Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CONTENTS
HELP PROTECT……
LAND
THE HUNGRY............................................................................2
FERTILE LANDS.........................................................................3
FORESTS....................................................................................4
BIODIVERSITY...........................................................................5
HELP PROTECT……
WATER
WATER RESOURCES .................................................................6
THE OCEANS.............................................................................8
HELP PRevenT……
global warming
...................................................................................................9
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Environment book 2/11/06 6:58 pm Page 4
HELP PROTECT……
THE HUNGRY
T Europe imports 70 per cent of its
he United Nations Food and
Industrial
Pounds of protein per acre livestock
production is
unsustainable
and
unjustifiable.
HELP PROTECT……
FERTILE LANDS
T he World Resources Institute (WRI)
states that nearly 40 per cent of the
world’s agricultural land is seriously
degraded. The International Food
Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) predicts
that if land loss continues at current
rates, an additional 150-360 million
hectares could go out of production by
5
2020.
Soil Degradation
THEY SAID IT...
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Environment book 2/11/06 6:58 pm Page 6
HELP PROTECT……
FORESTS
W e need forests. They store large
amounts of carbon dioxide,
release oxygen, regulate climate,
prevent floods, protect soils, and
harbour millions of varieties of plant
and animal species. They are also
home to thousands of indigenous
people whose livelihoods and ways of
life are rapidly being destroyed.
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Environment book 2/11/06 6:58 pm Page 7
HELP PROTECT……
BIODIVERSITY
N o one really knows just how many
species there are on Earth. Estimates
range from 2 million to 100 million, but
HOW YOUR DIET CAN HELP
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Environment book 2/11/06 6:58 pm Page 8
HELP PROTECT……
BIODIVERSITY
THEY SAID IT...
HELP PROTECT……
water
T he United Nations Water Assessment
Programme states:“At the beginning
of the twenty-first century, the Earth,
This situation is predicted to worsen as our
population expands and consumption per
capita increases with more and more people
with its diverse and abundant life forms, adopting resource-intensive Western meat-
including over six billion humans, is eating habits.
17
facing a serious water crisis.”
HOW YOUR DIET CAN HELP
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Environment book 2/11/06 6:58 pm Page 9
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Environment book 2/11/06 6:58 pm Page 10
HELP PROTECT……
the oceans
T he single greatest threat to marine
ecology is over-fishing. Catch sizes
now regularly exceed sustainable levels,
a trend that could have devastating
consequences for the health of our oceans.
Yet worldwide demand is increasing.
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Environment book 2/11/06 6:58 pm Page 11
HELP PRevenT……
global warming
W hen carbon dioxide, methane and
nitrous oxide are released into the
air they blanket the Earth, trapping heat
Factory farming uses massive inputs of fossil
fuels. The vast majority of this energy is used
in producing, transporting and processing
26
inside the atmosphere. This is known as feed.
the greenhouse effect, and it keeps our
planet at a temperature at which life can A vegan diet uses substantially less energy
thrive. The problem is the massive than a diet based on animal products and
increase in the output of these and other therefore contributes much less to air
greenhouse gases since industrialisation pollution, acidification, oil spills, habitat
has caused the effect to intensify. destruction and global warming.
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Environment book 2/11/06 6:58 pm Page 12
HELP PROTECT……
the planet
I t is widely agreed that
agriculture is one of the most
environmentally damaging
activities that man undertakes.
As consumers, we can make a
difference by choosing food that is
FOOD MILES
produced in an environmentally
sustainable way. As has been
shown, livestock consume more Environmentally conscious consumers are
protein and calories than they becoming increasingly aware of the
produce. This alone makes animal benefits of buying locally produced food to
farming an unsustainable use of the cut down on ‘food miles’ (the distance
Earth’s resources. On top of this, travelled by lorry, ship or aeroplane by our
the consumption of animal products food before it reaches our plates).
contributes to global warming,
pollution, water scarcity, land THE LIVESTOCK CONNECTION
degradation, deforestation and loss
of biodiversity – in other words, all When considering food miles, many people
the major environmental problems. think only of the miles travelled by the ‘end
product.’ They think that British chicken,
We should all be aware of the pork or beef is an environmentally friendly
impact that our lifestyles have option because the animals have not
on the world around us: arrived from overseas, building up air miles.
switching to a vegan diet will However, British animals increasingly eat
significantly limit your individual feeds such as soya, manioc and tapioca
impact on our increasingly that have been imported from abroad,
threatened environment.
consequently the environmental footprint
left by eating British meat can be just as
Discover for yourself what a
great as eating imported animal products.
difference a vegan diet can make by
Vegan foods are better for the environment
visiting: www.earthday.net/footprint
because eating vegetable protein directly,
This site will help you to calculate
rather than through the intermediary of an
your ecological foot print. First put
animal, uses far less land. Eating locally
in omnivore, then change it to
vegan and see the difference this grown vegetables is better still.
makes!
