Greetings
eco-conscious viewers.
Nowadays, we are seeing
many natural disasters
happening around
the world – the results,
at least in part,
of global warming.
Millions of people have
been uprooted each year.
The wildlife too
have nowhere left to go.
How can we,
as individual, help to
improve the situation?
Many scientists
and researchers, through
their dedicated research
and keen analysis,
have pointed out that
the solution is right
on our plate – a diet
without animal products,
which not only will
mitigate the warming,
but also protect
our health and
restore the environment.
Today, we present
an array of timely articles
and interviews
investigating the link
between the meat diet,
planetary and personal
health, and even morality.
In the article,
“The Meat of the Problem,”
for The Washington Post
published on July 29,
2009, Ezra Klein
suggests that we should
recognize the impact
and the solutions of what
we put on our plates:
“Some of meat's
contribution to
climate change is intuitive.
It's more energy efficient
to grow grain and
feed it to people than
it is to grow grain and
turn it into feed that
we give to calves until
they become adults that
we then slaughter
to feed to people.
Some of the contribution
is gross.
“Manure lagoons,”
for instance, is the oddly
evocative name for the
acres of animal excrement
that sit in the sun
steaming nitrous oxide
into the atmosphere.
And…cow gas –
interestingly, it's mainly
burps, not [flatulence] –
is a real player.
But the result isn't funny
at all: Two researchers at
the University of Chicago
estimated that switching
to a vegan diet would
have a bigger impact
than trading in your
gas guzzler for a Prius.
A study out of
Carnegie Mellon
University found that
the average American
would do less for the planet
by switching to
a totally local diet than
by going vegetarian
one day a week.
That prompted
Rajendra Pachauri,
the head of the United Nations
Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change,
to recommend that
people give up meat
one day a week
to take pressure off
the atmosphere.”
According to a recent
research published by
the renowned medical
journal, The Lancet,
the reduction of meat
is a key component
in human and
environmental health.
Kate Kelland
highlights this report
in her November 2009
Reuters article.
“Using prediction models,
British and Australian
researchers found that
improving efficiency,
increasing carbon capture
and reducing fossil fuel
dependence in farming
would not be enough to
meet emissions targets.
But combining
these steps with
a 30 percent reduction
in livestock production
in major meat-producing
nations and a similar cut
in meat-eating,
would lead to
"substantial population
health benefits" and
cut emissions, they said.
The study found that
in Britain, a 30 percent
lower intake of
animal-source saturated
fat by adults would
reduce the number
of premature deaths
from heart disease
by some 17 percent –
equivalent to 18,000
premature deaths
averted in one year.”
“The scientists said
global action was needed
to maximise the benefits
of cutting meat production
and consumption.”
With only a 30 percent
reduction in meat intake,
we could already meet
carbon reduction goals
and save thousands of
lives – in the UK alone,
and for just one
meat-related disease alone.
What if we completely
drop meat from the menu?
Lord Nicholas Stern,
climate change chief
from the United Kingdom,
certainly knows
the answer.
In Mark Prigg and
Sophie Goodchild’s article,
“Eat Less Meat to
Stop Climate Change,”
for London Evening
Standard, both
The Lancet report and
Lord Stern’s words
are cited:
“People should eat
less meat to help
combat climate change,
a government-backed
report says today.”
“The report,
partly funded by the
Department of Health
and compiled by
leading scientists, says
that decreased emissions
from livestock production
combined with
the health benefits from
eating less meat could
lead to major reductions
in global CO2 emissions.
Scientists
behind the report also
hope the move will mean
a dramatic reduction in
the beef, lamb and pork
consumed in households
across Britain.”
“Earlier this year
climate change chief
Lord Stern of Brentford
echoed the call.
He said: ‘Meat is
a wasteful use of water
and creates a lot of
greenhouse gases.
It puts enormous pressure
on the world's resources.
A vegetarian diet
is better.’”
Livestock production is
responsible for major
environmental problems,
such as deforestation,
water shortage,
biodiversity loss,
pollution, and more.
“Would you go vegan
to save the earth?”
In an USA Today article,
Wendy Koch prompts
this question.
The article also offers
readers added motivators
to choose the vegan diet.
“Indeed, livestock
production accounts for
18% of greenhouse gas
emissions, a higher share
than transportation,
according to a landmark
2006 report, "Livestock's
Long Shadow," by the
United Nation's Food and
Agriculture Organization.
There are
other downsides, too.
The runoff of chemicals
from these large farms
pollutes our waterways,
lakes, groundwater and
soils, according to
a 2008 report by
the Pew Commission
on Industry Farm
Animal Production,
a project of the
Pew Charitable Trust.”
“This is why
environmentalists such as
pop star Paul McCartney
have called for
Meatless Mondays,
in which people lower
their carbon footprint
by going vegetarian
at least one day a week.
A vegan diet is even
stricter, disallowing
dairy and eggs.”
“…the sign ‘1 lb meat =
2,463 gallons of water’
really made me think.
So, too, did
Michael Pollan's books,
including
Omnivore's Dilemma.
His In Defense of Food
offers this advice:
‘Eat food. Not so much.
Mostly plants.’
He says much of what
we eat isn't food in
the old-fashioned sense,
but processed
food-like products.
If you're still a diehard
red meat eater,
the movie Food Inc.
might give you pause,
if not for the environment
then for food safety.”
