Global Warming

What you don’t know

SOS: In 5 Years, North Pole Ice Will Disappear

• From September 3, 2007 to September 9, 2007, researchers say 69,000 square miles of Arctic ice disappeared, roughly the size of Florida (in six days).

• NASA : According to the rate of melting in 2007, veteran ice

researchers worry that the Arctic will be completely ice-free by summer 2012, much earlier than previous research and climate models have suggested

Why should I be concerned?• Arctic ice functions as a mirror to reflect 80% of the heat from Sun rays

back to space to keep the ocean from getting too warm. Without this ice mirror, the sea water would absorb more heat to speed up the ice melting. The vicious cycle will make the ocean warmer and warmer.

• Geologist John Atcheson described what he called a "Ticking Time Bomb," the threat to life on our planet. According to Atcheson and Lee Kump of NASA’s Astrobiology Institute, 400 gigatons of methane are buried in the Arctic tundra and undetermined amount of lethal gases, like hydrogen sulfide, are locked under the cold deep sea. A rise in global temperatures by a mere 11 degrees Fahrenheit, (6 degrees Celsius), would likely cause these gases to "burp“ up into the sky and catalyze unstoppable catastrophe chain reactions. Scientists hypothesized that similar events took place twice before in the history of our planet, 251 million and 55 million years ago. Runaway lethal gases almost eliminated life on earth.

The Message

• If humans do not take immediate action, human civilization can become history within 4-5 years. It’s up to humanity to decide what they want and which direction they turn.

Impacts by Global Warming

• Severe climate changes: Hurricane, Drought, Flood

• Hardship to survive on Earth: Food shortage, Uncontrollable infectious disease, Rising sea level, Habitat disappearing, Glacier melting, Poisonous gas released from ocean

Global Warming Is a Man-Made Disaster; It Is Caused By

• Non-natural pollution from fossil fuels and power plants for 200 years after the industrial revolution.

• Deforestation for grazing, planting feeds and economic plants.

• Carbon dioxide and methane from transportation vehicles by air, land and sea.

• Methane from animal farming.

How Dose It Happen?• Greenhouse gases (GHG), like carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane

(CH4), can trap heat re-radiating from Earth's surface. A higher content of GHG would trap more heat. This is what we have experienced in the past few years: the temperature elevation.

• Global Warming can lead to Global Cooling: when the arctic ice is melting, less heat gets radiated to the atmosphere. At this time, the sea water would absorb most of the heat and become warmer and warmer. The threat of the “Ticking Time Bomb” is at a critical point of no return.

• Do you know where we are standing now?

An Embarrassed Fact - Our Diet Makes “Livestock” To Be The Major Contributor To

Global Warming• According to United Nation 2006 report, Livestock is responsible

for 18% of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming,

more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together.

1. Almost 20% of all CO2 is from livestock. Cow produces highest CO2 levels, not humans. The CO2 from one cow per year is equivalent to what emitted by an automobile running for 70,000 kilometers.

Rearing Cattle Produces More Greenhouse Gases Than Driving Cars (Continued)

2. Livestock generates 65 percent of human-related nitrous oxide (N2O), which has 296 times the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of CO2 . Most of this comes from cow manure.

3. Livestock also produces more than 100 other polluting gases, including 64 percent of the world’s emissions of ammonia (NH3), one of the main causes of acid rain.

4. Livestock’s gas and manure emit 37% of human-induced methane (CH4), largely produced by the ruminants, which warms the world 23 times faster than CO2.

Car and Factory Farming are the most environmentally degrading

consumer products• The Union of Concerned Scientists have determined this by

comparing consumer spending with its environmental effects in 4 categories:

global warming, air pollution, water pollution, and alteration of natural habitats.

Factory Farming Is Hurting Earth• Livestock as food is not Eco-friendly and is

unhealthy - Rearing cattle produces more greenhouse gases

than driving cars - Severe damage to the global water supply, creates

water pollution and depletion - Meat-eating ties to health degradation • Livestock deprives food from humans

- Costs more to produce meat • Deforestation and biodiversity reduction • Global desertification

Costs More to Produce Meat (1)Here is the comparison in fossil fuels used to produce two plates, each of which

produces 320 caloriesMenu Fossil Fuels consumed

1 Cup Broccoli, 1 Cup Eggplant, 4 Oz Cauliflower

, and 8 oz Rice

Equivalent to 0.0098 gallon of gasoline

6 oz Steak

Equivalent to 1.687 gallon of gasoline

In general, animal-based foods have an average of 10-15% Caloric efficiency while plant-based foods have an average of 220% Caloric efficiency

Calculated as 100 x (Energy in output)/(fossil fuel energy in input)

Costs More to Produce Meat (2)• Almost half of the energy used in American agriculture goes

into the livestock sector. US corn fields- mostly for feed- alone consume about 40 percent of the country's nitrogen fertilizer, along with more herbicides and insecticides than any other crops.

• The United States, one of the more efficient livestock producers, uses 6.9 kilograms of corn and soy to put one kilogram of pork on the table. Farmers in other countries, are less efficient, and use more grain (~ twice) for each unit of meat.

• Two-thirds of the world's crops are being fed to animals so that animals can be fed to humans.

• About 90% of the grain produced in the United States goes to feed livestock. If the United States alone stopped feeding to livestock, there would be much more available land to grow food for human consumption for the whole planet.

Costs More to Produce Meat (3)• The carbon footprint of one beef meal is 24

times greater than a vegetable and rice meal.

• The fossil fuels used to produce one Hamburger is 27 times more than a soy burger.

• In US, it takes 4 liters of gasoline, equivalent

to 30,000 kilocalories of fossil fuel, to produce one Kg of Pork.

Livestock as food is Unhealthy• Vegetarians are 50 percent less likely to develop heart disease.

