The Meat and Dairy Industries Are Behind

When we think of greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, many of us think of what trains, ‘planes, and automobiles are spewing into the atmosphere. Well, that isn’t pretty, but, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, animal-based agriculture represents 14.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions, cows making up 65% of that total. And it may be surprising that it isn’t just belching methane that’s the problem. It’s cutting down forests as far away as Brazil, to make way for and feed all those cows.

Beyond the environmental impact, there’s a devastating amount of life lost to feed animal-derived products to human beings. About 80 billion land animals and up to trillions of marine animals are killed every year for food. At the same time, a new market has grown up for vegan meats, milks, cheeses, and other foods. In the United States, companies like Walmart, ALDI, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s have come out with their own brands of vegan burgers, “chicken,” and even vegan cheese, and several meat companies have branched into vegan foods, too. Dairy companies are also investing in plant-based milk, such as Dairy Queen marketing the vegan Dilly “ice cream” bar, and 100 year old dairy processor Elmhurst wholly switching over to plant-milk production.

“About 80 million land animals and actually 2.7 trillion fish are caught are caught every year and putting that number into perspective that means five million are caught every single minute,” said Poorva Joshipura is senior vice president of international affairs for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Foundation U.K. “

“And when we are talking about the land animals that are 80 billion animals being killed every year that is eight times the number of people that are on the planet. In the US about 88% of those animals are factory farmed.”

“According to the UN meat, egg and dairy production us responsible for 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions. That is by our estimates greater than all of the world’s transportation combined. That’s more than cars, trucks, airplanes combined.”

“Researchers from Oxford Martin School have found that a switch to vegan diet could save 8.1 million lives by 2050, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70% and lead to healthcare related savings up to $1,000 billion dollars a year. It could also avoid climate related damages of 1.5 trillion.”

For more information please visit https://www.peta.org/

Link for interview is below: