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August 27, 2007 – Evolving Appetites

Welcome to the first edition of Evolving Appetites’ monthly newsletter. Every month, we’ll bring you the latest in health and environmental news, healthy living tips, fun facts and at least one recipe. We welcome your suggestions, comments, and ideas for future issues. Contact info is at the end of the newsletter.

In this issue:

• Ignoring the meat of the global warming issue – Globe and Mail, Aug. 1, 2007
• Famous vegetarians – past and present – you’re in good company if you’re vegetarian
• Recipe of the month: Lentil & roasted red pepper soup

Ignoring the meat of the global warming issue

Most of us probably feel pretty overwhelmed with the global warming crisis. We’re bombarded everyday with news of doom and gloom of melting ice caps, rising temperatures and the ensuing havoc on our climate, crops and well being. However, there’s something each and every one of us can do that would have an enormous impact on healing this crisis.

Earlier this month, Neil Reynolds wrote an excellent article in the Aug. 1^st edition of The Globe and Mail, highlighting a glaring omission in the fight against global warming. Namely, the impact of our eating habits on the environment.

The primary source of his information for this article is a comprehensive 400-page report published last year by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), titled “Livestock’s long shadow”.

[A summary as well as the full FAO report are available at this link: http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0612sp1.htm]

A few astonishing statistics gleaned from the article in the Globe:

• The planet’s livestock animals alone breathe out three billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. i.e. Livestock emits more green house gasses (GHG) into the atmosphere than all of the cars, freight trucks, railways, airplanes and container ships in the entire world.
• Feed crops take 30 per cent of the world’s arable land.
• Livestock command 70 per cent of the planet’s agricultural land and 30 per cent of its entire land surface
• These animals emit 9 per cent of human-induced carbon dioxide, 37 per cent of human-induced methane, 64 per cent of human-induced nitrous oxide and 65 per cent of human-induced ammonia.
• Methane has a longer lifespan than carbon dioxide – between 9 and 15 years. This means it’s 21 times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide over a hundred-year period.
• Nitrous oxide’s lifespan is 114 years; 296 times more effective in trapping heat.
• Ammonia causes acid rain
• Canadians and Americans consume almost 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of meat per capita per year
• 10 billion animals are killed to feed this insatiable appetite for meat
• The Chinese account for 60 per cent of the world’s increase in meat production in the past 25 years
• The World Health Organization (WHO) has found that the consumption of fatty meat is one of the principal causes (along with sugar and processed foods) for the obesity epidemic in the developing world.
• The WHO says that the number of obese people in the developing world exceeds one billion; the number of malnourished people 800 million
• Canada exports meat to 130 countries - $4-billion of it a year

Mr. Reynolds concludes the article with, “Perhaps Finance Minister Jim Flaherty should amend his GHG automobile incentive programs and introduce a combination subsidy based on Canadians’ consumption of mileage and meat.”

I would add to that, let’s remove the ridiculous subsidies paid to livestock producers – that will reflect the true cost of meat in the market place. The 99-cent hamburger would be history if all those subsidies were removed, and industry actually had to pay for the environmental damage they inflict.

In the mean time, don’t hold your breath for Mr. Flaherty to introduce a “meat and mileage” subsidy or even remove the farm subsidies. Change what’s on your plate – the earth, your arteries and your waistline will thank you. Bon Appetit!

Famous Vegetarians – past & present

If you eschew animal products from your diet, you’re in good company. Some of the greatest thinkers of our time, as well as athletes, movie stars, authors and dignitaries have adopted a plant-based lifestyle. Here’s a partial list of “who’s who” in the circle of compassion and good health:

Past:

• Albert Einstein – scientist, Nobel Prize in 1921
• Albert Schweitzer – doctor, philosopher, humanitarian, Nobel Prize in 1952
• Henry Heimlich – doctor (best known for his Heimlich maneuver)
• Henry David Thoreau – author
• Leonardo Da Vinci – artist
• Leo Tolstoy – Russian writer
• Gandhi - humanitarian
• Plutarch – philosopher
• Benjamin Spock – famous pediatrician
• George Bernard Shaw

Present:

• Bryan Adams
• Billy Idol
• Sir Paul McCartney
• Mary Tyler Moore
• Shania Twain
• Pamela Anderson Lee
• Brad Pitt
• Jennifer Anniston
• Carl Lewis – Olympic Track Star
• Brendan Brazier – Canadian Ironman champion
• Alec Baldwin
• Alicia Silverstone

And the list goes on. Why not join these outstanding vegetarians by becoming one yourself? Who knows, a little of their magic just may rub off on you!

Lentil/Red Pepper Soup

4 cups water

Next Issue: October 1st

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