When you look at global warming statistics, they may horrify you- it might be something you’ve heard before- but the problem is numbers are still on the rise. According to a recent report in Animal Voice global meat production is responsible for 18 percent of green house gas emissions compared to 14 percent for all global transport. In the same report Gareth Morgan, the Democratic Alliance spokesperson on water and environmental affairs, explains that climate change is going to top the agenda of every developed nation as well as some developing nations for the foreseeable future.

Climate change is everybody’s problem and we all need to make lifestyle changes. The most rapid and effective response you can make to tackle global warming, is to reduce your consumption of animal products.

Gareth’s top simple solutions to green your diet:

- Eat food that is produced locally (reduces transport)
- Eat in-season produce (reduces cold storage)
- Eat less meat or go meat-free at least once a week
Meat – especially red meat is associated with the clearance of land and apart from the loss of trees, a change in land cover releases stored carbon. Carbon increases global warming so you want to keep your numbers down. In addition to releasing kg of carbon, high amounts of water go into growing the grains to feed the animals in industrial meat production.

Scary facts about meat:
- Policymakers predict that the number of animals slaughtered for meat will need to double to 120 billion annually by 2050 when population growth is expected to peak at 9.2 billion.
- The production of just 1 kg of beef uses nearly 15 500 litres of water, the equivalent of 90 full bathtubs.
- 40 percent of the global grain harvest is already used to feed livestock.

Want to know moren
- www.vegansa.com
- www.harmoniousliving.co.za
- Calculate your carbon footprint and become carbon neutral.