Meat and Environment unrelated? WRONG!

All that meat we consume everyday, do you think it has nothing to do with the environment? Think again!

A very classic example is that of cows' fart which contains methane and is a huge contributor of greenhouse gases.

Can we cool the Earth by eating less red meat?

Methane from livestock has experts and food-service think tank at odds

LONDON - Two scientists writing in a major health journal are heating up a debate about global warming: whether eating less meat will help cool temperatures.

In a special energy and health series in the medical journal The Lancet, Tony McMichael of the Australian National University in Canberra and John Powles of Britain’s University of Cambridge said worldwide average meat consumption could be realistically reduced by 10 percent.

Doing so, they say, would decrease the amount of methane gas emitted by cows, sheep and goats. Such methane flatulence is a major greenhouse gas, the kind that most scientists tie to global warming.

But a Washington think tank funded by restaurants and food companies wasn't at all pleased.

"Something doesn't smell quite right here," David Martosko, research director at the Center for Consumer Freedom, said in a statement. "It's sad that a few scientists truly believe cow flatulence is the biggest threat to humanity.

"If someone can breed livestock that emits less methane, I'm all for it," he added. "But consumers are never going to give up their steaks, milkshakes, and drumsticks. This opinion paper doesn't offer convincing reasons why they should."

McMichael and Powles noted that demand for meat is increasing worldwide. In China, for instance, people are eating double the amount of meat they used to a decade ago.

Global average meat consumption is currently 100 grams per person a day but there is a tenfold variation between high-consuming and low-consuming populations.

Other ways of reducing greenhouse gases from farms — like feeding animals higher-quality grains — would only have a limited impact, the authors said.

Worldwide, agricultural activity accounts for about a fifth of total greenhouse-gas emissions and livestock production has a particularly big impact because of the methane.

And while global methane emissions are much lower than carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, methane is about 20 times more powerful a greenhouse gas, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The scientists said that reducing meat consumption would not only help to battle warming but also reduce health risks associated with excessive consumption of red meat.

The food think tank had different advice.

"The authors of this opinion paper say governments should tell consumers to eat less meat on environmental grounds," Martosko said. "The last time I checked, people who want to be vegetarians already have that option. But it should be their choice."

source

Click here to listen to a short 5 min interview with Professor Roz Naylor, director of the Program on Food Security and the Environment at Stanford University, talk about how eating meat affects the environment.
source

We're not talking about environmental impacts which will only emerge in the next 50 years. We're talking about environmental impacts which can very possibly happen within the next 5 - 6 years, including shortage of water, shortage of food, rising temperatures (which has already happened and will continue to happen) etc. Which means it is not your children or your children's children who will experience it, but us who will experience it.
I must go dig out the information and blog about it.

If you can't let go of eating meat, like how many of us are, the key is to eat lesser. Exclude meat, especially red meat like beef, from your diet 1 meal per day, everyday. I believe we do eat more than enough meat everyday, more than the Health Food Pyramid suggests we should eat everyday. Go eat your vegetables and fruits =P

Hope this has given you an idea of how our diet affects the environment.

The Story of Stuff

The Story of Stuff

It's supposed to be played during the Green Carnival by SAVE in NUS some time in August, but I'm going to share it here with you people first. This is a 20 minute animation clip, very engaging and very powerful as well. It tells us where stuff comes from, how it comes about, how it affects people and the environment and ultimately where it all goes.

One thing that struck me in this clip was this - we don't really need all the stuff we buy. I mean, look around you. We have all these new clothes and accessories, some bought without a second thought then promptly forgotten. Worn once or twice then thrown away. We are simply oblivious to how much resources are used and how much harm done to produce that piece of clothing we buy on impulse and which ends up in the depths of our cupboard anyway, quite useless. And why do we keep buying stuff enthusiastically? To keep up with fashion, because we want to look good, because... *shrug*

Watch it, you'll get my point. Or rather, Annie Leonard's point. You'll really never look at stuff around you in the same way again.

NUS - Going (more) green

Couple of weeks ago, the University adopted a 25 degree Celsius central air-conditioning policy as part of the move towards being more environmentally friendly. I could not be happier because now I don't have to freeze in the LTs anymore and my heart don't have to ache so much at the thought of how much more unnecessary gases are released into the atmosphere, just so that shops like "Winter Wear" can earn more.

Anyway, received NUS Students' Union newsletter in my mail just now. Here are parts of the email:

Rebate2Earth Campaign – Reduce the Use of Plastic Bags on Campus

Surveys have shown that about 40,000 plastic bags were used per month in the past year in the NUS Co-op stores alone....

... NUSSU Students Against the Violation of the Earth (NUSSU SAVE), in collaboration with the Office of the Provost, the Campus Sustainability Committee and NUS Co-op, will launch its Rebate2Earth Campaign on Monday 4th February 2008.

With effect from next Monday, NUS Co-op will no longer be dispensing free plastic bags for purchases made at its stores. Instead, plastic bags will be available at $0.10 each. The proceeds collected from the sale of plastic bags will be deposited into a coin box at the cashier’s counter and will go towards supporting future environmental projects in NUS.

Over the next few months, more partners, stores and canteens in the University will participate in the Rebate2Earth Campaign....

