Why is Eating Meat So bad for the Environment

The single greatest thing you can do to lower your carbon foot print is to cut meat out of your diet!






I know sounds crazy right what does what I eat have to do with my carbon foot print and climate change? The fact is that 18% of all green house gases comes from the livestock industry that's more than planes, trains, and automobiles put together. Its crazy to think that thing that is killing the planet the most we have the most control over. We don't have to wait for some manufacture to make that 100mpg car or install expensive solar panels on our roof all we have to do is stop or at the very least decrease the amount of meat we consume and we can turn back the clock on climate change.

Still confused on why eating meat is so bad for the environment? I was until found out the facts:

1. There are 20 billion cows and 16 billion chickens at all times on the planet(that's more than triple the number of humans).

2. 30% of all the real estate on the planet is for livestock.

3. Its takes 5-8 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of beef.

4. 1 household that eats meat creates 20 tons of manure a year.

5. 1 pound of beef causes 5 pounds of topsoil to be lost.

6. 85% of all the topsoil lost is due to the livestock industry.

7. Over 50% of all the water pollution we make is due to the livestock industry.

8. Eating 1 pound of beef emits the same amount of green house gas as driving an SUV 40 miles.

9. 7 football fields of land in rain forest are cleared every minute to make room for livestock related industries.

10. You would save almost 1.5 million gallons of water if you didn't eat meat.

11. More than a third of all the raw materials consumed on earth are used to raise livestock.

These are just a few of the reasons why our meat consumption is so bad. The Gnome could go on all day listing reasons. We have not even got into the fact that humans were not designed to eat the amount of meat that we do. People that eat meat have a 40% higher chance of getting cancer than non meat eaters. Heart disease, hypertension, and obesity all run higher in meat eaters than non meat eaters. Not to mention that fact that 60% of all chicken have Salmonella and just about all beef has E-Coli. Both can kill us if not cooked right!














Then there is the animal cruelty issue. Cows and chickens are raised on top of each other standing in their own excrement they are giving tons of drugs to make them fat and docile. Cows are killed by hitting them on the head with a air hammer gun if they don't die that way they are hung by their feet upside down and their throat is slit and they are bleed to death. Chickens are grabbed by the neck and flipped so that the neck breaks. If they don't die that way they are hung up by their feet on assembly line and a machine guts them or cuts their heads off.

Americans now spend 110 billion dollars more on fast food than we do on ALL these things put together: Education, Movies, Books, Magazines, Newspapers, DVD's, Music and that doesn't even include the money we spend on cooking meat at home!

If Americans ate 10% less meat we could end world hunger over night!

So the question is why don't most Americans know these facts and why aren't Americans eating less meat instead of eating more? Why didn't Al Gore mention this in his movie, lol? Why is it never mentioned when it comes to saving the environment or climate change? I could go on all day why, but the simple answer is Money.


My hope is that if you read this and you are a meat eater that maybe next time you will get salad instead of a burger or you may even cut out a large portion of your meat diet. And if you must know I am not a complete vegan I have struggled with cutting all the meat and dairy out of my diet its the hardest thing I think I have ever tried to do and because I have a family of meat eaters and its everywhere. But I have cut out a least 90% of the meat I consume and I am learning more about a vegan diet everyday. I hope one day soon I can call myself a true vegan. I know that some of you may call me a hypocrite for eating some meat and that's OK, but at least I'm trying are you?

If you must know more about why eating meat is so bad for the Environment watch the videos below. And if you want to watch the entire Meat the Truth series go to YouTube.

GREEN GNOME OUT!

What does Collapse of Entertainment Indusrty Mean for the Green Movement?

In case you haven't noticed many forms of Entertainment are on the brink of collapse and moving forward will have to be green in order to survive.




HOLLYWOOD

Most experts are predicting that allot of Hollywood studios will be out of business within the next few years. There is going to less movies made per year and movies will be made for allot less money. This is all do to downloading on the Internet and a lagging economy. Although movie attendance is up for the first time in years the bread and butter of the industry DVD sales is down by half. Hollywood is responsible for 250,00 jobs and pumps 30 billion into southern California each year. Hollywood has been slow to embrace the Internet and allow recent releases to be downloaded legally online. This will have to change moving forward if Hollywood is to survive.

