Petition Tag - meatless monday petition

(English translation at bottom)


我們敦促香港政府，特別是行政長官曾蔭權與環境局局長邱騰華JP以及其他的環境和動物保護組織︰

我們正面臨空前的全球暖化，各國傳媒均廣泛報導，氣候變遷日益嚴重，已經引起地球上多個國家受到不同程度的經濟損失甚至人命傷亡，天災相繼出現，令所有個人以及整個社會都受到威脅，各國政府間相繼採取措施希望能減輕全球暖化的影響。

現在已有更多人意識到畜牧業不僅帶來疾病，同時也造成氣候變遷。

根據聯合國糧農組織2006年標題為”畜牧業巨大陰影” (Livestock's Long Shadow) 的報告. 糧農組織發現畜牧生產佔溫室氣體總排放量的18%，包括全球9%的二氧化碳排放量 , 37%的甲烷(CH4), 65%的氧化亞氮(N2O)，氧化亞氮這種溫室氣體對全球暖化的影響效應相當於二氧化碳的296倍。

又根據2008年一份研究報告結論指出，生產2.2磅牛肉所產生的排碳量，相等於一輛中型歐洲房車行駛155英哩的排碳量，等量的能源足夠可以點亮100瓦的燈泡約20天。

諾貝爾獎得主聯合國跨政府氣候變遷小組主席帕卓里博士聲明︰“請減少肉食,肉是排碳量高度密集的商品。...” “個人所能採取減少碳排量的唯一行動就是素食。”

基於肉類對環境的衝擊，我們必需減少消費這種排碳量高度密集的商品，做為解決氣候變遷危機的高效率對策。本次請願呼籲香港官員們立即採取行動，展現香港對抗氣候變遷的承諾。
香港金融經濟發達，沒有畜牧業，並不代表不需要對氣候變遷負責，需知道富裕的香港人食用大量的禽畜由外地進口，加上市民對食物有過度浪費的習慣，我們多少也要為受到氣候變遷影響的國家負一點責任。

作為一個負責任的政府，我們應該效法比利時的根特市政府，採取行動鼓勵市民降低碳足跡，已經決定要求市民每週一天無肉，而每週四將會是 “無肉日”。

我們需要向政府官員表達，香港有必要推廣「禁肉星期一」。我們希望政府能夠推動每個星期一作為 “香港市民不吃肉食製品日” 來保護環境並遏阻全球暖化。

所以，請簽署這份請願書，並將其轉發給您的朋友和家人！我們需要每個人的力量支持﹗

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The connection between meat consumption or animal agriculture & environmental pollution is scientifically proven time and time again. What we eat impacts our health and the health of the environment.

Did you know? Or have you heard about the an alarming report of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization released on June 5th 2009, to the Minister of Environmental Defense, states that livestock agriculture is responsible and contributes to a meaningful part of environmental pollution in the world. Animal Agriculture’s 'contribution' to global warming is bigger than all the vehicles on Earth all together.

Vegetarian Monday is an initiative of a gastronomic magazine " Al Hashulchan", which in it's basis stands the recognition of the environment harms caroused as a conclusion of the growing consumption of animals products food. According to Janna Gour, the editor of " Al Hashulchan", the local initiative is part of a worldly contest, the Belgium town Ghent declared a month ago on Meatless Monday.- a similar project runs in the USA, which in its' framework the American public is asked to prevent eating meat on Mondays.

Lets join Sir Paul McCartney and concerned citizens from around the world. Let’s put Israel as a leader in bal tashet and tzar bali hamin and we can do both with a vegan diet. A PURE vegetarian diet is one with out any animal product no eggs to fish its vegan. And this is the best diet to halt climate change, improve your health and recognize the sacred nature of our animal co-inhabitants.

הקשר בין צריכת בשר או חקלאות בעלי חיים ולזיהום סביבתי מוכח מדעית שוב ושוב. מה שאנו אוכלים משפיע על הבריאות שלנו עלבריאותה של הסביבה.

האם את/ה יודע/ת? או האם שמעת על הדו"ח המדאיג של ארגון המזון והחקלאות האו"ם שפורסם ב 5 ביוני 2009,לשר להגנת הסביבה, אשר קובע שמשקים תעשייתיים אחראים ותורמים לחלק משמעותי מהזיהום הסביבתי בעולם. 'תרומתה' של חקלאות בעלי החיים להתחממות הגלובלית גדולה יותר מזו של כל כלי הרכב בכדור הארץ.


