Some info I got from http://www.tofurky.com/whyeatveg/meat_of_the_matter.html

The Meat of the Matter

Turtle Island Foods Considers the Environmental Consequences of Dietary Choices

Average percentage of monthly budget spent on food:
(David Pimentel, Professor of Entomology, Cornell University.)

• in the U.S.: 15 %
• in Europe: 30 %
• in Indonesia: 60 %

Percentage of:

• soybean crop grown to feed livestock: in the US: 90%
• corn crop grown to feed livestock: in the US: 80%
• all grains grown to feed livestock: in the US: 70%

World meat production :
(Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Livestock’s Long Shadow, 2006.)

• 1950: 44 million tons annually
• Today: 253 million tons annually

Percentage of overall greenhouse gas emissions:
(United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization)

• due to livestock: 18%
• due to transport vehicles (cars, trucks, airplanes, etc.): 13%

If 1/3 of Americans switched from eating one 3 ½-ounce serving of beef, one egg, and a one-ounce serving of cheese each day to a mix of vegetables, fruit, beans, and whole grains:
(United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization, 2006.)

• Acres of cropland spared: 180 million (an area larger than the state of Texas)
• Tons of pesticides eliminated: 9,375
• Tons of fertilizer eliminated: 2 million
• Tons of manure eliminated*: 570 million (* Livestock manure and flatulence generate 30-40% of total methane emissions from human-influenced activities.)

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Pounds of grain needed to produce enough meat and other livestock products to support a person for a year: 2,000
(M.E. Ensminger, former chair of the Animal Sciences Department, Washington State University.)

Pounds needed to support a person for a year if grain is eaten directly: 400
(M.E. Ensminger, former chair of the Animal Sciences Department, Washington State University.)

Total area of ice-free terrestrial surface of the planet occupied by grazing: 26%
(Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Livestock’s Long Shadow, 2006.)

Livestock production accounts for 70% of all agricultural land and 30% of the surface of the planet.
(Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Livestock’s Long Shadow, 2006.)

Number of additional people who could be fed if all grain grown in US for livestock was used to feed people: 800 million
(David Pimentel, Professor of Entomology, Cornell University.)

Amount of meat consumed by the average person worldwide 50 years ago: 45 pounds, today: 90.3 pounds

Tons of American cropland lost to erosion each year due to animal production: 2 billion
(Center for Science in the Public Interest.)

Percentage of human-influenced nitrous oxide* generated by livestock: 65% (* Nitrous oxide has nearly 300 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.)
(United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization, 2006)

Methane is 23 times more powerful in global warming potential than carbon dioxide.
(Center for Science in the Public Interest, in the book Six Arguments for a Greener Diet, 2006.)

Average American diet produces more than 15 pounds of CO2 per day which equals 5,600 pounds of CO2 emissions per person per year.

A vegan diet results in eliminating 1.5 tons of CO2 emissions annually, or eight pounds per day, when compared with a non-vegan diet.
(Eshel G, and Martin P. Diet, Energy and Global Warming. Earth Interactions 10:1-17; 2006.)

Vegan shopping means buying products such as clothes, shoes, cosmetics, food, and even cars that doesn’t support cruelty and exploitation of human and non-human animals.

This means…..

• NO LEATHER: this is a byproduct of an animal that has been killed for meat, usually in horrible conditions (factory farms and killed inhumanely).  In addition to the cruelty, supporting this industry also supports the destruction of our environment and world hunger.

“Animals on factory farms are treated like meat, milk, and egg machines. Chickens have their sensitive beaks seared off with a hot blade, and male cattle and pigs are castrated without any painkillers. Farmed chickens, turkeys, and pigs spend their brief lives in dark and crowded warehouses, many of them so cramped that they can’t even turn around or spread a single wing. They are mired in their own waste, and the stench of ammonia fills the air.”-Peta

Please learn about the meat industry: MEET YOUR MEAT

• NO FUR: these animals are usually skinned ALIVE after they have been electrocuted through the anus (note: you can find a whole lot of videos on this…..CHINESE FUR FARMS on youtube.  They use rabbits, mink, seals, even dogs, and cats!  Note: sometimes the labels will lie.  It will claim that the product is synthetic fur, but in actuality, it may either be dog or cat (this is pretty common for products coming out of China).