• Vegetarians have stronger immune systems than meat-eaters.

• Meat-eaters have 40 percent higher chance of getting cancer, and have high links with colon, rectum, breast, and uterus cancer, all of which are rarely found among vegetarians.

• The consumption of meat, eggs, and dairy products has also been strongly linked to osteoporosis, Alzheimer's, asthma, and male impotence.

• Meat-eaters are nine times more likely to be obese than vegetarians.

Feed-grain farming gulps water

• 990 liters of water are used to produce 1 liter of milk. In California, now the United States' leading dairy state, livestock agriculture consumes nearly one-third of all irrigation water.

• In US, more than 3,000 liters of water are used to produce a kilogram of beef, 200 times more than that to produce one kilogram of potatoes. The beef feedlot center of the nation--Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Texas panhandle--relies on crops raised with water pumped out of the Ogallala aquifer, an underground water source, portions of which have been severely depleted.

Manure Mountains and Sewage Lagoons

Livestock in US produces about 900 million tons of manure. Each American

can get a share of 3 tons.

1100 pounds of beef can produce at least 14.6 tons

manure per year

The minimal manure production per year from

boars in Iowa is about 50,000,000 tons. For

2,988,000 residents , each can get a share of 16.7

tons.

3 tons of manure is equivalent to the CO2

emission from 2 Priuses

14.6 tons of manure is equivalent to the CO2

emission from 10 Priuses

16.7 tons of manure is equivalent to the CO2

emission from 11.4 Priuses

Factory Farming Pollutes Rivers and Ground Waters

• Animal waste can over-fertilize algae to suffocate aquatic ecosystems. Thus, freshwater supply has shrunk.

• Polluted water, from animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and the pesticides used to spray feed crops, is hazardous to human health.

• Manure nitrogen can percolate through soil into underground water

tables as nitrates cancause nervous system impairments, cancer, and methemoglobinemia. In the United States, roughly one-fifth of the wells in livestock states such as Iowa,

Kansas, and Nebraska have nitrate levels that exceed American health standards.

Global Desertification

• Livestock uses 30 % of the earth’s land surface, being the single largest user of land. About 20% of this rangeland is considered degraded through overgrazing, compaction and erosion.

• The degradation of dry lands is even worse. Estimates by the United Nations

Environment Program indicate that 73 percent of the world's dry rangeland is at least moderately desertified - having lost more than 25 percent of its carrying capacity.

• The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which, along with the US Forest

Service, reported in 1990 that 67 percent of its holdings in the west--were not in good/excellent condition. Other studies indicate that

half of US rangeland is severely degraded, with its carrying capacity reduced by at least 50 percent.

Deforestation and Biodiveristy Reduction• Since 1970, 70 % of previously forested land in the Amazon (more than 20

million hectares) is used as pasture, and feed crops. This dramatic forest loss like a serial of lobectomies to the “Lung” of the Earth, which impairs its absorption of the overly produced CO2 effectively.

• Tropical forests, covering under 7 percent of the earth's land area, contain

perhaps half of the earth's species. In the past century, 75 percent of the world's plant diversity has disappeared, the victim of mass farming.

• Microorganisms and insects were killed by polluted water, herbicides, and pesticides, which caused unbalance in the food-chain and eco-system.

How to Brake Global Warming? • Lifestyle changes can curb climate change: Suggested by IPCC

chief on January 15, 2008, what you can do to brake global warming: Don't eat meat,

Ride a bike, and

Be a frugal shopper.

• Reduce consumption of fossil fuels, apply renewable power like solar or wind power, drive gas saving automobile or alternative powered vehicle, and make sure to reduce, reuse and recycle.

• Social entrepreneur, author, journalist and filmmaker Kenny Ausubel said: "With existing technologies that we basically already have on the shelf or things that we know we can develop in a very rapid period of time, we could literally reduce the human footprint on planet earth by 90 percent, which would be a huge shift to what we're doing right now."

The Most Effective way: Going Veggie• Converting from a standard American diet to a vegetarian diet, in a year, one person can

reduce 1.5 tons of greenhouse gas emission, which is 50% more than converting from a Toyota Camry to a Toyota Prius. Therefore, it is more eco-friendly for a vegetarian to drive a Hummer than a meat eater to ride a bike.

• Even one less red meat meal per week can make a significant difference to the greenhouse footprint.

• If all Hollanders consumed no meat one day per week, it would meet the government’s target to reduce the CO2 emission from each family in a year.

• If everyone in Australia were vegetarian and they didn't grow meat for export, they'd cut CO2 emissions by around 54 million tons.

• If more than half of the population became vegetarian, global warming can be reverted.

What To Do Next?• 1. No meat eating: respect all lives of all beings, save lives and the earth.

• 2. Recycling: recycling in California can save 14,000,000 trees, provide electricity for 1,400,000 households, reduce pollution of 27,047 tons to water, reduce CO2 emission equivalent to what from 3,800,000 vehicles. Technical University of Denmark also reported that recycling aluminum can save 95% energy, while 70% for recycling plastic and 40% for recycling papers.

• 3. Plant trees: scientists reported that CO2 absorbed by forest per acre is equivalent to the total CO2 emitted by a vehicle per year. According to an estimate, planting 95000 trees in two counties of Chicago would reduce usage of air conditioner and heater. It would save $38,000,000 after 30 years.

• 4. Use alternative energy for vehicle to reduce carbon dioxide: substitute with Toyota Prius can reduce 1 ton CO2 per year.

• 5. Buy foods locally grown: can reduce 26 folds of carbon footprint.

• 6. Reusable energy and rebuild earth: unplug appliance when they are not in use. Use energy saving light bulbs and coat insulation to hot pipes. Use solar panels, or a programmable thermostat for your household.