industries are linked to 18 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. However, the Worldwatch Institute released a report Livestock and Climate Change last month which revealed that 51 percent of the of the world's greenhouse gas emissions are directly linked to dairy and meat production.

Please also consider that other animals are exploited to produce food and clothing. Meat, dairy products, eggs, honey and leather all come from animals bred to serve our needs. Taking animals seriously means allowing them to live on their own terms, not ours.

Join us at Friends of Animals as we stand up all animals and our environment. Begin by visiting www.FriendsofAnimals.org to download a free copy of our Vegan Starter Guide.

Friends of Animals is a non-profit, international animal advocacy organization, incorporated in the state of New York since 1957. Friends of Animals works to cultivate a respectful view of nonhuman animals, free-living and domestic. Our goal is to free animals from cruelty and institutionalized exploitation around the world.