Monday, October 22, 2007

Eating for the Climate

Ever wonder if there's something to environmental pressure to change your way of eating for the sake of the planet? Salon examines the issue of global warming and food in an article excerpted briefly below and offers some (tentative) answers and advice in the process:
The No. 1 cause of global warming is burning fossil fuels for electric power. Still, the group raises an important point. A November 2006 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report found that livestock accounts for 18 percent of global warming emissions worldwide, more than the entire transportation sector.
Here in the U.S., livestock's impact is not quite so extreme: Six percent of our greenhouse gases come from livestock production, compared with 19 percent from cars, light trucks and airplanes. Still, for conscious eaters, those statistics are worth fleshing out.
According to the FAO, livestock production is a top cause of the world's many environmental problems: deforestation, acid rain, dead zones in the ocean, land degradation, water pollution, species extinction and, most threatening of all, global warming. "We looked at every step of the commodity chain, from feed production to consumption," says Henning Steinfeld, chief of the FAO's livestock policy branch.

Interfaith Power and Light is a religious response to global warming with chapters in 25 states and Greater Washington, D.C. Find a link to your local chapter at http://www.theregenerationproject.org/State.htm
Enjoy discounts on energy saving products at http://www.shopipl.org/.

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