TELEVISION

Now as for TV they are in more trouble than the movie industry. NBC put Jay Leno on 5 nights a week in prime time, not because they were hoping it would be a ratings boost they did it to save money. NBC could not afford to put on any more prime time drama's. This is the same across all the television networks. Advertisers are running from TV at an alarming rate. This is all do to the Internet again sites like YouTube and Hulu witch are taking the audience away from TV. Today 25% of all 18-35 year olds now watch TV shows via the Internet. They are being killed by their own success with so many cable channels out there now their audience has been spread to thin and it is no longer a place where advertisers want to spend money. They will have to make big changes moving forward in order to be successful.

Newspaper and Print Magazines

This industry is in the most trouble of all and is going to collapse. This years closing of the Rocky Mountain News in Denver says it all. This paper has been around for 150 years. The majority of ALL newspapers will be put of business in the next few years with only a small handful of them will staying in print at least for the next decade. This again is because of the Internet and 24 hour news channels. Today we don't find out about news the news finds us via social media, YouTube, and blogs. This medium will die moving forward and there is no stopping it. Their only hope is with online subscriptions and products like Kindle.


Paperback Books

This industry has been hurting for years do to changes in media in general TV and movies have crushed this medium. But there are charged for a comeback with advent of products like Kindle and the affiliate sales of Ebooks online. Going digital has made them very cheap to own and produce witch makes them very competitive with other mediums moving forward.

Music

This industry almost went under a few years ago, but has since embraced the Internet and is now learning new ways to make money. I-tunes is now the worlds largest music retailer selling more music than Wallmart. This industry has already made some the changes it needs to be successful moving forward, besides their bread and butter is still in live concerts and with companies like Reverb even they are becoming more green.

What does all this mean?

I'm sure your wondering what does all this mean in relation to being Green? Well everything the Entertainment industry is the first major industry forced to go green because of the Internet. When was the last time you went to the music store and purchased a CD? its been years for me.
With that being said lets imagine the future of Entertainment in a Green Economy:

Imagine a world with NO CD's, DVD's, Newspapers, Magazines, and Paperback Books.

Just think of all those million of tons plastic and paper not being used. The CO2 savings will be tremendous.

The Gnome is asking you to support all forms of digital media and give thanks to the Internet for showing us a ways to become more green and still have our Entertainment.

GREEN GNOME OUT!

Watch out for Corporate Green Washing

These days, green is the new black. Corporation's are falling all over themselves to demonstrate to the current and potential customers that they are not only ecologically conscious, but also environmentally correct. The definition of Green washing is the unjustified appropriation of environmental virtue by a company, an industry, a government or a politician to create a pro-environmental image, sell a product or a policy or to try and rehabilitate their public green image. Their is no industry more guilty of the this than the Coal industry with their so called "CLEAN COAL" ad campaign. There is no such thing as clean coal! Burning coal to make electricity is bad for the environment no matter what we do with the waste (CO2). Burying the waste (CO2) deep underground will only create a very big problem in the future. The ads for "clean coal" are not even really talking about burying the waste(CO2). The technology for this is still in its infancy. What they are talking about is rebuilding the old( some are over 100 years old) coal plants and replacing them new more efficient ones. To do this they need money from higher taxes or higher electric bills. Hence the need for all the green washing ads to raise public and political support for their industry. So if your local, state, or federal politician is making a push for clean coal in your area tell him/her you don't approve. That you want your tax dollars to go to real clean power such as Solar, wind, or geothermal.











Now an example of a corporation Green Washing is Ford's recent Ecoboost engine and ecoboost ad campaign. I'm sure if you have watched TV lately you have seen Fords new commercial for the new Taurus SHO with "ECOBOOST". This engine is a V6 365 horse that gets 17 city and 25 highway miles to the gallon. And everyone knows that the government estimated MPG is never accurate. So really this engine gets about 15 city and 20 highway. Now does that sound like a car that should have the words "ECOBOOST" put on the trunk! Ford should be ashamed of this green washing. The worst thing is that the American people are so stupid that this green washing is actually working. Ford sales are up 3% since the start of their "ecoboost" campaign, UNREAL! And whats even more scary is that this one of Ford's big green changes moving forward. They plan to offer this engine in 90% of their vehicles by 2013. I hope that Ford and other companies that are green washing get crushed and put out of business by companies that are giving us real sustainable solutions to live our lives. If you want to see more examples of green washing go to Green Washing Index. Also the next time you go to make purchase or to vote ask yourself, Is this company, person, or industry really green or just green washing?


GREEN GNOME OUT!