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Environment book 2/11/06 6:58 pm Page 13
GO VEGAN!
S aving the planet is one reason to
go vegan. There are many more:
by going vegan you will save the
lives of the thousands of animals you
would have eaten otherwise and
save many animals from cruel
exploitation on factory farms.
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REFERENCES
1Based on FAOSTAT, 2006 8 Goodland & D. Pimentel, 18 Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert:
http://faostat.fao.org/faostat/collecti ‘Sustainability and Integrity in the The American West and its
ons?subset=agriculture accessed on Agriculture Sector,’ Ecological Disappearing Water, Penguin books,
21/06/2006 Integrity: Integrating Environment, 1986 and Pimental D et al., 1997.
Conservation and Health, D. Bioscience 42: 97-106.
2 European Parliament, Europe’s Pimentel, L. Westra, R. F. Noss (eds),
Deficit in Compound Feedingstuffs Island Press, 2000 19 The Soil Association
and Agenda 2000, Agriculture, www.soilassociation.org
Forestry and Rural Development 9 C. de Haan & H. Blackburn, ‘The
Series, Working Document, AGRI- Balance Between Livestock and the 20 Whale & Dolphin Conservation
110, 1999. Cited in J. Turner, Environment,’ Invited paper for the Society, Introduction to Fisheries,
Factory Farming and the Environment, 8th Congress of Institutes of Tropical
www.wdcs.org (accessed 12/05/03)
CIWF, 1999 Animal Health and Production,
Berlin 1995 21 Naylor, Goldburg, Primavera,
3 FAO, ‘The State of Food Insecurity
10 WRI, Biodiversity and protected Kautsky, Beveridge, Clay, Folkes,
in the World’ 2005
Lubchenco, Mooney, & Troell, ‘Effect
areas www.wri.org/wri/biodiv/b02-
4 Rice and soybean yields per acre gbs.html (accessed 15/05/03) of aquaculture on world fish
are the EU average yields for 2005 supplies,’ Nature 405, 1017-1024
taken from the FAOSTAT database 11 IUCN, Red List of Threatened (2000)
http://faostat.fao.org/faostat/collecti Species, www.redlist.org/info/tables/
22 P. Lymbery, ‘In Too Deep – The
ons?subset=agriculture on 21 June table1.html (accessed 15/05/03
2006. Yields of the other Welfare of Intensively Farmed Fish,’
foods shown are from P.W. Gerbens- 12 IUCN, Background to the IUCN CIWF Trust, 2002.
Leenes et al., ‘A Method to Red List of Threatened Species
Determine Land Requirements www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/redlist200 23 National Aeronautics and Space
Relating to Food Consumption 2/rl_background.htm (accessed Administration (NASA) study
Patterns’, Agriculture, Ecosystems 14/05/03) published in the February 2005 issue
and Environment, 2002; 90:47-58. of the journal Geophysical Research
13 WRI, Biodiversity and protected
Letters
Protein contents of foods are taken areas, op cit
from McCance and Widdowson’s 24 NASA Godard Space Fight
The Composition of Foods (Sixth 14 C. de Haan, H. Steinfeld & H.
Centre Report 2005 by Krishna
Summary Edition), Food Standards Blackburn, 1998, op cit Ramanujan
Agency, 2002.
15 UNEP, GEO: Global Environment
25 WorldWatch Institute ‘The Price
5 IFPRI, ‘How Large a Threat is Soil Outlook 3
of Beef’ 1994
Degradation?’ 2020 Newsletter, www.unep.org/GEO/geo3/english/22
March 1999 0.htm (accessed 15/05/03) 26 de Haan, Steinfeld & Blackburn,
6 United Nations Environment 16 WRI, Biodiversity and protected ‘Livestock and the Environment:
Programme (UNEP), GEO: Global areas, op cit Finding a Balance’ FAO, USAID,
Environment Outlook 3 Press Release World Bank, 1998
www.grida.no/geo/press.htm 17 Water for People, Water for Life,
27 Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin
Executive Summary, The UN Water
7 Colin Tudge So Shall We Reap, Development Report, World Water in New Scientist 17 December 2005
Penguin 2004 Assessment Programme, 2003 page 19
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Environment book 2/11/06 6:58 pm Page 15
6 7 530 6
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