So from 29th January onwards, if you want to either save your 10 cents or contribute a little to saving the environment, remember to bring your own bag to the Co-op when you all buy things ok! If bringing a bag/plastic bag/extra bag is too embarrassing, actually you can just stuff your books into your normal school bag.

I realized there are actually quite a few environmentally-conscious ones among those I know. Never thought I'd hear my friend tell me we should recycle the plastic microwave containers that the food we bought from the canteen were stored in.

The Recycling Bean may emphasize on recycling, but he also approves of any other green moves

Save the Earth 2007 Project by Medicorp

Project by Mediacorp (known through Adrian and his team) to promote recycling includes getting people to bring their recyclable items (paper, plastic, glass, metals) down to the following collection points on the respective dates, in exchange for goodie bags.

22nd July (TODAY), 12.30pm - 6.30pm: Collection Point at SPC Telok Blangah and Jurong West

29th July (next Sunday), 12.30 - 6.30pm: Collection Point at SPC AMK and Bukit Merah

The very idea that Mediacorp has to offer goodie bags in order to encourage people to bring their things down for recycling amuses/disappoints me. Like what Adrian said, it is disappointing that we have to use such tactics to get Singaporeans down to participate. Imagine if the items of the goodie bags themselves contribute to the waste that we have, would it not be like substituting old recyclable waste with new ones? Then what is the point in all of this? Recycling is not a one time thing, it is an effort to be made over a long period of time, over the rest of our lives, our children's lives, our grandchildren's lives and it goes on. You think you have done a lot just by participating in a recycling event once? You are wrong. It is a daily thing, every single bit helps - remember that.

You know what's really funny about the project, though? There are only 4 collection points. It would be even better if there were more points around the island. Singapore isn't very big, but try lugging bags around and it becomes a very tiring chore.

Being environmental-friendly - plastics

Didn't know yesterday was Bring Your Bag Day, meaning shoppers of (major supermarkets?) have to either bring their own bags, buy an 80cents reusable bag or pay 10cents for each plastic bag to store their groceries.

However, what shoppers do later with the reusable bags is another thing. Will they continue using it, bringing it to shops when doing grocery shopping? Or will it be stashed away in one corner of the house, labeled as rubbish? Hopefully it will be the former.

It's a really good campaign because it's aimed at public awareness and participation. I'm glad this campaign from this year onwards would not be just a yearly affair but will instead be implemented every first Wednesday of the month. But what about the rest of the month?

Consider this: 1 day of each month means only 12 out of 365 days will there be a possible decrease in plastic bags being used.

That's a tiny amount! I think NEA should at the same time promote to retailers the use of biodegradable bags. After all, this is a 2-way thing and both shoppers and shops are part of the public. If the shops advocate environmental-friendly attitudes, then it will influence the shopper to take more notice of what he/she is doing. Also, what if there are some spontaneous last minute shopping to do, there are no reusable bags around and you do not want to get another because you already have 10 others at home? Then shoppers can still get a biodegradable plastic bag from the shop and not a normal plastic bag. Environment taken into account. I feel a reusable bag would be far better than a biodegradable one though since a reusable bag can be used for many years while a biodegradable bag would most likely be thrown away after use a couple of times, which means more bags being consumed, equating to more materials for making the bags needed and thus more needs to be taken from earth. Plus the environment don't stop being destroyed just to wait for you to become environmental-friendly. Sometimes I cannot stand all this discussing and signing treaties here and there. Sheesh, you think the earth stop rotating for you, is it? Or that while you take 10 years to discuss a treaty (and decide to sign it), global warming will stop for you until you decide to sign it? Please! We're just itsy bitsy ants in this huge (and expanding?) universe. Nothing stops for us, even if you're the President of some important country on a tiny planet called Earth among millions of other planets. Even the earth don't stop for us (or you). Save the environment? Just do it already!

Just wondering, what about the smaller stores, do they take part in the campaign too?

So everybody, use reusable bags whenever you can, ok! Or if you are just buying a small packet of sweets or some small stuff which you can put into your bags/pockets/hold in hand, please do resist asking for a plastic bag, or rather, tell the cashier you don't need a plastic bag.

I do quite frequently tell them I don't need one. Especially in NUS when we buy food from the push-cart vendors, we don't really need a plastic bag to put the plastic container and chopsticks in just to carry it 2 metres away to a table to eat. If you know that you're going to consume your food soon, please don't waste the plastic bags. Most of the time they get thrown away when they're not even dirty or spoilt. I'm quite uncomfortable with eating at Megabites too because of the large amounts of Styrofoam plates and plastic utensils used. Kind of wish they would be more environmental-friendly. I don't feel that NUS has done anything, whether encouraging students or vendors, to reduce the use of plastic. Oh well, maybe in this case there really cannot be much done because what else can you use to store food, right? I just feel really uncomfortable seeing university students not telling the vendors that they don't need the plastic bags, as well as seeing the many plastic containers in bins. Imagine this going on for one year! It's quite a lot of wastage. Actually things like that have been going on school, especially canteens prior to the closure of the arts canteen.

So this also means don't leave your computer on unnecessarily or use it for too long. Save electricity = save fuel = save the earth!

=P
Hey, there's an unwired life out there, you know! You just have to find it.