A Call to Conscious Evolution:

Hello! And thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts on this! I am a vegan and raw food chef in Lansing, Mi. and I consider myself a "food activist". I call myself this because I believe the greatest thing that people can do to fight global warming is to become "aware consumers" and the best way to do that is with their forks! Global warming has been called humankind's "greatest challenge" and the world's most grave environmental threat, and science shows that one of the MOST EFFECTIVE TOOLS or STRATEGIES to fight global warming is to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle! This is because the meat industry is one of the leading sources of the greenhouse gases that lead to global warming. A 2006 United Nations report found that animal agriculture produces more greeenhouse gases than all the SUV's, cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world COMBINED. Many people are trying to help reduce global warming by driving more fuel-efficient cars and using energy-saving light bulbs, but they could do more simply by going vegetarian. Some notes: The official handbook for the LIVE EARTH concerts say that "refusing meat" is THE SINGLE MOST EFFECTIVE thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint. According the Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than a half-million cars off U.S. roads! The University of Chicago reports that going vegan is 50% more effective than switching to a hybrid car in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Raising animals for their flesh, eggs, and milk is one of the world's leading emitters of CO2. But global warming is caused my more than just co2. Animal Agriculture is the LEADING source of methane and nitrous oxide emissions. The billions of farmed animals crammed into factory farms produce enormous amounts of methane, both during digestion and from the acres of cesspools filled with feces that they excrete. Methane is more than 20 times as powerful as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in our atmosphere. Statistics from the EPA show that animal agriculture is the NUMBER ONE source of methane emissions in the U.S. Also the meat, egg, and dairy industries account for a staggering 65 percent of worldwide nitrous oxide emissions which is about 300 times more potent as a global warming gas than carbon dioxide. So! For me, the most important thing is to make people aware. There are many, many more statistics to site to support that going vegan/vegetarian should be added to the LIST OF SOLUTIONS to our climate crisis. Organizations should consider making advocating vegetarianism a major part of their global warming campaigns. At a minimum, environmental advocates should mention vegetarianism in any information about actions people can take to address global warming. It was disapointing that Al Gore never mentions this as a recommendation in his wonderful film. Also, government policy should encourage vegetarian diets. Polls, are showing that concern about global warming is widespread, and people often feel helpless to do anything about it. If they knew that reducing or eliminating meat/dairy consumption is something they can do as a concerned citizen every day to help the planet they may act. Obviously there is a lot more to be said on this subject but it is worth noting that reducing THIS SOURCE of greenhouse gas has many other benefits to the environment. Less methane results in less tropospheric ozone, a pollutant damaging to human health and agriculture. Moreover, the same factory farms responsible for these methane emissions also use up most of the country's water supply, and denude most of its wilderness for rangeland and growing feed. Factory farm waste lagoons are a leading source of water pollution in the U.S. Indeed, because of animal agriculture's high demand for fossil fuels, the average American diet is far more CO2 polluting than a plant-based one. The good news is that Methane cycles out of the atmosphere in just 8 years, so reducing meat consumption quickly translaes to cooling of the earth. So, thank you SO much for letting me get on the soap box! I don't have much time for this sort of thing being a small business owner and single mom of 4 amazing beings but I do appreciate what you're doing and hope that I have helped in some small way! Keep up the great work! Conscious Evolution! Namaste and Blessings, Miko Fossum