Veg Climate Alliance has recently compiled a declaration, supported by thousands of people in the groups listed below. There are also translations of the declaration listed at the end.

Declaration on Meat Consumption and Climate Change

A call from people concerned about the future of all life on earth for a major shift to plant-based diets, to avoid an impending unprecedented global climate catastrophe.

[To be presented to the media and to world leaders and decision makers, including delegates to the UN climate conference, scheduled to be held in Cancun, Mexico, in December, 2010.]

According to the cover article by two World Bank environmental advisors in the November/December, 2009 issue of World Watch magazine, the livestock sector is responsible for at least 51 percent of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). A 2006 UN Food and Agriculture Organization report indicated that animal-based agriculture is responsible for more GHGs (in CO2 equivalents) than all the cars, planes, ships and other means of transportation worldwide combined. Making the situation worse, if current trends continue, global meat production is  projected to double by 2050, with the associated increase in GHGs negating the effects of many positive changes, making it very difficult, if not impossible, to reach the GHG reductions that climate experts believe is essential to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Technology-orientated solutions will not be adequate to sufficiently mitigate global warming. A major societal shift to plant-based diets is essential. Such a shift would have many additional benefits, including improved health, less dependence on oil and other fossil fuels, more efficient use of land, water, energy and other resources, and a reduction in deforestation, desertification, loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, water and air pollution and many other environmental problems.

To avoid a global climate catastrophe, it is urgent that governments, inter-governmental agencies, international donors and the development community, professional organizations, educators, religious, spiritual and political leaders and individuals, including artists and celebrities, as well as the media, promote effective steps to slow and ultimately reverse the consumption of meat and other animal products by supporting the recommendations indicated below and by providing the resources and political and economic backing necessary to achieve them. Nothing less than the fate of humanity and all life on earth is at stake and there is no time to spare.

Recommendations

• Convert areas currently used to grow feed crops into forests to increase the absorption of CO2.
• Initiate a protocol under UNFCCC (the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change) to reduce the consumption of meat and other animal products.
• Introduce a significant tax on all meat sold, to create an incentive for people to shift toward plant-based diets and thereby providing an incentive for companies to produce more plant-based foods. The funds raised could be used to lower taxes/VAT on healthier and more climate-friendly foods (i.e. plant foods), educate people about shifting to plant-based diets, retrain people previously employed in the livestock industry, subsidize meat-producing companies willing to start producing plant-based alternatives, and establish sustainable food security programmes in developing countries, etc.
• Increase awareness about the devastating impacts of meat consumption on climate, other environmental concerns, public health, hunger, water and energy scarcities, and animal welfare.
• Implement carbon footprint labeling on meat products, as well as information about the negative health and environmental impacts.
• Provide accurate information about plant-based diets and their many benefits.
• Provide increased access to healthy and affordable plant-based foods.
• Subsidize locally grown, organic plant-food production through subsidies and technical support for farmers.
• Support and subsidize backyard garden projects, school gardens and other local garden projects because they strengthen local sustainable food systems and local food systems.
• Support campaigns to reduce meat consumption, such as “Meatless Mondays.”
• Provide a variety of plant-based options at schools and other public and governmental food programs, including at military bases.
• Encourage food producers to expand the number of healthy, nutritious meat substitutes and create financial and other incentives to do so.
• Use videos, the internet and other modern communication methods to educate people about the nature of the threats, the importance of actions to reduce them, and the health, environmental and other benefits of plant-based diets.
• Stress that a major shift to plant-based diets is essential to help meet the GHG emissions reduction targets that scientists claim are essential to avoid major climate upheavals.
• Encourage sustainable technologies and green, climate-friendly lifestyles.
• Urge the delegates to the UN Cancun climate conference to stress in their final report that a major shift to plant-based diets is an essential part of efforts to avoid a climate catastrophe.

The Declaration is supported by (list in formation):

A Well Fed World
www.awfw.org

Brazilian Vegetarian Society, Brazil
www.svb.org.br

Centro Vegetariano, Portugal
www.centrovegetariano.org

Coalition for Plant-Based Solutions to Feed All, International
www.plantbasedfoodforall.net

Concern for Helping Animals in Israel (CHAI), Israel
www.chai-online.org

Danish Vegetarian Society,  Denmark
www.vegetarforening.dk

Eco-Eating, USA
www.brook.com/veg

Global Vegetarians Against Climate Change (GVACC), Switzerland
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=170525380145

Hong Kong Vegan Association, Hong Kong
http://www.vegan.hk

In Defense of Animals, USA
http://www.idausa.org/

International Vegetarian Club of Bejing, China
http://www.savetheplanet.org.cn

Jewish Vegetarians of North America,  USA
www.jewishveg.com

Helmut F. Kaplan, Austrian author and philosopher
http://www.tierrechte-kaplan.org

Wam Kat, Dutch author and activist
www.wamkat.de

Marti Kheel, American author
www.Martikheel.com

Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation, Netherlands
www.ngpf.nl

Sítio Vegetariano, Brazil
www.vegetarianismo.com.br

The Vegetarian Mitzvah, USA
www.brook.com/jveg

Veg Climate Alliance, International
http://www.vegclimatealliance.org

VegNews Magazine, USA
http://www.vegnews.com

Translations of the declaration

• Chinese

Rocco – a meat loving cowboy – was in trouble. He was diabetic, in the highest risk for a heart attack and obese.

On the set of Dr. Oz, he was told he is in the 97th percentile for aterial plaque – and that he had the heart of an 85 year old.

“Is it reversible” was what all he asked.