"שני צמחוני" הינה יוזמה של המגזין הגסטרונומי "על השולחן", אשר בבסיסה עומדת ההכרה בנזקים הסביבתיים הנגרמים כתוצאה מהצריכה ההולכת וגדלה של מזון מן החי.
לדברי ז'אנה גור, עורכת "על השולחן", היוזמה המקומית היא חלק ממאבק עולמי, שבמסגרתו הכריזה העיר גהנט בבלגיה לפני כחודש על יום ב' כיום בלי בשר. – פרוייקט דומה קיים בארה"ב, שבמסגרתו הציבור האמריקני מתבקש להימנע מאכילת בשר בימי שני.

בואו נצטרף לפול מקארטני ואזרחים מודאגים מכל רחבי העולם. בואו ונעשה את ישראל כמדינה מובילה בתחום בל תשחיט וצער בעלי חיים. אנחנו יכולים לעשות את שניהם עם תפריט טבעוני. דיאטה צמחוניות טהורה היא דיאטה ללא כל מוצר מבעלי החיים ללא ביצים ללא דגים זה טבעוני. וזו הדיאטה הטובה ביותר לעצור שינוי האקלים, לשפר את הבריאות שלך וכן להכיר את טבעם הקדוש של בעלי החיים תושבים המשותפים שלנו

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The impact of livestock on human health, the environment, world grain and water security and climate change has never been more clear.

With the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stressing our planetary peril with ever increasing urgency, the recognition of the significant role of factory farming in the genesis of swine flu, and new research by the Global Humanitarian Forum (GHF) stating that 315,000 people per year die as a result of climate change (with another 325 million affected), it is time to let our leaders know that we are ready to do anything we can to alleviate these crises and help the world.

By pledging to keep Mondays Meat-free, we can make a sure start. Join Sir Paul, Mary and Stella McCartney as they too are promoting Meat Free Monday to encourage people to avoid meat once a week. Check out Sir Paul's message here: http://www.supportmfm.org/

END WORLD HUNGER
If you want to stop 1 billion people from going hungry each day; If you want to stop the needless deaths taking place every 5 seconds due to starvation then a vegan lifestyle is the solution to solve these dier diet-driven situations resulting from the inefficient use of resources directed towards animal agriculture. Grain currently fed to livestock is enough to feed ２ billion people. According to a recent report by Compassion in World Farming, "[c]rops that could be used to feed the hungry are instead being used to fatten animals raised for food." It takes up to 16 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of edible animal flesh.

Let's show the UK government and the European Union that we are ready and willing to act, and support the Earth saving and humanitarian concept of Meat-free Mondays.

This petition will be forwarded to Gordon Brown and to influential members of DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs) in the UK plus the President of the European Parliament, the President of the European Commission, the Directorate-General for the Environment (of the European Commission) and the Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection (of the European Commission).

The Meat Free Mondays petition in the European Union and the United Kingdom (UK) asking UK & Gordon Brown, DEFRA as well as the President of the European Parliament, the President of the European Commission, the Directorate-General for the Environment (of the European Commission) and the Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection (of the European Commission) to support Meat-free Mondays was written by Concerned_Citizen and is hosted free of charge at GoPetition.

Romanian translation:
Scop: Să-i ceară primului ministru Gordon Brown din Anglia, DEFRA şi la fel şi Uniunii Europene să sprijine iniţiativa Ziua de Luni fără Carne!

Impactul zootehniei asupra sănătăţii umane, mediului, producţiei de grâne a lumii şi securităţii apei nu a fost niciodată aşa de evident.

În timp ce Panelul Interguvernamental pentru Schimbarea Climei stresează cu şi mare urgenţă riscul planetei noastre, recunoaşterea rolului semnificativ al fermelor industriale în geneza gripei porcine, alături de cercetări noi de la Forumul Global Umanitar (GHF) care arată că 315.000 de oameni mor anual din cauza schimbării climei (alături de alţi 320 milioane afectaţi), este timpul acum să le spunem liderilor noştri că noi suntem gata să facem orice ca să ameliorăm aceste crize şi să ajutăm lumea.

Prin a promite să ţinem Lunea Fără Carne, noi punem bazele unui început sigur. Veniţi alături de Sir Paul, Mary şi Stella McCartney care promovează Lunea Fără Carne, ca să încurajeze oamenii să nu consume carne o zi pe săptămână. Urmăriţi mesajul lui Paul McCartney aici: http://www.supportmfm.org/

PUNEŢI CAPĂT FOAMETEI ÎN LUME
Dacă vreţi să opriţi 1 miliard de oameni să sufere de foame zilnic, dacă vreţi să opriţi decesele inutile care au loc la fiecare 5 secunde din cauza foametei, atunci un stil de viaţă de post (vegan) este soluţia pentru a rezolva aceste situaţii fatale din cauza alimentaţiei, care duc la folosirea ineficientă a resurselor, care sunt îndreptate spre agricultura animală. Grânele date acum animalelor sunt suficiente ca să hrănească 2 miliarde de oameni. După un raport recent de la Compasiunea în Fermele Lumii: “recoltele care ar putea fi folosite să-i hrănească pe cei înfometaţi, sunt folosite în schimb la îngrăşarea animalelor crescute pentru carne.” Se cer aproape 8 kg de grâne să produci aproape 0,5kg de carne de animal comestibilă.

Haideţi să le arătăm guvernelor din Anglia şi din Uniunea Europeană că noi suntem gata şi dorim să acţionăm şi să sprijinim idea umanitară şi salvatoare al lumii - „Lunea Fără Carne”.

Această petiţie va fi trimisă primului ministru Gordon Brown şi membrilor cu influenţă din DEFRA (Departamentul Afacerilor Rurale, ale Mediului şi Hranei) din Anglia, Preşedintelui Parlamentului European, Preşedintelui Comisiei Europene, Directoratului General pentru Mediu (din Comisia Europeană) şi Directoratului General pentru Sănătate şi Protecţia Consumatorului (din Comisia Europeană).

Daţi glas voinţei voastre şi fiţi primii din prietenii voştri care să semnaţi!

Petiţia Lunea Fără Carne din Uniunea Europeană şi Anglia (UK) care îi cere Angliei şi primului ministru Gordon Brown şi DEFRA, Preşedintelui Parlamentului European, Preşedintelui Comisiei Europene, Directoratului General pentru Mediu (din Comisia Europeană) şi Directoratului General pentru Sănătate şi Protecţia Consumatorului (din Comisia Europeană) să sprijine iniţiativa Lunea Fără Carne, a fost scrisă de Cetăţeanul Îngrijorat şi este înscrisă gratuit la GoPetition.

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Canada is the #4 biggest polluter on earth, yet has a relatively small population. Canada reputation for being a dinosaur in the Climate Crisis must change ASAP.

This petition calls for Canadian officials to take immediate action by adopting “Meat Free Mondays” and promoting the many health and environmental benefits of the pure vegetarian (vegan) lifestyle to the general public

LIVESTOCK’S ROLE IN GLOBAL WARMING IS HUGE

According to a 2006 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of The United Nations (FAO), entitled “Livestock's Long Shadow”: The FAO report found that livestock production causes 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, including nine percent of all carbon dioxide emissions, 37 percent of methane and 65 percent of nitrous oxide which is 296 times more potent than CO2 as a global warming gas. According to Dr. Kirk Smith, a member of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and professor at University of California-Berkeley, methane is 100 times more potent than CO2 within 5 years of being emitted.

Scientists across the globe have recognized that climate change is happening so fast, human civilization is under threat if we don’t do something within the next few years to significantly reverse the trend of global warming. At the same time, researchers have also realized that although CO2 is the most prevalent gas by weight, even if we were to achieve a zero carbon economy today, the earth will continue to warm hundreds if not thousands of years.

For this reason, if we want to preserve the planet for our children’s generation, we need to reduce those gases and aerosols causing the greatest effect on global warming in the short term, thus giving us time to develop CO2 reduction technologies that can be commercially deployed.


MEAT REDUCTION AROUND THE GLOBE

Ghent, Belgium has shown leadership and recognized the importance of promoting vegetarianism as a solution to addressing climate change and reducing its carbon footprint by ask its citizens to go meatless one day a week.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8046970.stm

Other countries and institutions are also recognizing the need to promote pure vegetarianism (veganism). The United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) will be cutting meat (and dairy) from the menus of hospitals across the UK in an effort to cut costs and carbon. Its one part of NHS hospitals strategy to reduce carbon emissions throughout the hospital system.

Following Paul McCartney's Meat Free Monday mission in the UK, Israeli restaurants are also participating in going veggie for at least one day a week.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/5621148/Paul-McCartneys-Meat-Free-Monday-missio n.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3736884,00.html

ENDING WORLD HUNGER
If you want to stop 1 billion people from going hungry each day; If you want to stop the needless deaths taking place every 5 seconds due to starvation then a vegan lifestyle is the solution to solve these dyer diet driven situations due to the inefficient use of resources directed towards animal agriculture. Grain currently fed to livestock is enough to feed ２ billion people. According to a recent report by Compassion in World Farming, "[c]rops that could be used to feed the hungry are instead being used to fatten animals raised for food." It takes up to 16 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of edible animal flesh.

Animal agriculture is having detrimental impacts on the health of the environment as well as on human health; thus reducing our consumption of this carbon and methane intensive product as an effective solution to halt climate change.

So please sign this petition and forward it to you friends and family.

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AUSTRALIA Preamble (New Zealand below):

We urge the Australian government, especially the Prime Minister - Kevin Rudd; Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts - Peter Garrett; and Minister for Climate Change and Water - Penny Wong, to recognize the many benefits of a meat free diet and promote them to the Australian public in order to slow climate change.

It’s critical that we bring down our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions now. Dr. James Hansen, one of the world’s leading climate scientists and Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies recently said in an interview: “Yes, we’re really running out of time… this next year or two years are the critical time period."

In June this year, research by international climate scientists revealed grave news that the world is facing severe and irreversible climatic events due to the unprecedented accelerated warming of the earth. Though we definitely need to transition from our dependency on coal to renewable, sustainable energy, it takes several hundred years for the carbon dioxide that is already in our atmosphere to break down and dissipate. And meanwhile planetary warming keeps rising because we’re not limiting other greenhouse gases that can abate climate change much quicker than carbon dioxide reductions.

There is hope. We can quickly reduce our impact on planetary heating by focusing on limiting the short-lived greenhouse gases (GHGs) like methane. Reducing the short-lived GHGs will substantially slow down global warming over a short period of time - this is what needs to happen. Methane in particular has a very short atmospheric life. If we stopped all our methane emissions now, the methane currently in the sky will disappear within less than 20 years and that would reduce a substantial amount of warming effect.

According to the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, methane has a warming impact 72 times that of carbon dioxide over a 20 year time frame. Limiting this gas is relatively inexpensive and will produce rapid results.

In Australia, sources of methane are derived from a variety of sectors but the one that produces the most is Agriculture. The emissions produced by livestock production alone have more impact than the emissions from all the coal-fired power stations combined!
(Source: Russell G., CSIRO Perfidy, Vivid Publishing (2009))

As well as being major contributors to global warming, livestock farming and feedlots have extensive impacts on our Earth’s resources:

Deforestation
o In Queensland, 96% of land cleared in 2006 was for animal grazing.

Water Scarcity
o Meat production, particularly ‘feed’ production for livestock consumes large amounts of critically important water resources.

Land Degradation
o About 70% of all grazing land in dry areas is considered degraded, mostly because of overgrazing, compaction and erosion caused by rearing of animals for their meat.

Water Pollution
o More than 2 billion tons of animal manure was produced worldwide during the late 1990s. Assuming an average nitrogen content of around 5%, this makes 100 million tons of nitrogen finding its way into our water systems.

Loss of Biodiversity
o Tropical forests hold half of the world’s species which are becoming extinct at an alarming rate due to deforestation for meat production.

Not to mention the energy resources used to transport, refrigerate and process livestock into meat, and not forgetting the black carbon generated from deforestation specifically resulting from livestock grazing. Black carbon may only stay in the atmosphere for a short amount of time but is an incredibly potent climate warming agent.

Avoiding the Tipping Points
It’s essential that we avoid the tipping points identified by climate scientists – climatic thresholds that are irreversible once exceeded. Surpassing these tipping points will lead to catastrophic climate events such as unprecedented food and water shortages, massive changes in weather patterns, and the further melting of ice sheets that could introduce unforeseen rates of rise in sea level. Focusing on reducing carbon dioxide emissions Even if we could shut down all the coal-fired power stations tomorrow a problem arises in that these power stations generate, as well as carbon dioxide, sulphate aerosols, which have an immediate cooling impact. They lessen the impact of CO2 emissions from coal-fired power stations. Taking out this cooling effect without a quick reduction in other GHGs at the same time, could rapidly lead to an even hotter planet, running the risk of crossing dangerous tipping points. By focusing on reducing methane and nitrous oxide emissions now, we can avoid going over these tipping points, buying us more time to transition to renewable energy.

What You Can Do
In light of the planetary emergency we face, the single most effective thing that individuals can do right now to bring down net GHG emissions that doesn’t cost the earth is, go vegan. If changing to a vegan diet is considered difficult at present then the next effective thing to do is:

* Eat less meat. Choose to eat vegan meals at least twice or more times per week. The less animal products consumed the greater the impact on rapidly reducing our net GHG emissions. If we are to save our world and ourselves from the impending dangers of runaway climate change we need to act as quickly as possible.



NEW ZEALAND Preamble:

Target audience: New Zealand Prime Minister - John Key, Climate Change Minister - Nick Smith and Environmental Groups and Organisations.

Today, almost 40% of NZ’s land has been converted from native forest to pasture for grazing animals.
(State of New Zealand’s Environment 1997, www.mfe.govt.nz)

Per head of population New Zealanders emit nearly twice as much greenhouse gases as the British- we are not far behind the Americans.

Our greenhouse gas emissions are growing rapidly – we are producing 22% more than in 1990.

Our growing dairy herd and energy demand mean that our net emissions are expected to grow to over 70 percent above 1990 levels by 2012. NZ is also the world’s largest exporter of meat and dairy produce.

Despite being a small country, our carbon footprint per capita is very significant. NZ emission per capita greenhouse gas emission in 2000 is 19.3 tonnes of CO2 compared to 22.9 tonnes of CO2 in the USA being a much larger country.
(World Resource Institute WRI)

Expected level of deforestation in NZ between 2008-12 will result in 40 million tonnes CO2 emissions above 1990 levels= excess agricultural emissions.
(www.maf.govt.nz/climatechange)

The risk of drought is expected to increase in already drought-prone areas

The frequency of severe droughts is expected to increase across many eastern parts of New Zealand by 2080.

Droughts may happen in spring and autumn, not just summer

Temps expected to increase, increased risk of forest fires

Very heavy rainfall events predicted to increase in many parts of New Zealand, even in those areas where the average annual rainfall decreases. Increased floods predicted. The sea level is expected to rise.
(www.maf.govt.nz/climatechange)

In 2007, the agriculture sector was the largest source of emissions, contributing 48% (36.4 Mt CO2 -e) to total emissions. As a result, NZ has a unique emissions profile compared to other developed countries where agricultural emissions are typically 11% of national emissions.
(NZ's GHG Inventory 1990-2007)

Plus - obesity, heart disease, diabetes and colon cancer are big killers in NZ - there are already recommendations to reduce meat consumption just for health reasons but meat consumption remains high especially in Maori and Pacific communities.

There are two main issues - first, that we are consuming far too much protein over and above the levels recommended by the World Health Organization. And second, to dispel the myth that it is necessary to consume meat in order to obtain an adequate amount of protein. It is very easy to obtain adequate protein levels through the consumption of plant foods, whilst the over-consumption of protein through the high meat and dairy diet is avoided which also gives the added benefit of reducing certain diseases linked to consumption of animal fats such as stroke, heart disease, diabetes and
obesity.

But we don't need any figures to show that one can obtain adequate protein through a 100% plant-based diet - there is a multitude of vegans out there in Europe, USA and other developed countries - and most are healthy and well-educated about their diet - including Olympic athletes such as Carl Lewis. Protein deficiency is pretty much unheard of in vegans! (That is those with a well-balanced vegan diet - it goes without saying that this may not refer to the malnourished people in developing countries who may be living on a diet of rice and potatoes).

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Historically, no nation has emitted more global warming pollution than the United States. From 1960-2005, the U.S. emitted 213,608 MtCO2, 26% of total global emissions. The U.S. also exceeded almost every other nation in per capita emissions.

This petition calls for United States officials to take immediate action by adopting “Meat Free Mondays” and promoting the many health and environmental benefits of the pure vegetarian (vegan) lifestyle to the general public.

LIVESTOCK’S ROLE IN GLOBAL WARMING IS HUGE

According to a 2006 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of The United Nations (FAO), entitled “Livestock's Long Shadow,” livestock production causes 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, including nine percent of all carbon dioxide emissions, 37 percent of methane, and 65 percent of nitrous oxide which is 296 times more potent than CO2 as a global warming gas. According to Dr. Kirk Smith, a member of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and professor at the University of California-Berkeley, methane is 100 times more potent than CO2 within 5 years of being emitted.

