In this weekly series we have been discussing the benefits of a vegetarian diet including; better health, animal rights, global food crisis, food safety, frugal living and the immense contribution of meat production to climate change/depletion of resources.
The report by the UN Environment Programme’s International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management concludes that food production and the burning of fossil fuels are the greatest cause of greenhouse gas emissions. But while fossil fuels will eventually run out and be replaced by renewable energy such as solar, tidal and wind, the way we feed ourselves will be an ongoing concern.
The report’s lead author, Professor Edgar Hertwich, said animal products were more harmful in terms of emissions than the production of sand, cement, plastics or metals, adding that biomass and crops for livestock were as damaging as burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil.
Feeding the world and reducing climate change at the same time can only be accomplished if the world reduces its dependence on meat and animal products, and adopts a more vegetarian or vegan diet, its authors recommend.
continued at Daily Kos....
