» VBites of wisdom
Heather Mills says turning vegan can help reduce environmental impact
I’m not ashamed of the fact I used to love the taste of fish and meat. I even wore a fur, a gift my mother left me when she died, when I was young and unaware of the cruelty involved in this fashion. Once I was educated about the realities of animal cruelty, intensive farming methods and its environmental impact, I made the decision to change my diet.
In some ways it was easier for me as my eyes were opened to the benefits of a plant based diet in 1993. Changing my diet helped to heal an infection in my amputated limb where antibiotics had failed. My health and energy levels improved so rapidly that it wasn’t difficult to make the change to a vegan diet a permanent one.
The global environmental impact of the meat and dairy industry is not something that is reported widely. One thing people seem to remember is the fact that cows belching methane is a major contributory factor to global warming and many feel this too ridiculous to be true. Farts have always been funny and the idea that farts are one of the major causes of global warming is a bit of a rib tickler for some.
1.3 billion cows need a hell of a lot of pasture to graze on. 80 per cent of the cut down Amazon Rainforest is now used as pasture land for cattle. Animals reared for meat are fattened up fast on a high protein diet. In order to grow such massive quantities of animal fodder, large areas of land are deforested releasing billions of tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Animal fodder farmed using industrialized processes is transported overseas and fed to animals including cows. The decimation of the earth’s natural environment to feed this industry continues. The mammoth worldwide appetite for the hamburger is chomping it’s way through the Amazon Rainforest at an alarming rate.
‘Growth in industry’ is no longer a positive term. Seeing everything from an economic perspective is not a healthy environmental viewpoint. Meat and dairy industries contribution to global warming is estimated at 18 per cent, higher than the contribution to global warming of all transport networks combined (13.5 per cent) The facts and figures are all available via a UNFAO report, not distributed widely by the media.
Will our part of the world have to become uninhabitable with food and fresh water in short supply, as it is in so many other parts of the world, before we realise the necessity for us to live a sustainable existence in harmony with our environment? By which time it will be too late.
