Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Day 114 of our Green Year: Helping The Environment With Little Meat Eating

A recent report put out by the United Nations said that “Livestock production is one of the major causes of the world’s most pressing environmental problems, including global warming, land degradation, air and water pollution, and loss of bio diversity. Using a methodology that considers the entire commodity chain, it estimates that livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, a bigger share than that of transport.”

This is a serious problem, and while we only eat buffalo and bison, if there was the same amount of buffalo and bison as there were cows, the problem would be the exact same. As a result, Layla and I are going to start eating less and less meat and going more and more vegan with what we eat. This is the most direct way to help make a dent in the 18 percent greenhouse gas emissions that are put into the air from cows, especially from transport.

We already eat local so that we cut down on transport emissions, but growing our own food (as we are) and eating more vegetables from our area will help to lower the effect that meat has on our environment.

Meat for the two of us will only only be on occasion from now on. We will not be eating beef in any way, and we will limit other types of meat like chicken, turkey and pork products. This does not mean we will stop eating those types of meat altogether, but we will lower our intake of them.