Climate change is galloping along at an alarming pace but according to a report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change authored by 100 scientists from 52 countries there is a incremental contribution that each of us can make to putting the breaks on this mounting cataclysm. One of the prime contributors to carbon emissions is eating meat. This is because ruminant animals release massive amounts of carbon when they graze. With the growing demand for meat as emerging economies acquire the destructive eating patterns of the world’s primary consumers of this commodity housing livestock has necessitated that farmers obliterate large swathes of forest land to generate the agricultural habitat where these creatures can roam. This has lead to a considerable release of carbon and has also destroyed vast reserves capable of capturing this potentially heinous chemical. The consequences have been disastrous dramatically escalating the release of carbon while significantly reducing the capacity to limit its devastation.
Here’s the solution. All we have to do is convert to a plant-based diet. The experts indicate that this would abrogate the amount of carbon that is unleashed annually by a quantum 8 billion metric tons. Less livestock would mean lowering emissions and reducing fertilizer needed to feed these animals while allowing for the restoration of forests used for grazing. Now what we need is a public awareness campaign alerting us to this initiative.
