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: