Eating for the Earth
Today is Earth Day, so it’s a good time to consider again just how very environmentally friendly it is to go veg. FARM (the Farm Animal Rights Movement) has a campaign called “Stop Global Warming … One Bite at a Time” with a Web site at www.coolyourdiet.org that provides a convenient place to learn such facts as:
* “Animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gas emissions than automobiles”;
* “Animal waste and feed cropland dump more pollutants into our waterways than all other human activities combined”;
* “Meat-based diets require 10-20 times as much land as plant-based diets.”
In addition to pointing out the problem, FARM makes the solution easy by providing starter kits and other information that make it simple and healthy to go veg. Most vegetarian groups make such information readily available. But, puzzlingly, many environmental groups do not. PETA takes a humorous approach to this by urging people to “Offset Al Gore’s Eco-Unfriendly Diet” by taking a pledge: “I want to eat better, feel better, and help offset the damage that Al Gore is doing to the environment by eating meat. By signing my name, I pledge to explore a vegetarian diet for at least 30 days, which will prevent more than 270 pounds of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the Earth’s atmosphere.”
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