Feel free to jump in folks to supply the missing evidence.
I know you don't care, but:
Sierra Club (Ohio Chapter) website for their Meatless Monday drive -
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Why is this important?
“By becoming vegetarian or vegan, or even just eating less meat, you can make a big difference. It will help animals and it will help the planet. As more and more people eat more and more meat, forests are cleared to provide land to grow grain to feed the billions of animals confined in horrendous factory farms.These animals produce large amounts of methane gas during the process of digestion – an even more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. And the waste from the operations is washed into rivers and lakes, poisoning the water and creating algae blooms. And finally, remember that cows, pigs, chickens and other farmed animals are not just machines – like us they feel pain and know emotions such as contentment and depression. So many people tell me they love animals – but make food choices that do not reflect that love. I fully support the Meatless Monday campaign, helping people in the Cleveland community realize the power of their choices when they band together to help make our world a better place.”
~ Jane Goodall, Ph.D., DBE, Founder, the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace
The raising of cows, pigs and chicken in animal factories contributes to:
Global warming, as huge amounts of greenhouse-gas emissions are released
The livestock sector generates enormous amounts of the greenhouse gases nitrous oxide (mostly coming from animal manure) and methane (largely produced by the digestive system of ruminants).
Close to 1/3 of all fossil fuels produced in the U.S. go towards animal agriculture. Every link in the chain of events that brings a meat-based diet from the factory or feedlot to the table demands huge amounts of electricity.
A 2010 United Nations report concluded that a shift toward a vegan diet is necessary to combat the worst effects of climate change.
Water pollution from manure runoff into sources of water
Massive amounts of manure get funneled into huge waste lagoons, which often break, leak or overflow, polluting sources of water with nitrogen and phosphorus … causing oxygen-depleting algal blooms, toxic algae and fish kills.
Water depletion from the immense amount of water required to raise crops to feed the animals
More water is withdrawn from the Ogallala aquifer every year for beef production than is used to grow all the fruits and vegetables in the entire country. If we continue pumping out the Ogallala at current rates, it’s only a matter of time before most of the wells in the midwest and southwest will go dry, and portions of these states will become scarcely habitable for human beings.
Human illness
Close to 80% of antibiotics manufactured today are fed daily – like vitamins – to factory raised livestock, to ensure rapid growth. Unnecessary use of antibiotics is taking us towards a time when antibiotics will not longer work.
Toxic algae from manure runoff and fertilizers (used on corn and soy which is fed to factory raised animals) can impair human health. Toxic algae made the water unsafe to drink for several days in Toledo, Ohio.
Honeybee demise from the corn planted to feed the animals
Most corn is genetically manipulated by artificially gene splicing together completely different species, bypassing the natural species barrier. These corn seeds are encapsulated with neonicotine pesticides. Neonicotines are strongly linked to the demise of honeybees, a major pollinator for our food supply.
Foul air in rural communities from nearby animal factories
Dust particles, carrying toxic ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, can penetrate the lungs of humans living nearby.
Rainforest depletion as millions of trees are decimated for grazing and crop production in the Amazon
Livestock production is responsible for 70% of deforestation in the Amazon region of Latin America, where rainforests are being cleared to create new pastures.
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From the Earth First! website:
From: David A Gabel, ENN
Published April 16, 2012 09:53 AM
UN: Meat Consumption Must be Cut to Reduce Greenhouse Gases
In the developed world, citizens take advantage of the enormous bounty of meat while shopping at markets and dining in restaurants. For some, a meal can only be classified as real if it contains some kind of meat in it. According to the UN, the attitude towards meat consumption has to change, and people must cut back. This is a necessary step in reducing one of the most potent greenhouse gases, nitrous oxide (N2O). A recent study by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests that the developed world needs to cut its meat consumption by 50 percent per person by the year 2050.
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From Greenpeace website:
We work on the animal agriculture issues by campaigning on cattle ranching, animal feed and destructive fishing,
we encourage people to eat less or no meat and fish, and we serve only vegan and vegetarian food at our on site cafe.
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NRDC:
Diets featuring less meat and more fruits and vegetables are beneficial to maintaining a healthy
weight and reducing the risk of diet-related chronic diseases. Many Americans have heeded this
advice, and red meat consumption in this country has dropped about 25 percent since the mid-
1970s.
But the standard American diet still falls short of health experts’ recommendations when
it comes to meat consumption. On average, Americans eat 3.1 ounces of red meat per day—much
more than the 1.8 ounces that the USDA recommend.
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Union of Concerned Scientists:
Industrial agriculture currently dominates U.S. food production. It revolves around monoculture—the planting of one crop on the same land year after year—and meat production in large, polluting facilities called
CAFOs. This approach to farming depends on chemical inputs such as synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and antibiotics. As a result, industrial farming is so damaging to the environment and public health that it is unsustainable in the long term.
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UNEP:
A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change,
a UN report said today.
As the global population surges towards a predicted 9.1 billion people by 2050, western tastes for diets rich in meat and dairy products are unsustainable, says the report from United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP)
international panel of sustainable resource management.
It says: “Impacts from agriculture are expected to increase substantially due to population growth increasing consumption of animal products. Unlike fossil fuels, it is difficult to look for alternatives: people have to eat. A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products.”
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