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Mon, 02 Jul 2007

Britain’s Environment Agency: Go Vegetarian to Stop Climate Change

An anonymous friend emailed me about the above article, which appeared in Common Dreams on June 20th. It's only two weeks later, and I'm already blogging about it! What can I say - I'm Canadian, we're slow.

Author Bruce Friedrich is vice president in charge of international grassroots campaigns for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). He has been a progressive and animal activist for more than 20 years.

Bruce says that he's tempted to move to Britain, because "an official with the UK's Environment Agency has acknowledged that humans can significantly help stop global warming by adopting a vegetarian diet."

"Of course," he goes on to say, "the science could not be more clear. When U.N. scientists looked at all the evidence, they declared in a 408-page report titled Livestock’s Long Shadow that raising animals for food is responsible for more greenhouse gases than all vehicles in the world combined. And scientists at the University of Chicago showed that a typical American meat-eater is responsible for nearly 1.5 tons more carbon dioxide a year than a vegan."

Bruce Friedrich elaborates on the global warming threat from animal agriculture, and urges us all to go vegetarian for the sake of the planet.

There are 69 comments on Go Vegetarian to Stop Climate Change, most of them from vegans and vegetarians, overjoyed that somebody was standing on a soapbox shouting about veg diet and climate change. One commentator linked to an article by Dr. McDougall, on the topic of global warming and veg diet.

Said article has some interesting bits about Al Gore, plus a cute picture of Al as a boy, with one of his family's black angus cattle. It also gives contact info for Al, so you can write and tell him what you think about his silence on this issue. Could it be that Al Gore's money comes from cattle ranching? Is the veg/global warming connection his personal 'inconvenient truth'?

You decide. Read Bruce Friedrich's article: Britain’s Environment Agency: Go Vegetarian to Stop Climate Change,