By Zem Joaquin, ecofabulous.com
Last week my husband, who was raised on the hearty East Coast, went vegan! Now Oprah goes vegan; coincidence??? Well Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay also did it, and so have lots of other SMART Americans, so maybe there is more to it... and they aren't running off to an ashram. Now, I do eat meat, albeit free-range and hormone free, but there's just no ignoring that pesky UN report, which explicitly states that raising animals for food is a key contributor to the most serious environmental problems - i.e. climate change, land degradation, air and water pollution, loss of biodiversity and water shortages. Look at it this way: Eating a single pound of meat emits the same greenhouse gases as driving a Hummer 40 miles! So a diet change for climate change is HUGE. I'm not suggesting you give it all up, but consuming a lot less is a good idea for the planet and for you! Ecofabulous editor Andrea has been sipping soy chai lattes and savoring vegan quesadillas since they were hard to find. My unbelievably fit mother hasn't eaten meat since the eighties. If you're like me and you want that summer body, read on:
Last week my husband, who was raised on the hearty East Coast, went vegan! Now Oprah goes vegan; coincidence??? Well Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay also did it, and so have lots of other SMART Americans, so maybe there is more to it... and they aren't running off to an ashram. Now, I do eat meat, albeit free-range and hormone free, but there's just no ignoring that pesky UN report, which explicitly states that raising animals for food is a key contributor to the most serious environmental problems - i.e. climate change, land degradation, air and water pollution, loss of biodiversity and water shortages. Look at it this way: Eating a single pound of meat emits the same greenhouse gases as driving a Hummer 40 miles! So a diet change for climate change is HUGE. I'm not suggesting you give it all up, but consuming a lot less is a good idea for the planet and for you! Ecofabulous editor Andrea has been sipping soy chai lattes and savoring vegan quesadillas since they were hard to find. My unbelievably fit mother hasn't eaten meat since the eighties. If you're like me and you want that summer body, read on:
For shifting your diet, many resources are available. Oprah has some delicious recipes available on her website. Another excellent site is GoVeg.com: After you sign their Pledge to Be Veg for Seven Days, they'll send you all the info you need to get started. Yum!
Zem Joaquin
ecofabulous.com
Greetings!
I wish to express my utmost gratitude for posting this. Many are still not aware that meat-eating or raising of livestock is the BIGGEST CONTRIBUTOR to global warming.
EATING LESS MEAT or fully adopting a VEGETARIAN/VEGAN diet is the one thing that any individual can immediately do, that gives instant effect to significantly reduce greenhouse gases without having to wait for anyone, any private or governmental bodies to act.
GO VEG GO GREEN!
Save lives and the planet!
my favorite quote!
Don't eat meat, ride a bike, and be a frugal shopper -- that's how you can help brake global warming
- Rajendra Pachauri - the Chief of the United Nation's Nobel Prize-winning scientific panel on Climate Change -