While the US press still tiptoes around the link between meat and global warming, The Australian, Friday, July 20 (pg 8) includes an article headed, "Warning on red meat and greenhouse gases." The story is also on Page 40 of the Melbourne's Herald Sun.
It tells us:
"A kilogram of beef causes more greenhouse gas and other pollution than driving for three hours while leaving all the lights on at home, a Japanese study has found.
"New Scientist reports that a team led by Akifumi Ogino, of the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba, calculated the environmental cost of raising cattle through conventional farming, slaughtering the animal and distributing the meat.
"The team discovered that producing a kilo of beef causes the equivalent of 36.4kg in carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal greenhouse gas, the study found. Most of these greenhouse gas emissions are methane, released from the cow's digestive system.
"That 1kg of beef also requires energy equivalent to lighting a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days to produce and transport the animals' feed."
The article cries out for letters from people enjoying plant-based diets. The Australian tells us:
"Letters to the editor are welcome and can be emailed to letters@theaustralian.com.au
If you wish to comment on a story that appears in The Australian or start a debate on an important issue, send an email (without attachments) to theforum@theaustralian.com.au
The Herald Sun takes letters at http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/editorial/letter
My thanks to Syd Baumel, for making sure we saw this.
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Meanwhile, the Vick dogfighting case continues to make big news. It is in every leading paper, including today's USA Today. PBS gave it particularly strong coverage last night, interviewing HSUS's Wayne Pacelle. You can view, read, and please comment on that interview (click feedback in the bar at the bottom of the page) at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/sports/july-dec07/dogfighting_07-19.html
Many animal advocates have written terrific letters to the editor. I was particularly inspired by activist Sharon Hall's letter linking cruelty to cruelty. She used the Vick case to focus on the cruelty to the animals humans eat, and the Los Angeles Times published her unusual take on the issue. Here is her letter, from the Friday July 20, Los Angeles Times:
"The alleged grotesque and cruel treatment of dogs by Vick is shocking and disgusting. It is hard to imagine that the same horrific treatment is inflicted on chickens, pigs and cows every day on factory farms. The animal that ends up as a chicken nugget, a hamburger, a steak or bacon was beaten, shocked, de-beaked (chickens), imprisoned in a cage or pen, artificially impregnated, milked dry (cows), forced to lay eggs to exhaustion (chickens), deprived of any natural activity (including bonding with offspring) and then executed.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, 'You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity.'"
SHARON HALL Torrance
Bravo Sharon!
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)
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Date: Fri Jul 20 16:35:28 2007
