The Alliance of
World Scientists, a group of 15,000 scientists from 184 countries, met last
month to discuss preventing environmental destruction and concluded that it’s
time for humans to change their behavior and switch to a plant-based diet.
In 1992 the group warned that human practices would lead to
devastating conditions, including ocean dead
zones, ozone depletion, forest cover loss, decline in marine life, and loss
of biodiversity.
The alliance’s new warning is similar, but outlines how environmental
destruction has increased in the past 25 years. The group’s
statement calls for changes to “individual behaviors, including limiting
our own reproduction (ideally to replacement level at most) and drastically
diminishing our per capita consumption of fossil fuels, meat, and other
resources.
Raising animals for food has a devastating impact on the
environment. Animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all
the cars, planes, and other forms of transportation combined.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, carbon dioxide emissions from raising farmed animals make
up about 15 percent of global human-induced emissions, with beef and milk
production as the leading culprits.
Simply by avoiding animal products, we can cut our carbon footprints in half. Bear in
mind that a pound of beef requires 13 percent more fossil fuel and
15 times more water to produce than a pound of soy.
There is no such thing as “sustainable” meat, and
plant-based alternatives to meat, dairy, and eggs take a mere fraction of the
resources to produce as their animal-based counterparts.
But a vegan diet isn’t just good for the planet; it also
spares millions of animals a lifetime of misery at factory farms. Pigs, cows,
chickens, and other farmed animals suffer horribly. These innocent animals face unimaginable cruelties: extreme
confinement; painful mutilations; and bloody, violent deaths.
Join the millions of people who are helping to protect
farmed animals and the planet by switching to a vegan diet. Click here to get started!