CAMPAIGN NEWS ARGUMENTS FOR VEGETARIANISM
one pound of beef requires 5,200 gallons
of water per pound to produce
compared to only 25 gallons for a pound of wheat).
Raising animals for food consumes more than half
of all water used in the U.S.
A totally vegetarian diet requires 300 gallons of
water per day, while a meat-eating
diet requires more than 4,200 gallons of water
per day.
FOSSIL FUEL-
Producing just one hamburger uses enough fossil
fuel to drive a small car 20 miles.
Of all raw materials and fossil fuels used in
the U.S., more than one-third is used to raise
animals for food.
DESTROYING FORESTS-
Of all agricultural land in the U.S., 87 percent
is used to raise animals for food. That's 45 percent
of the total land mass in the U.S.
More than 260 million acres of U.S. forest have been cleared to create cropland in order to produce our meat-centered diet.
SOIL EROSION AND WORLD HUNGER
The meat industry is directly responsible for 85
percent of all soil erosion in the U.S., because
so much grain is needed to feed animals being
raised for food. In the U.S., animals are fed
more than 80 percent of the corn
we grow and more than 95 percent of the oats.
Raising animals for food is grossly inefficient,
because you have to put 20 calories of food
into an animal to get just one calorie back in the
form of flesh. The world's cattle alone consume
a quantity of food equal to the caloric needs
of 8.7 billion people more than the entire human\ population on Earth. Today, hundreds of millions
of cattle are being fed precious grain so that
American and European consumers can enjoy the
taste of meat. Meanwhile, nearly one billion
people suffer from hunger and malnutrition,
and between 40 and 60 million people-mostly
children- die each year from starvation and related diseases.According to environmental
think-tank Worldwatch Institute,
"the easiest way to reduce grain consumption
is to lower the intake of meat and milk,
grain-intensive foods. Roughly 2 of every 5 tons
of grain produced in the world are fed to
livestock, poultry, or fish;
decreasing consumption of these products,
especially of beef,
could free up massive quantities of grain and
reduce pressure on land."
RAINFOREST
Each vegetarian saves one acre of trees every year!
More than 260 million acres of U.S. forest have been
cleared to grow crops to feed animals raised for meat,
and another acre of trees disappears every eight
seconds. The tropical rain forests are also being
destroyed to create grazing land for cattle.
Fifty-five square feet of rain forest are
destroyed to produce enough meat (a quarter pound)
for one hamburger.
WASTE-
In 1996, U.S. factory farms produced
1.4 billion tons of animal waste-
130 times more than humans did.
The waste, from pigs, turkeys, chickens,
cows, etc., produced in a single
year would fill 6.7 million train boxcars
-enough to circle the Earth 12 ½ times.
Unfortunately, much of this
waste ends up in our rivers and streams.
According to the Environmental Protection
Agency, factory farming
pollutes U.S. waterways more than all
industrial sources combined. The
effects are often deadly. For
example, runoff from animal waste
is linked to a 7,000-square mile "dead zone"
in the Gulf of Mexico that can no longer
support aquatic life. The average pig farm
produces more waste then a city of
12,000 people. *
FISHING-
Commercial fishers use vast "factory trawlers"
the size of football fields to catch fish.
Mile long nets stretch across the ocean capturing
everything in their path. Huge amounts of fish
as well as sea turtles, dolphins, and seals, are
caught "by mistake".These trawlers are vacuuming
the oceans clean at an alarming rate. 13 of the 17
major global fisheries are depleted or are in
serious decline. The other four are "overexploited"
or "fully exploited". To "protect" their diminishing
catch the fishing industry routinely maims and kills
birds, seals, and other animals that eat fish.
ANIMAL PAIN AND SUFFERING
Caring for the environment means protecting all of our planet's inhabitants, not just the human ones. Animals
suffer extreme pain and deprivation on today's factory farms. Chickens have their beaks sliced off with a hot
blade, pigs have their tails chopped off and their teeth removed with pliers, and male cows and pigs are
castrated all without anesthesia. The animals are crowded together and dosed with hormones and antibiotics
to make them grow so quickly that their hearts and limbs often cannot keep up, causing crippling and heart
attacks. Finally, at the slaughterhouse, they are hung upside down and bled to death, often while fully
conscious. What kind of environmentalist can support any of that?
WHAT CAN I DO?
Go vegetarian! There are not only environmental benefits but the average vegetarian lives 6 years longer than
meat eaters! The best thing to do for you, the environment, and the animals, is to go vegetarian.
While you wait, acres of forest are cut and animal waste finds its way into rivers and streams! Don't wait any
longer!
For a FREE vegetarian starter kit call 1-888-VEG-FOOD.
Questions? Need more information? Please write us at animalprogress@hotmail.com
Information about health- http://www.pcrm.org/health/VSK/starterkit.html
* Save the Animals by Ingrid Newkirk
"To be a vegetarian is to disagree- to disagree with the course
of things today. Starvation, world hunger, cruelty, waste, wars; we must make a statement against these
things. Vegetarianism is my statement, and I think it is a strong one."
-Isaac Bashevis Singer Question: Can you tell us how you first became interested in animal activism?
CJ: When my company started to do really well, I decided I'd like to give something back to the community. I'd always had a passion for animals and had been involved in animal rights movements in college, so it was my first thought to return to animal right issues once I'd "made it," so to speak.  |
Table of Contents PLEASE SUPPORT LEE AMENDMENT TO
THE STATE DEPARTMENT AUTHORIZATON BILL.
DEADLINE : MAY 10, 2001
If you miss the deadline
please contact the House
Leaders for further information
on voting records.
