September 07, 2008

Would you give up on meat ?

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Shun meat, says UN climate chief

It's very rare when the UN tries to influence what we eat but it seems we hav come to a juncture where even the UN which has takes a back seat on the worst possible tragedies also wakes up and feels it is important to make a statement .
A kilogram of meat ,from a cow or similar animal, requires approximately 8 kgs of feed , a kg of chicken requires about 3 kgs . Quite naturally this vegetable fees has to grow somewhere , so it either is grown in arable land or forest land that is cleared to make room for growing it . Every acre of forestland cleared amounts to a significant amount of carbon that was sequestered being released into the atmosphere . Also the gut of the livestock produces a high volume of methane , a greenhouse gas worse than carbon dioxide , so when they said that sheep farting in Australia caused the ozone hole , there was a lot of truth in it .
Besides there is a significant amount of hormones and other chemicals being pumped into the animals to produce more and produce fast and to remain disease free in cramped conditions that are conducive to disease .
And if anyone had any misconceptions that animals reared for slaughter have a great life , check up a local abattoir to see for yourself .

I eat meat and I would not tell anyone not to eat meat but for one's health , for the health of the planet and for the sake of the poor animals , it is best to consume lesser meat .

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