“When the fur is finally peeled off over the animals’ heads, their naked, bloody bodies are thrown onto a pile of those who have gone before them. Some are still alive, breathing in ragged gasps and blinking slowly. Some of the animals’ hearts are still beating five to 10 minutes after they are skinned. One investigator recorded a skinned raccoon dog on the heap of carcasses who had enough strength to lift his bloodied head and stare into the camera.”-Peta

Please learn about the fur industry: FUR FARM INFO

• NO WOOL: buying wool supports the mistreatment and abuse of sheep.  The farmers perform “mulesing” where they cut of a part of the lamb’s back without anesthesia.  Most are abused by underpaid handlers while “sheering”.  The process of their transportation for slaughter is also very inhumane.  Many die in their holding pens and the ship that they are transported in which they are tightly packed.  They travel far and given no food or water.

Please learn about wool WOOL CRUELTY

• NO SILK: we don’t support inhumane treatment of silk worms either.
• NO DOWN:

“Down is the soft layer of feathers closest to birds’ skin, primarily in the chest region. These feathers are highly valued because they do not have quills. Most products labeled “down” contain a combination of these underfeathers and other feathers or fillers. While most down and feathers are removed from birds during slaughter, geese from breeding flocks and those raised for meat and foie gras may be live-plucked. In countries where this cruel practice continues, up to 5 ounces of feathers and down are pulled from each bird every six weeks from the time that they are 10 weeks old until they are up to 4 years old. Plucking geese causes them considerable pain and distress. One study of chickens’ heart rates and behaviors determined that “feather removal is likely to be painful to the bird(s),” and another study found that the blood glucose level of some geese nearly doubled (a symptom of severe stress) during plucking.”-Peta

SILK AND DOWN INFO

• NO ON PRODUCTS THAT ARE TESTED ON ANIMALS: A lot of people around the world have found alternative ways to test their products.   Millions of animals die each year from this cruelty from burn and starvation experiments, weaponry testing, dissection, and product testing.

FACTS ABOUT ANIMAL RESEARCH

PCRM: Animal Testing and Experimental Issues

• ….basically, we try our best supporting  CRUELTY FREE PRODUCTS

Links to VEGAN SHOPPING

http://www.happycow.net/ find vegetarian/vegan restaurants

http://vegweb.com/ LOTS OF AWESOME RECIPES

http://veganstore.com/

http://www.petamall.com/ Lots of stores in the Peta mall

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/home.faces (not all of their items are ‘vegan’ but you can find great vegan stuff in there)

http://www.vautecouture.com/index.htm

http://www.veganessentials.com/

http://www.allveganshopping.com/

http://www.animalrightstuff.com/

http://www.veganline.com/

http://www.mooshoes.com/

http://greatgreenshoes.com/

http://www.beautywithoutcruelty.com/

http://www.herbsofgrace.com/

http://www.herbivoreclothing.com

http://www.foodfightgrocery.com/  Vegan grocery store.

http://www.moodswingsonthenet.com/c-31-handbags-purses.aspx Vegan purses and much more!

http://earthfare.com/ This is just a grocery store, but it carries many vegan items.  They also promote healthy eating, animal rights (in regards to factory farms), natural remedies, and saving the planet.

http://www.thevegetariansite.com/index.htm

Logos to look for:

“Teach your children what we have taught ours, that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.“- Chief Seattle

Article from Organic.org

http://www.organic.org

Top 10 Reasons to Support Organic in the 21st Century

1. Reduce The Toxic Load: Keep Chemicals Out of the Air, Water, Soil and our Bodies
Buying organic food promotes a less toxic environment for all living things. With only 0.5 percent of crop and pasture land in organic, according to USDA that leaves 99.5 percent of farm acres in the U.S. at risk of exposure to noxious agricultural chemicals.

Our bodies are the environment so supporting organic agriculture doesn’t just benefit your family, it helps all families live less toxically.

2. Reduce if Not Eliminate Off Farm Pollution
Industrial agriculture doesn’t singularly pollute farmland and farm workers; it also wreaks havoc on the environment downstream. Pesticide drift affects non-farm communities with odorless and invisible poisons. Synthetic fertilizer drifting downstream is the main culprit for dead zones in delicate ocean environments, such as the Gulf of Mexico, where its dead zone is now larger than 22,000 square kilometers, an area larger than New Jersey, according to Science magazine, August, 2002.

3. Protect Future Generations
Before a mother first nurses her newborn, the toxic risk from pesticides has already begun. Studies show that infants are exposed to hundreds of harmful chemicals in utero. In fact, our nation is now reaping the results of four generations of exposure to agricultural and industrial chemicals, whose safety was deemed on adult tolerance levels, not on children’s. According to the National Academy of Science, “neurologic and behavioral effects may result from low-level exposure to pesticides.” Numerous studies show that pesticides can adversely affect the nervous system, increase the risk of cancer, and decrease fertility.

