Johns Hopkins Uni recommends vegan diet to combat global warming

[gertvegan]

Global warming threat increasing

Environmental Agenda

By Kristin Plys, February 25 2005, www.jhunewsletter.com

Many days this past winter have been unseasonably warm. Often, we on the East Coast have reached record high temperatures. In the news-media, meteorologists exclaim how great it is that we're having a mild winter season this year and citizens are content to keep their coats and hats stored away.

However, the warm weather is not the wonderful phenomenon it seems to be. The rise in temperature is a blatant indicator of the very real problem of global warming.

While the Bush administration denies it, global warming is a true threat.

According to a recent study, the temperature could rise up to 11 degrees Fahrenheit within the next hundred years, much higher than the previous figure of two degrees.

The United States is the biggest contributor to global warming, producing most of the world's CO2 emissions.

With five percent of the world's population, the United States contributes almost 25 percent of the world's carbon emissions.

Global warming is a threat to world weather patterns, and climate change is causing natural disasters such as hurricanes, heat waves, floods and droughts. Global warming also leads to the extinction of animal species and promotes the spread of infectious disease.

Yet slowing climate change is not as easy as simply reducing global carbon emissions.

Global warming must be stopped in a way that does not provide an economic advantage for the rich developed nations.

Developed countries became rich through burning fossil fuel in an unsustainable manner, and it will be extremely challenging for the global south to develop without utilizing these same methods.

It is necessary that countries that are more technologically capable shift into more sustainable methods of production immediately, while developing nations follow as that technology becomes cheaper.

Without taking into account the differences between the global north and south and their respective capabilities for sustainable energy technology, the income gap between the north and the south would grow even larger.

However, what they don't say on the eleven o'clock news is that there is something each person can do to reverse climate change.

The principle cause of climate change is CO2 emissions. Ways to reduce CO2 on an individual basis would be to drive less, take public transportation, bike, use fuel-efficient, hybrid or alternatively powered cars, making clean energy choices in choosing utility providers, using fluorescent light bulbs to save energy, and simply turning out the lights when they are not in use.

Choosing a vegan lifestyle also reduces carbon emissions by eliminating the need for the CO2 producing beef and dairy industry.

It is critical that we unite to stop climate change.

If we don't stop global warming, natural disasters will become even more frequent and devastating. More species will be added to the endangered species list, and death and disease will proliferate.

Don't let TV meteorologists put a positive spin on something as serious as climate change.

Put high pressure on those in power to change their destructive ways. You put the change in climate change.

[feline01]

Stuff like this does a number on one's psyche, Bush will be in this area tomorrow and I want to bring the kids to their first protest but I'm terrified of my own government. Such a thing as a peaceful, non-violent protest doesn't exist anymore, the government has insured that we no longer have a right to protest.