It is clear that our “leaders” are not leading on the issue of Global Climate Change. We can’t rely on them to do what is right. This has to be up to us. Fortunately for us and our planet, our own individual action can be enough to save us.
The hard truth is that the Standard American Diet (SAD for sure) is destroying our planet. Meat and dairy consumption is one of the leading causes of methane emissions, which is the leading cause of global warming and climate change.
The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that if we are to have any chance at reversing devastating climate change, methane emissions must be cut 33% by the year 2030. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, 80x more potent than carbon dioxide. Its reduction is critical to preventing climate catastrophe. The majority of methane emissions are attributed to animal agriculture.
In fact, animal agriculture creates more greenhouse gasses than all global transportation means combined. Cars, planes, trains–everything.
Carnism–the belief that humans need to eat animals in order to survive–is no longer sustainable. There are just too many people on this planet. As our SAD diets are being exported around the world, we are literally eating our way to extinction.
Our destructive carnivore diets are also killing us. More than 600,000 Americans die every year from preventable chronic diseases. These include heart disease, cancer, and Type 2 diabetes. These disorders can all be directly linked to eating meat and dairy.
In the U.S. today, 36.5% of us are obese. Another 32.5% are overweight. More than two-thirds of our people are overweight. This is not normal. We take more medications than the people in any other country; and yet we are also sicker than the people in any other country.
Our diets are also killing billions of land animals every year. Ninety-nine percent of whom live and die on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), aka factory farms. Although there is not much “living” in these horrible places. The idyllic vision that the industry promotes of happy animals living the good life, couldn’t be more distorted. These animals live short, miserable, and pain-filled lives; in cramped and filthy conditions. I will not go into detail about what happens to animals on the CAFOs; but documentaries like Eating Animals, Earthlings, and Dominion can provide heartbreaking details if you care to learn more.
Why have most people not heard about the devastation that is caused by animal agriculture? The same reason we didn’t know seventy years ago that smoking was harmful. Because there is Big Money to be made. And politicians to be purchased. No one talks about it because Big Agriculture has all of the money of the oil industry, and the morals of big tobacco.
Animal agriculture has come to be untouchable for several reasons. “Ag-gag laws” prohibit or restrict recording of the acts of violence that take place on the CAFOs. The industry knows that once an animal-loving human sees what happens to the cows, the pigs, the chickens; and the baby cows, pigs, lambs and chicks–a new vegan is born and an old customer is lost.
None of us needs to eat animal products in order to live. The healthiest diet has been found in multiple studies to be a whole-food plant-based diet. And it has never been easier, as more companies and restaurants (including fast food) are stepping up to meet the demand.
If you want to do your part to save this planet, live your best life, and spare the lives of up to 200 animals each year; a plant-based diet is the best one for you.
For more information on the environmental, human health, and animal welfare impacts of the Standard American Diet, I recommend the following documentaries:
Environmental:
“Eating Our Way to Extinction”, available for purchase on Amazon Prime.
“Cowspiracy”, Netflix
Human Health:
“The Gamechangers”, Netflix
“Forks Over Knives”, at www.Forksoverknives.com.
“What the Health”, Netflix
“They’re Trying to Kill Us”, currently not available for some reason; however, if you can find it–especially if you are a person of color–watch it.
Animal Welfare:
The documentaries noted above. A note of caution: if you are already committed to a plant-based life for the other reasons, and a sensitive animal lover; you might want to skip these. Once you see the footage of what happens to the animals, you will never really be OK again.