4. Build Healthy Soil
Mono-cropping and chemical fertilizer dependency has taken a toll with a loss of top soil estimated at a cost of $40 billion per year in the U.S., according to David Pimental of Cornell University. Add to this an equally disturbing loss of micro nutrients and minerals in fruits and vegetables. Feeding the soil with organic matter instead of ammonia and other synthetic fertilizers has proven to increase nutrients in produce, with higher levels of vitamins and minerals found in organic food, according to the 2005 study, “Elevating Antioxidant levels in food through organic farming and food processing,” Organic Center State of Science Review (1.05)

5. Taste Better and Truer Flavor
Scientists now know what we eaters have known all along: organic food often tastes better. It makes sense that strawberries taste yummier when raised in harmony with nature, but researchers at Washington State University just proved this as fact in lab taste trials where the organic berries were consistently judged as sweeter. Plus, new research verifies that some organic produce is often lower in nitrates and higher in antioxidants than conventional food. Let the organic feasting begin!

6. Assist Family Farmers of all Sizes
According to Organic Farming Research Foundation, as of 2006 there are approximately 10,000 certified organic producers in the U.S. compared to 2500 to 3,000 tracked in 1994. Measured against the two million farms estimated in the U.S. today, organic is still tiny. Family farms that are certified organic farms have a double economic benefit: they are profitable and they farm in harmony with their surrounding environment. Whether the farm is a 4-acre orchard or a 4,000-acre wheat farm, organic is a beneficial practice that is genuinely family-friendly.

7. Avoid Hasty and Poor Science in Your Food
Cloned food. GMOs and rBGH. Oh my! Interesting how swiftly these food technologies were rushed to market, when organic fought for 13 years to become federal law. Eleven years ago, genetically modified food was not part of our food supply; today an astounding 30 percent of our cropland is planted in GMOs. Organic is the only de facto seal of reassurance against these and other modern, lab-produced additions to our food supply, and the only food term with built in inspections and federal regulatory teeth.

8. Eating with a Sense of Place
Whether it is local fruit, imported coffee or artisan cheese, organic can demonstrate a reverence for the land and its people. No matter the zip code, organic has proven to use less energy (on average, about 30 percent less), is beneficial to soil, water and local habitat, and is safer for the people who harvest our food. Eat more seasonably by supporting your local farmers market while also supporting a global organic economy year round. It will make your taste buds happy.

9. Promote Biodiversity
Visit an organic farm and you’ll notice something: a buzz of animal, bird and insect activity. These organic oases are thriving, diverse habitats. Native plants, birds and hawks return usually after the first season of organic practices; beneficial insects allow for a greater balance, and indigenous animals find these farms a safe haven. As best said by Aldo Leopold, “A good farm must be one where the native flora and fauna have lost acreage without losing their existence.” An organic farm is the equivalent of reforestation. Industrial farms are the equivalent of clear cutting of native habitat with a focus on high farm yields.

10. Celebrate the Culture of Agriculture
Food is a ‘language’ spoken in every culture. Making this language organic allows for an important cultural revolution whereby diversity and biodiversity are embraced and chemical toxins and environmental harm are radically reduced, if not eliminated. The simple act of saving one heirloom seed from extinction, for example, is an act of biological and cultural conservation. Organic is not necessarily the most efficient farming system in the short run. It is slower, harder, more complex and more labor-intensive. But for the sake of culture everywhere, from permaculture to human culture, organic should be celebrated at every table.

-http://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-206

I wanted to share these two videos with you, Waking up Part 1 and Part 2 (note: click on the image to get directed to the youtube video).  I thought it was for this page.

Description (FROM THE YOUTUBE CHANNEL) A man wakes up from a nightmare of a forest in destruction. As he stirs other visions flash before his eyes with his early morning actions. Frustration and anger turn to calm realisation as he slowly wakes up to the fact that his daily actions are connected to the world around him. His experience changes from feeling to realisation, then to positive action, as he transforms his life from being part of a global problem to becoming part of the solution.

Waking Up is a short movie to spread a message about:
Environmental Issues, Fair Trade Issues, Animal cruelty, Vegetarianism, Animal Testing, Energy Saving, Drought, Global Warming, Climate change, Poverty, Pollution, Child Labour, Deforestation, Leather Industry, Sweatshops, Waste, Gaia, alternative way of living, making a change.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3uOubbiJZY

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JaQgSatZjM&feature=related