Please stay tuned to
Supreme Master
Television.
We’ll be right back
with more media reports
on the vegan concept
embraced by
various celebrities
and environmentalists.
Welcome back to today’s
program featuring
mainstream media
coverage on the
increasing awareness of
the vegan lifestyle that
will ensure our future
survival and prosperity.
The vegan trend
has being publicized
through the caring
role model celebrities.
The long-term vegan
Hollywood actress
Alicia Silverstone
recently appeared on
The Oprah Winfrey Show
to promote her new book
“The Kind Diet.”
The following is an excerpt
from Oprah’s website
about Ms. Silverstone.
“Alicia Silverstone
shot to fame as
a spoiled valley girl with
a heart of gold in the 1995
comedy classic Clueless.
Off screen,
the then-18-year-old was
battling severe asthma,
insomnia, full-blown
acne and constipation.
Nearly three years
after that film,
Alicia switched from a
"steak and doughnut diet"
to a vegan lifestyle.
Now, at 33, she says she
sleeps like a baby, doesn't
worry about her weight
and has tons of energy.”
“Still,
becoming vegan wasn't
an overnight transition.
An avid animal lover,
she says she had flirted
with vegetarianism
since childhood.
‘When I was 8 years old,
my brother was making
the noises of the animals
I was eating, so I decided
to go vegetarian,’
she says.
‘Then I would give up
because I was 8.’
At 21, Alicia says
she saw a documentary
about how animals were
raised and slaughtered.
‘I just took a look
at my dog and said, ‘If
I'm not willing to eat you,
how can I continue to eat
these other creatures that
have the same desire
to live, are just as funny,
just as cute as my dogs?’”
Meanwhile, CBS
journalist Katie Couric
interviewed the famous
American vegan comedian
Ellen DeGeneres
in February 2010.
In the 30-minute
interview, the popular
Ms. DeGeneres
spoke about life, love,
and her inspirations
for becoming vegan.
She said:
“There is a lot of
carelessness and
disrespect to the planet,
not just to one another.
I think we have to start
with loving every
living thing, loving trees
and loving animals
and loving our ocean.
That’s one place to start
before we even can be
kind to one another.”
“I watched a documentary,
Earthlings.
It’s inside footage of
factory farms;
50 billion animals a year
are killed.
They’re in pain,
treated badly, diseased,
pumped full of antibiotics.
I saw the reality and
just couldn’t ignore it.
And I’m healthier
and happier.”
The vegan solution
for climate change
is certainly emphasized
by today’s
environmentalists.
The founder of
TreeHugger, Graham Hill,
a leader in promoting
sustainable lifestyles,
explains the six most
important harmful effects
of meat eating
in the article
“Looking at the Beef in
the Vegetarian Argument”.
A summary of these
impacts is listed below:
1. Eating a hamburger
a day could increase
a person's risk of dying
by a third from cancer,
heart disease, stroke
and the list goes on.
2. Billions of extra
health care spending
can be attributed to our
meat eating lifestyles.
3. Eating meat spews
more emissions than
our cars, trains,
and planes combined.
4. Pound for pound
beef production uses
at least 100 times
the water of say, lettuce.
5. And, beef production
emits nearly 100 times
more greenhouse gas
emissions
than growing veggies.
6. Meat and livestock
cause twice the pollution
of all industry combined.
Next, another respected
environmentalist,
Mike Tidwell,
discloses how he became
a dedicated vegetarian
in the article titled
“The Low-Carbon Diet,”
published by
the esteemed US-based
Audubon Magazine.
To Mr. Tidwell, who is
the founder and director
of the Chesapeake
Climate Action Network,
the reason to act on
global warming is simple.
“So why in the world
am I a dedicated vegetarian?
Why is meat, including
sumptuous pork,
a complete stranger
to my fork
at home and away?
The answer is simple:
I have an 11-year-old son
whose future –
like yours and mine –
is rapidly unraveling
due to global warming.
And what we put on
our plates can directly
accelerate or decelerate
the heating trend.”
Mr. Tidwell further
elaborates that meat eating
should be considered
as a moral issue:
“…with global warming,
here’s the inconvenient
truth about meat
and dairy products:
If you eat them,
regardless of their origin
and how they were
produced, you
significantly contribute to
climate change. Period.”
“…for people to care,
the climate–food discussion
must be about
more than just facts,
more than pounds of
greenhouse gases
per units of food.
It’s got to be
about morality,
about right versus wrong.
And I don’t mean
the usual morality
of environmental
“stewardship.”
Or even the issue of
cruelty to farm animals.
I’m talking here about
cruelty to people,
about the explicit harm to
humans that results from
meat consumption and
its role as a driving force
in climate change.”
“…severe climate change
means food off the table.
It means hungry children.
It means the rains don’t
come on time or at all
in tiny villages
like the one I lived in.
It means, in the end,
cruelty to people.”
Our deep gratitude
to all news reporters,
researchers, celebrities,
and environmentalists
for putting forth
your vegan messages of
love and sustainability
in the media.
May more and more
people join the ranks
of vegans worldwide
for our children’s future.
Thank you,
smart viewers,
for your company today.
Please stay tuned to
Supreme Master
Television
for Words of Wisdom,
coming up
after Noteworthy News.
Blessed be your
kind and noble deeds.
To read the full articles
cited in today’s program,
you can find them online: