What Dr. Atkins doesn't want you to know...

It seems like there’s always a new diet trend—from those Zone meals that you so carefully measured out (30/30/40!) to Weight Watchers (how many points was that slice of cheesecake, again?) to the Cabbage Soup diet (I mean, what you were thinking???)

Well, we’ve got a new one. The Green is the New Pink Diet will make you feel good, look good and reduce global warming at the same time, too. It’s easy and you can eat all the (free-trade) chocolate you want. It’s called….Vegetarianism.

Did we lose you? Okay, don’t worry, this week’s tip is accessible to carnivores, meatitarians and “I only eat fish and chicken” folk. Here’s the deal: Meat eating is one of the foremost causes of global warming. In fact, scientists at the University of Chicago calculate that “switching the average American diet to a vegetarian one causes OVER a 50% greater cut in climate warming than switching from the average car to a Prius.” Say what?

You may not be ready to become a vegetarian/vegan overnight (neither are we,) but we still have to try to cut down on our animal-consuming ways. Thus, the Green is the New Pink Tip of the Week: Replace just one serving of beef, one egg and one serving of cheese PER WEEK with fruits, vegetables or whole grains. Over-achievers should try to replace a serving of beef, one egg and one serving of cheese PER DAY.

Basically, whatever your current meat or non-meating habits are, step it up a notch or two. If you already don’t eat red meat, try to cut down on chicken a few times a week. If you’re already a vegetarian, try eating vegan 3 times a week. Want to see how much your diet is affecting the environment? Use the online “eating green” calculator to see how much land and water your current food choices cost.

Here’s what Dr. Atkins doesn’t want you to know….

Reason #1 to cut down on meat and animal products…METHANE

Wait. What is methane?

• Methane is a greenhouse gas, responsible for nearly as much global warming as all other non-CO2 greenhouse gases put together.

• Methane is 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2.

• While atmospheric concentrations of CO2 have risen by about 31% since pre-industrial times, methane concentrations have more than DOUBLED.

And what does that have to do with my cheeseburger?

• The number one source of Methane worldwide is animal agriculture.

• Animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tons of methane a year!!!

Yes, we’ll say it again. Animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tons of methane a year. This is due to the amount of methane produced in the digestive processes of livestock (relatively small individually, but ENORMOUS collectively), and from the massive “lagoons” used to store untreated farm animal waste.

Global meat consumption has increased fivefold in the past fifty years, and shows little sign of slowing down (all those people scared that pineapple and oatmeal have too many carbs have to eat something). If we don’t start cutting down at some point, our dangerous Methane output will keep increasing and increasing.

It’s not hopeless, though. Unlike carbon dioxide which can remain in the air for more than a century, Methane cycles out of the atmosphere in just eight years! So that the sooner we lower Methane emissions, the more quickly we can reserve the effects of global warming.

Reason #2 to cut down on meat and animal products…FOREST LAND

• Of all the agricultural land in the U.S., nearly 80 percent is used in some way to raise animals.

• To date, more than 260 million acres of U.S. forest have been cleared to create cropland to grow grain to feed farmed animals (go back to our first blog entry if you don’t remember how important trees are to combating global warming)

• More than 2.9 million acres of rainforest were destroyed in the 2004-2005 crop season in order to grow crops that feed chickens and other animals in factory farms.

• According to scientists at the Smithsonian Institute, the equivalent of seven football fields of land is bulldozed every minute to create more room for farmed animals.

• Countries across the globe are bulldozing huge swaths of land to make more room for animals and the crops to feed them, from tropical rain forests in Brazil to ancient pine forests in China.

The scary, but true bottom line?

• Almost twenty times more land is required to feed a meat-eater than a vegetarian. (A meat eater requires 3 ¼ acres of land per year, whereas a vegetarian requires 1/6 of an acre).

Reason #3…It wastes our resources and pollutes our surroundings

• About one-third of the raw materials, including fuel and other non-renewable sources, used in America each year are consumed by the farmed animal industry.

• We feed more than 70 percent of the grains and cereals we grow to farmed animals, and almost all of those calories go into simply keeping the animals alive, not making them grow. Only a small fraction of the calories consumed by farmed animals are actually converted into the meat that people eat.

• Nearly half of all the water used in the United States goes to raising animals for food.

• It takes 5,000 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat, while growing 1 pound of wheat only requires 25 gallons.

• A totally vegetarian diet requires 300 gallons of water per day, while a meat-eating diet requires more than 4,000 gallons of water per day.

• You save more water by not eating a pound of beef than you do by not showering for an entire year.

• According to the EPA, the runoff from factory farms pollutes our rivers and lakes more than all other industries combines.

• Animals raised for food produce 130 times more excrement than the entire human population – 86,000 pounds per second. Since factory farms don't have sewage treatment systems as our cities and towns do, this concentrated slop ends up polluting our water, destroying our topsoil, and contaminating our air.

• Chicken, hog and cattle excrement have polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and groundwater in 17 states.

And it goes without saying that cutting down a bit on meats and animal products and replacing with fruits, veggies and whole-grains not only helps the environment, but is also healthier….

Now that you’re sufficiently aware of the facts, we can already hear you next question: But if I’m not eating meat, pork, chicken, cheese or eggs in a given meal, what CAN I possibly eat???

Glad you asked…GITNP, in conjunction with L.A.-based gourmet foods and catering company Apples and Onions LA, has compiled a number of DELICIOUS and EASY (obviously) recipes. These dishes do not use animal products, perfect for that one day a week or more that you’re going to go veggie. Instead of eggs in the morning, have a bow of hearty Coconut Milk Oatmeal. Or for dinner try the Soba Noodle Salad with Veggie Slaw. Yum.

For more recipes, keep checking the Apples and Onions L.A. Blog.

Obviously the issue of how livestock and other animals affect our environment is complicated and multi-faceted. Be sure to check out our future posts on the subject, including going organic and eating locally, and for now, try reducing that animal intake as much as you can.

But please don’t become a judgmental vegetarian who makes baa-ing noises when people order lamb or cry when someone orders veal. That is not cool.

P.S. Cheers to all our readers who bought Compact Florescent Light bulbs last week. Did you? We’re going to keep bugging you until you do!!!

If you want to read more check out these sites:
www.goveg.com/environment.asp
www.earthsave.org/globalwarming.htm