Do vegetarians help cause global warming?

Answer 1

NO! If you become a vegetarian you actually help stop global warming.

Raising beef, pigs, sheep, chicken, and eggs is very, very energy intensive. More than half of all the grains grown in America go to feed animals, not people, says the World Resources Institute. Mike Tidwell, a writer for Audubon Magazine said "That means a huge fraction of the petroleum-based herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers applied to grains, plus the staggering percentages of all agricultural land and water use, are put in the service of livestock."

Stop eating animals and you dramatically lessen the use of fossil fuels, as much as 250 gallons less oil per year for vegans (vegetations who omit all meat and meat products from their diet) and 160 gallons less for meat-and-cheese eating vegetarians. If you think becoming a vegetarian would too big of a commitment for you, but you want to help stop global warming then trying being a seasonal vegetarian or a locavore. Locavores try to limit their diet of meat when ever certain types of fruit and vegetables come into season. Locavores also eat regional fruits and vegetables. When the season ends the locavore goes back to his regular diet.

The amount of land, water and resources the animals use are only part of the problem. One major reason to cut down or your meat intake is the digestive process of ruminants or cows and sheep. Ruminants generate powerful green house gasses through their normal digestive process. The burping and flatulence of ruminants emits a great amount of methane which is 23 times more powerful at trapping heat then carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide which is 296 time more powerful.

Combining all the factors, livestock production is responsible or 18 percent of the world's total greenhouse gases reports the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization. That is more emissions than the world's cars, planes and trains COMBINED!

A:

No global warming is caused by greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide) from cars, power plants and other factories which is melting the ice caps and causing storms and famines.

Answer 2

It's possible. A lot more will need to be done, but it would at least significantly slow down the process. As one person, the best thing you can do is go vegan if you want to help the environment. (and animals and humans)

Answer 3

Global warming has been called humankind's "greatest challenge" and the world's most grave environmental threat. Many conscientious people are trying to help reduce global warming by driving more fuel-efficient cars and using energy-saving light bulbs. Although this helps, science shows that going vegan is one of the most effective ways to fight global warming.

A recent United Nations report concluded that a global shift toward a vegan diet is necessary to combat the worst effects of climate change. Senior U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization official Henning Steinfeld reported that the meat industry is "one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems." The official handbook for Live Earth, the anti-global warming concerts that Al Gore helped organize, says that not eating meat is the 'single most effective thing you can do' to reduce your climate change impact.

Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide together cause the vast majority of global warming. Raising animals for food is one of the largest sources of carbon dioxide and the single largest source of both methane and nitrous oxide emissions.

CARBON DIOXIDEBurning fossil fuels (such as oil and gasoline) releases carbon dioxide, the primary gas responsible for global warming. Producing one calorie from animal protein requires 11 times as much fossil fuel input-releasing 11 times as much carbon dioxide-as does producing a calorie from plant protein.Feeding massive amounts of grain and water to farmed animals and then killing them and processing, transporting, and storing their flesh is extremely energy-intensive. In addition, enormous amounts of carbon dioxide stored in trees are released during the destruction of vast acres of forest to provide pastureland and to grow crops for farmed animals. On top of this, animal manure also releases large quantities of carbon dioxide.

You could exchange your "regular" car for a hybrid Toyota Prius and, by doing so, prevent about 1 ton of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year, but according to the University of Chicago, being vegan is more effective in the fight against global warming; a vegan is responsible for the release of approximately 1.5 fewer tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year than is a meat-eater.

A German study conducted in 2008 concluded that a meat-eater's diet is responsible for more than seven times as much greenhouse gas emissions as a vegan's diet. Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the U.N.'s Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (and a vegetarian himself), urges people to "please eat less meat-meat is a very carbon-intensive commodity."

METHANEThe billions of chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows who are crammed into factory farms each year in the U.S. produce enormous amounts of methane, both during digestion and from the acres of cesspools filled with feces that they excrete. Scientists report that every pound of methane is more than 20 times as effective as carbon dioxide is at trapping heat in our atmosphere. The EPA shows that animal agriculture is the single largest source of methane emissions in the U.S. NITROUS OXIDENitrous oxide is about 300 times more potent as a global warming gas than carbon dioxide. According to the U.N., the meat, egg, and dairy industries account for a staggering 65 percent of worldwide nitrous oxide emissions.

Answer 4

Not exactly. While a vegetarian diet will allow for a smaller environmental footprint (measurement of how much is consumed and produced as waste per individual), those who eat meat are not much worse. It uses more resources in terms of food and water to produce animal meat products, but the majority of global warming comes from other sources like gas emmisions, energy and water wastage, etc. Food supply is not as large of an impact.