FW: DawnWatch: ABC News site article, Meat-Eaters Aiding Global Warming? 4/19/06

[Guest guest]

This isn't local but is a great piece to send to any meat-eating

environmentalists you know so I wanted to pass it on.

 

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1856817 & page=1

 

 

 

DawnWatch [news]

Wednesday, April 19, 2006 3:15 PM

nora

DawnWatch: ABC News site article, " Meat-Eaters Aiding Global

Warming? " 4/19/06

 

The ABC News website has an interesting piece, posted April 19, headed,

" Meat-Eaters Aiding Global Warming? " and sub-headed, " New Research Suggests

What You Eat as Important as What You Drive. Your personal impact on global

warming may be influenced as much by what you eat as by what you drive.

 

It continues:

 

" That surprising conclusion comes from a couple of scientists who have taken

an unusual look at the production of greenhouse gases from an angle that not

many folks have even thought about. Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin, assistant

professors of geophysics at the University of Chicago, have found that our

consumption of red meat may be as bad for the planet as it is for our

bodies.

 

" If you want to help lower greenhouse gas emissions, they conclude in a

report to be published in the journal Earth Interactions, become a

vegetarian.

 

" In the interest of full disclosure, it should be noted that both

researchers are vegetarians, although they admit to cheating a little with

an occasional sardine. They say their conclusions are backed up by hard

data.

 

" Eshel and Martin collected that data from a wide range of sources, and they

examined the amount of fossil-fuel energy -- and thus the level of

production of greenhouse gases -- required for five different diets. The

vegetarian diet turned out to be the most energy efficient, followed by

poultry, and what they call the 'mean American diet,' which consists of a

little bit of everything.

 

" There was a surprising tie for last place. In terms of energy required for

harvesting and processing, fish and red meat ended up in a 'virtual tie,'

but that's just in terms of energy consumed. When you toss in all those

other factors, such as bovine flatulence and gas released by manure, red

meat comes in dead last. Fish remains in fourth place, some distance behind

poultry and the mean American diet, chiefly because the type of fish

preferred by Americans requires a lot of energy to catch. "

 

On the impact of changing your diet, Eshel says, " It is comparable to the

difference between driving an SUV and driving a reasonable sedan. "

 

You can read the full article on line at:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1856817 & page=1

 

On that page, at the end of the article, you'll find, " What Do You Think?

Chat About the Issue. " That gives vegetarians a great opportunity to chat

about the many reasons for choosing a plant based diet besides the

environmental issues. For example the consumption chicken, which rates

higher than beef for environmental protection, involves some of the most

gratuitous cruelty as birds are exempt from humane slaughter laws.

 

You can learn more about the impact of meat-based diets on animals, and see

photos of their living conditions at www.FactoryFarming.com

 

Yours and the animals',

Karen Dawn

 

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in

the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets.

You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at

http://www.DawnWatch.com. To , go to

http://www.dawnwatch.com/cgi-bin/dada/dawnwatch_.cgi If you

forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave

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nora

 

Wed Apr 19 16:13:26 2006