Do you know?

Raising animals for meat, dairy, and eggs produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all forms of transportation combined.

The rainforest is being cleared to produce animal feed, while feed cropland and animal waste dump more pollutants into our waterways than all other human activities combined.

Meat-based diets require 10-20 times as much land as plant-based diets and nearly half of the world's grains & soybeans are fed to animals to produce animal products.

What Can You Do?

The good news is that YOU can make a difference at every meal. In addition to your other efforts to protect the environment, phasing meat, dairy, and eggs out of your diet is a powerful tool for real change. Find out more online about the benefits of a vegan diet and/or request a free printed Veg Starter Kit.

You can also sign up for our fun, colorful Meatout Mondays weekly e-mail newsletter. Each issue provides delicious and simple recipes, product suggestions, health news, and inspiration!

What Else? Help us spread the word by joining Vegan Earth Day on April 22nd. Spread the word about the environmental benefits of a plant-based diet. Visit the Action Center to find out what you can do.

__________________________________________________________________

Why Focus on Diet?

Animal agriculture is the biggest global warming contributor. Eliminating meat, dairy, and eggs from your diet is the easiest and most effective way for individuals to make real change.

Most of us blame automobiles and industry for global warming, but animal agriculture is an even bigger global warming culprit.

Livestock farming contributes carbon dioxide from deforestation and from the fossil fuels used in operations and slaughterhouses. More importantly, animals raised for food are responsible for immense amounts of methane (23x GHG) and nitrous oxide (296x GHG).

According to the United Nations, the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions than all transport combined. Says Henning Steinfeld, Chief of FAO’s Livestock Information & Policy Branch and senior author of the report: “Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems. Urgent action is required to remedy the situation.”

Even more condemning of animal agriculture is the recent World Watch Magazine report, which claims that livestock is actually responsible for more than half of all human-made greenhouse gases. The article says that methane and carbon dioxide have been undercounted and misallocated, totalling in billions of tons of additional greenhouse gases that should be attributed to livestock.

Globally, people are consuming more meat and dairy every year (projected to double by 2050). The United States is by far the largest per capita consumer. Reducing/eliminating meat and other animal products from our diet will have the largest impact in our efforts to reduce global warming.