Scientists across the globe have recognized that climate change is happening so fast that human civilization itself is under threat if we don’t act within the next few years to significantly reverse the trend of global warming. At the same time, researchers have also realized that although CO2 is the most prevalent gas by weight, even if we were to achieve a zero carbon economy today, the earth would continue to warm for hundreds if not thousands of years.

For this reason, if we want to preserve the planet for our children’s generation, we need to reduce those gases and aerosols causing the greatest effect on global warming in the short term, thus giving us time to develop CO2 reduction technologies that can be commercially deployed.


RAPID PLANETARY COOLING SOLUTIONS:

In March 2009, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that in order to achieve rapid cooling in the short term, we need to reduce methane, ozone (the second most prevalent gas after methane), and black carbon. Reducing the consumption of animal products is the single fastest way to reduce these emissions.


• Methane: Livestock are the single largest source of human-caused methane in the US and on the planet, and 2/3 of it dissipates from the atmosphere in about 10 years. Note also that the IPCC estimated that even if we were to change the feed of animals and capture methane from manure lagoons, by 2030 we would only reduce 9 percent of the methane from agriculture, so these methods are not viable options for seriously reducing emissions rapidly.
• Ozone, the third most prevalent gas after methane, and CO2, depends upon methane as a building block. Because it dissipates out of the atmosphere in a few hours or days, as soon as we reduce breeding of livestock and the numbers of these animals decreases due to lower demand, we will see planetary cooling within hours or days.
• Black carbon is 800 times more potent than CO2, and NASA scientists have begun to realize that black carbon plays a role in the melting of the Arctic and Antarctic. Brazilian scientists measuring black carbon in Antarctica found greater levels of black carbon than NASA estimated, and estimated 70 percent of it came from South America, where the single largest source of black carbon is the burning of the rainforests to create crops and grazing for livestock. Livestock are responsible for over 80% of Amazon destruction in Brazil.


END WORLD HUNGER
No one wants to see a child go hungry. They shouldn't have to, because there is plenty enough to go around. If you want to stop 1 billion people from going hungry each day, if you want to stop the needless deaths taking place every 5 seconds due to starvation then a vegan lifestyle is the solution to solve these dire diet driven situations due to the inefficient use of resources directed towards animal agriculture. Grain currently fed to livestock is enough to feed ２ billion people. According to the report by Compassion in World Farming, "[c]rops that could be used to feed the hungry are instead being used to fatten animals raised for food." It takes up to 16 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of edible animal flesh. Clearly, what we eat does affect the rest of the world and we are partly responsible for the lack of resources due to our unnecessary consumption of meat.

MEAT REDUCTION AROUND THE GLOBE

Ghent, Belgium has shown leadership and recognized the importance of promoting vegetarianism as a solution to addressing climate change and reducing its carbon footprint by asking its citizens to go meatless one day a week.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8046970.stm

Other countries and institutions are also recognizing the need to promote pure vegetarianism (veganism). The United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) will be cutting meat (and dairy) from the menus of hospitals across the UK in an effort to cut costs and carbon. Its one part of the NHS hospitals strategy to reduce carbon emissions throughout the hospital system.

Following Paul McCartney's Meat Free Monday mission in the UK, Israeli restaurants are also participating in going veggie for at least one day a week.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/5621148/Paul-McCartneys-Meat-Free-Monday-mission.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3736884,00.html


VEGAN RESTAURANTS ARE BOOMING DUE TO STRONG DEMAND

Many people have become aware of the health promoting effects of a plant-based diet, and want to reduce their consumption of animal products but 1) government subsidies make meat and dairy cheaper and 2) restaurants do not offer them enough vegan options to delight their palate. Their desire, however, is reflected in the growth of vegan restaurants and vegan options in food service.

In spite of the economic downturn, Restaurant & Institution Magazine has noted in several articles in the last year that vegan restaurants are booming.


Cruzer Pizza in Los Angeles demonstrated this dramatically in May 2009 when they added vegan cheese and veggie meats as pizza toppings and their sales went up by 63 percent in one month.

Animal agriculture is having detrimental impacts on the health of the environment as well as on human health; thus reducing our consumption of this carbon and methane intensive product is an effective solution to halt climate change.


See further resources & references below the petition, such as:
Food Inc. - In Theaters NOW across the nation. http://www.foodincmovie.com/
Lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, the USDA and FDA.

Please sign this petition and forward it to your friends and family.

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