sarah's sustainable life

i can’t tell you how many people have asked me, “how does going veg effect the environment?” thankfully for me, the people at turtle island (makers of the beloved thanksgiving tofurky feast) have done the research and put quite a nice, informative page together! so, if you are one of those who is curious, check out the link and find out why “vegetarianism IS environmentalism”, as my favorite bumper sticker reads;)

here is a few related comments from our friends at mercy for animals (please visit the site to see citations on the information referenced):
* a recent UN report concluded that animal agribusiness causes more global warming than all forms of transportation combined…through greenhouse gases contained in manure and intestinal gas of farmed animals, deforestation to grow feed crops exclusively for animals, and the massive amounts of energy used to produce the feed crops, heat and cool animal housing, and transport, process, and refrigerate meat.
*a recent study done by cornell university found that the US alone could feed 800 million people with the grain we feed our livestock. on average, 6lbs of plant protein are required to produce only 1lb of animal protein.
*factory farms produce 1.4billion tons of manure every year, which emit methane and ammonia into the air and water (through manure runoff).