Everyone’s Talking

So, every day I check a list of news sites and blogs to get up to speed on the goings-on of the world. Over the past few days I have noticed a major increase in articles relating animal production to greenhouse gases. Also, I’ve been sent emails, from family and DawnWatch, stressing those points. I guess what confuses me is that we have known about this for a long time. Granted the study the UN came out with, showing that meat production releases 18% more greenhouse gases than all transporation combined, has been fairly recent. Anyway, I wanted to get my two cents into the conversation since it seems to have become such a hot topic.

I was sent this little nugget of information. It states,

2.2lb of beef is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions which have the same effect as the carbon dioxide released by an ordinary car travelling at 50 miles per hour for 155 miles, a journey lasting three hours. The amount of energy consumed would light a 100-watt bulb for 20 days.

…Some trivia for you.

For a complete look at the issues, check out my guest posts over at ThrillingHeroics where I wrote a two part series on veganism and sustainability.

EPA Protects Factory Farms

Nearly 2,600 factory farms have made an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency in which the farms will pay a small civil penalty fee and permit the EPA to monitor the farms as part of a study on emissions. What do the factory farms get out of it? They can produce as much air polution and stench as they want, and they can’t be sued. The EPA says that this agreement is the most sensible way to study farm emissions.

Eight universities are conducting the study which will last 30 months. The worst part is that of those 2,600 farms that entered into the agreement, only 24 animal feeding operations will be studied in nine states. To read more, check out this article.

Saving Austrailian Wildlife

Austrailian leaders are planning to build a 1,740 mile corridor for wildlife and vegetation to escape some of the effects of global warming. This corridor will span the east coast where forest and vegetation is already flourishing.

The most recent of global warming issue in Austrailia is a study by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization which proves the southeast coastal waters of the continent are warming at a quicker rate than any other areas in the southern hemisphere.

Childhood Obesity

Recent studies have shown that government spending on nutrition education, over $1 billion, is having little to no effect on childhood obesity. 57 programs have been reviewed and only four showed any real success.

Since the 1970’s, rates of obesity in children ages 6 to 11 have quintupled while rates of teens and children ages 2 to 5 have tripled.

One thing that is for sure is that the power is held by the parents. Parents not only set examples for their children but also contribute to their kids’ taste buds. Women, while pregnant, will pass on their tastes to their kids. What’s more, unless children are taught healthy habits before puberty those habits can be significantly harder to change. No one listens to a hypocrite, muchless kids, so set an example, be healthy, be happy, and live long.

Learn Something New Every Day

Tid-bits I found interesting from the latest issue of VegNews:

• Spain has developed a new way of attaining foie gras without force feeding ducks. The birds naturally gorge on food before their winter migratory cycle. The foie gras “artisans” as they are called, then kill the ducks at their heaviest point. Since there is no force feeding in this method, the official foie gras ban, which is supposed to take full effect in California in 2012, can be side stepped. Don’t celebrate our victory yet!
• The Humane Society recently discoverd that clothing labed as faux fur may actually be dog fur. Cothing sold by Tommy Hilfiger, Andrew Marc, Michael Kors, and others were mislabeled when made with domestic dog or Asiatic racoon dog fur (use of dog and cat fur is illegal in the U.S.) 25 coats were tested, 24 of which were mislabeled.
• Wolfgang Puck has stopped serving foie gras in all of his restaurants and will, by the end of the year, no longer be using battery-cage eggs, or veal or pork from crated animals. He will also adapt a progressive animal-welfare plan (Happy Meat.) If he cares about the animals, why not try vegan, or even vegetarian restaurants?
• The meat in pet food is there becuase they had no where else to put it. The animal parts unfit for human consumption (esophagus, udders, intestines, cancerous animal parts, etc.) are in your dog’s food. There’s more: euthanized animals, such as dogs, are in there, too. Think, mad dog disease. If it’s not good enough for you, it’s no good enough for your dog.

Beefy Sperm Count

A study published in Human Reproduction found that pregnant women consuming beef may be impacting the fertility of their sons. 400 men and their mothers were studied. Women who ate beef 7 times a week while pregnant produced male children with a sperm count rought 25% lower than average and 3 times the risk for fertility problems. This may be caused by the pesticides, hormones, etc. in meat.

Yet another reason to stay away from dead and rotting flesh.

Veganism at Thrilling Heroics

Check out ThrillingHeroics.com where I wrote a guest post about veganism and how it relates to sustainability. It’s actually a bit more of an article with huge amounts of research, though not completely boring. If you are already a vegan or on your way there, you probably already know much of what has been written, but I guarantee that there will be at least some new information for you.

Thrilling Heroics tends to focus on sustainability via business practices, but I thought it was about time to introduce some vegetarian thoughts into the picture. Part One has already been posted. Stay tuned for Part Two later this week.

Veggies Losing Nutrients

The Journal of the American College of Nurtition published a study that found a loss of nutrients in vegetables from 1950 to 1999. 43 garden crops were studied for 13 individual nutrients including protein, minerals, and vitamins.

Considered as a group, these foods show apparent, statistically reliable median decreases between 1950 and 1999 for all 3 of the minerals evaluated: [Calcium] (–16%), [Phosphorous] (–9%) and [Iron] (–15%)… Two of 5 vitamins show apparently reliable median decreases: riboflavin (–38%) and ascorbic acid (–15%)… Median protein content apparently dropped slightly (–6%). There were no detectable median changes for vitamin A (28 foods), thiamin, niacin, fat, or carbohydrate.

These decreases are most likely the result of pursuing strains that yield high volumes, though apparently fewer nutrients. As a result, homegrown vegetables may be the most nutritions bet. This is another great reason to buy from your local farmer’s market where small farms spend more energy on quality than producing high densities of certain strains.

For the full report:
http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/full/23/6/669

For more information on making smart choices at your farmer’s market take a look at the previous post:
http://theveganbug.wordpress.com/2007/07/01/farmers-market/