WORLD SCIENTISTS WARN THAT PRESSURES RESULTING
FROM UNRESTRAINED POPULATION GROWTH WHICH
PUT DEMANDS ON THE NATURAL WORLD THAT CAN
OVERWHELM ANY EFFORTS TO ACHIEVE A SUSTAINABLE
FUTURE. (Please refer to : http://www.deoxy.org/sciwarn.htm )
Some 11,046 plants and animals out of 18,000 species risk disappearing
forever, according to the most comprehensive analysis of global
conservation ever undertaken, the World Conservation Union's 2000
Red List of Threatened Species.
The primary reason: HUMANS . Everything from expanding cities to
deforestation, agriculture and fishing pose a significant threat to
the planet's biodiversity.
On May 2nd, 2001 , the House International Relations Committee
approved a measure introduced by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) that
would reverse the ''global gag rule.''
The global gag rule prohibits international family planning organizations
that receive U.S. government funds from using their own private funds
to counsel on abortion, refer for abortion, or lobby their own
government for a change in abortion laws.
The Lee amendment, which was attached to a bill providing funding for
the State Department, would PERMANENTLY REPEAL THE
GLOBAL GAG RULE .
The State Department Authorization bill now goes before the full
House and includes the Lee Amendment to repeal the global gag rule.
Anti-choice lawmakers will likely try to strip the amendment from
the bill. It is essential that you register your support for the
Lee Amendment with your Congressional Representative.
Please let's write to the U.S. Congressman to Support the Lee Amendment to the State Department Authorization Bill,or ask how they voted.
SAMPLE LETTER :
RE: PLEASE SUPPORT LEE AMENDMENT TO THE
STATE DEPARTMENT AUTHORIZATION BILL or let
me know your views on this issue
Dear Honorable Congressman ,
As a world citizen I am writing to urge you to support
LEE AMENDMENT to the State Department Authorization Bill,
an effort to repeal the un-democratic ''global gag rule.''
On Wednesday, the House International Relations Committee
approved the Lee Amendment to the State Department Authorization
bill. This amendment would permanently repeal the global gag rule,
which is an affront to free speech.
World scientists including the majority of the NOBEL laureates in the
sciences warns that pressures resulting from "Unrestrained Population
Growth " which put demands on the natural world that can put
demands on the natural world that can overwhelm any efforts to
achieve a sustainable future.
(Please refer : http://www.deoxy.org/sciwarn.htm )
Some 11,046 plants and animals out of 18,000 species risk
disappearing forever, according to the most comprehensive analysis
of global conservation ever undertaken, the World Conservation
Union's 2000 Red List of Threatened Species.
The primary reason: HUMANS . Everything from expanding cities
to deforestation, agriculture and fishing pose a significant threat to
the planet's biodiversity.
Under the un-democratic global gag rule , international family planning
organizations that receive U.S. funds for family planning and other
health services are prohibited not only from providing family planning
choices, but also from counseling women about abortion, or lobbying
their own governments for a change in abortion law even if they do so
with their own private funds. Organizations would be required to
either accept the unfair restrictions or forego vital U.S. funds, which
help them provide family planning and non-abortion related health
care services to women and families who desperately need them.
The global gag rule is undemocratic. It would be unconstitutional if it
were applied to U.S.-based organizations. It restricts free speech and
intrudes on the privileged nature of the physician-patient relationship
by prohibiting medical professionals from fully informing their patients
about reproductive health care options.
Please help protect the health and lives of women across the world.
Please SUPPORT the Lee Amendment to the State Department
Authorization Bill . Thanks.
Sincerely,
CONTACT U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
A: Time is urgent, please CALL all of the leaders in U.S.
House in both parties :
US Congressman Denny Hastert
Speaker of the House,
Tel: (202) 225-2976 (in USA )
Fax: : (202) 225-0697
Email: speaker@mail.house.gov (@mail.house.gov )
(Address to : Dear Mr. Speaker, )
---------------------------------
Congressman Dick Armey,
U.S. House Majority Leader
Tel: (202) 225-7772 (in U.S.A. )
-------------------------
Congressman Richard Gephardt,
US House Democratic Leader
Tel: (202) 225-0100 (in USA )
Tel: (202) 225-2671
-------------------------------
Congressman David E. Bonior
Tel: (202) 225-3130 (in USA )
Email: david.bonior@mail.house.gov (@mail.house.gov )
(Address to: Dear Honorable Congressman Bonior, )
----------------------------------
US Congressman J.C. Watts.
House Leadership office,
Tel: (202) 225-6165 (in USA )
Tel: (202) 225-5107
-----------------------------------
US Congressman Martin Frost,
Chairman of Democratic Caucus,
Tel: (202) 225-3605 (in USA )
Email:
democratic.caucus@mail.house.gov (@mail.house.gov )
(Address to: Dear Honorable Congressman Frost, )
-----------------------
US Congressman Christopher Cox,
Chairman of Republican Policy Committee,
Tel: (202) 225-5611 (in USA )
Email:
christopher.cox@mail.house.gov (@mail.house.gov )
(Address to: Dear Honorable Congressman Cox, )
DETOXY.ORG World Scientists' Warning To Humanity THE SPEAKER |
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CONTRIBUTED ITEMS I looked at all the caged animals in the shelter...
the cast-offs of human society.
I saw in their eyes love and hope, fear and dread,
sadness,and betrayal. And I was angry.
"God," I said, "this is terrible! Why don't you do
something?"
God was silent for a moment, and then spoke softly,
"Ihave done something," was the reply. "I created you."
-- Author Unknown
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