Time Magazine Discusses Global Warming and Confirms Wisdom of Vegetarianism
The well-known international weekly Time brings in its April 9/07 edition special stories and studies emphasizing the global warming challenge. It deals with the problems, plans, proposals, projects, paradigms, preventive programs, politics, politicians and possibilities of peoples and populations in the face of the bad conditions of increasing emissions of CO2 on the atmosphere. That is the main cause of the warming of the planet and its consequent weather changes and ecological unbalance, with resulting unnatural disasters and damage to properties and to both men and animals. Everybody knows how that subject has been increasingly debated all over the world.
Besides the cover-highlighted article, under the heading "The Global Warming Survival Guide", the publication brings a section entitled "51 Things We Can Do” (to make a difference). Some of the ideas raised are disconnecting the computer when not in use (in many houses and offices they are on 24/7), changing the traditional light bulbs for the fluorescent compact ones (more energetically efficient and durable), using more mass transportation (bus and subway) where available, planting bamboo in yards of larger proportions (by the way, the magazine does not say, but the bamboo sprouts are nourishing, rich in fiber and vitamins, much used in Chinese and Japanese cooking), preferring recycled products (papers in general, plastics and even construction material), acquiring preferably agricultural products produced locally (to prevent fuel-consuming transportation across long distances), keeping the car's engine tuned-up and the tires at the right air pressure, etc. But the suggestion # 22 is very interesting and fits perfectly with one of the Seventh-day Adventist life philosophy’s proposals.
That is how the magazine argues this proposal of "positive environment impact":
Skip the Stake
Which is responsible for more global warming: your BMW or your Big Mac? Believe it or not, it’s the burger. The international meat industry generates roughly 18% of the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions—even more than transportation—according to a report last year from the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
Much of that comes from the nitrous oxide in manure and the methane that, is, as the New York Times delicately put it, “the natural result of bovine digestion”. Methane has a warming effect that is 23 times as great as that of carbon, while nitrous oxide is 296 times as great.
There are 1.5 billion cattle and buffalo on the planet, along with 1.7 billion sheep and goat. Their populations are rising fast, especially in the developing world. Global meat production is expected to double between 2.001 and 2050. Given the amount of energy consumed raising, shipping and selling livestock, a 16-oz. T-bone is like a Hummer on a plate.
If you switch to vegetarianism, you can shrink your carbon footprint by up to 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide a year, according to a research by the University of Chicago. Trading a standard car for a hybrid cuts only about one ton—and isn’t as tasty”.
At the end, three charts show "Impact”, with the needle right in the middle of the scale; “Time Horizon”: “Now”; and the “Feel-Good Factor” only three notches short of the maximum.
Last edited by Azenilto; 04/05/07 02:19 AM.