28 days later, with the help of Dr. Mike, Rocco was transformed. With only the vegan diet he had got himself well out of danger and kick started his return to health. View for yourself.

For more information on the health benefits of plant-based eating, visit the website of the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Meet another cowboy who’s life was saved by the vegan diet – Howard Lyman – otherwise known as “the Mad Cowboy.”

The Everest Women’s 7 Summit Eco-Action team is a group of nine Nepali women who have set the goal of climbing seven of the highest peaks on seven continents, setting a world record of being the largest team to do so—and in the process will raise awareness about the climate crisis.

In July 2010 the team of Nepali women will begin the first international leg of their tour by coming to Australia and climbing Mt.Kosciusko.

The team will use their expedition to highlight the urgent issue of climate change, and after receiving information about how the vegan diet is the most efficient way to combat global warming and environmental devastation, the entire team has decided to go vegan!

After Australia the next peak in the challenge is Mt. Elbrus in Europe, followed by Kilimanjaro (Africa), Vinson Massif (Antarctica),Aconcagua (South America), Carstensz Pyramid (Oceania) and Denali (North America).

The following are the team’s vision and mission statements:

Vision: Providing hope to people and empowering them by sharing knowledge about tools for mitigation and adaptation through education and cross cultural learning in order to promote sustainable co-existence of nature and human beings.

Mission: Climb the seven summits, conduct educational exchange programmes on climate change in each continent and finally compile the global knowledge in educational materials including a book, animations and posters which will be distributed in schools and libraries in various languages worldwide.

For more information on the Everest Women’s Seven Summits Eco-Action please visit: www.sevensummitswomen.org

The festival will focus on the planet-based diet as a response to the threat of climate change and other environmental problems.

From the website.

The festival will comprise live bands/performers, a second stage for demonstrations and speakers, a food zone, kids’ zone, video zone, art and fashion displays, roving entertainment and many stalls to create a full-filled festival atmosphere strongly supporting the promotion of local grassroots communities, multiculturalism and the Indigenous people and their culture.

The Green Earth Festival is a not-for-profit event that is first and foremost a public education event but also acts as the best possible environment to research, test, trial, promote and a fundraise for the not-for-profit Green Earth Group Inc and the other environmental, green, health and lifestyle, recycling, sustainable, animal rights and welfare groups who attend. The Green Earth Festival aims to empower the community and the people within it to become more aware, more informed and thus more able to take action to implement the basic changes we need to help our planet. The Green Earth Festival will use this platform to give opportunities to link organisations and local communities to information and education to further create and sustain development.

And it’s not a bad one, including some poignant global warming facts.

In response to Meat and Livestock’s comedic assertion that not eating lamb is un-Australian:

This petition is gaining momentum! There are already over 20,000 signatures which is a lot for it’s type.

Everyone should add this link to their email signature and send messages to friends!

The petition: Stop eating meat – and heal our planet

What an awesome 16 pages: Eating Up The World from Vegetarian Network Victoria. Download it in PDF file and Aussies should send the link on to all their buddies too. It’s geared towards Australians however it’s great info for everyone.

Here’s the conclusion from the last page, for more detail read the PDF booklet.

The Bottom Line

If we want to preserve and restore our environment in
Australia, we must make changes to our diet. The food we
eat has a major effect on our waterways, the quality of the
air we breathe and on the environment around us.
Eating fish and other sea life is killing our oceans, agricultural
industries are polluting our waterways, and vast areas of land are
wasted with the grazing of animals. These practices are
unsustainable and the global impacts are being felt more than ever
before.
By adopting a vegetarian diet you can make a significant contribution
towards improving your health as well as that of the planet.
The significant environmental benefits that can be made by adopting
a vegetarian diet include:
• enabling fresh water to be redirected to more efficient uses and
to restoring healthier river flows and aquatic habitats
• allowing the rehabilitation of grazing land into bushland which
would greatly reduce land degradation and the loss of Australia’s
biodiversity
• reducing the drivers for climate change, including carbon dioxide
and methane, and increasing the capture and storage of gases by
the environment
• reducing oil consumption and dependence on foreign sources of
energy and materials
• enabling our oceans to revert back to the vibrant ecosystems
that they once were and allowing fish populations to recover to
normal levels.
Animal industries are eating up the world.
It is up to us to save it!

All very important, urgent and true. Thanks VNV.

More background info on the report from VNV:

‘EATING UP THE WORLD’ OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED!

At this year’s Sustainable Living Festival, VNV launched its new booklet highlighting the effects of animal products on the planet.

Copies of the booklet were distributed at the festival which was held from 20-22 February 2009 at Federation Square in Melbourne.

The 16 page report, titled ‘Eating up the World: the Environmental Consequences of Human Food Choices’, raises issues of land exhaustion, air pollution, and ocean depletion among others such as species extinction, water, energy and materials expenditure, and the social impacts – all stemming from human dietary choices.

VNV President Mark Doneddu said, “Never before in our history have we been faced with so many environmental problems as right now.

“The simplest way for us to address this is to switch to a plant-based diet,” Mr Doneddu said.

The report contains facts and statistics from leading research bodies including the CSIRO, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

VNV held an information stall all three days of the festival where visitors learned more about the environmental report and the organisation’s other initiatives.

The launch of Eating up the World officially took place at the stall on 20 February at 5pm.

The booklet is now available online (2.5MB PDF). Printed copies are available from the VNV Office (please email us at info@vnv.org.au).

THANK-YOU VOICELESS!

In December 2007 VNV was awarded a major grant from Voiceless, the fund for animals, to assist in research and production of ‘Eating up the World’. Voiceless offers financial support to non-profit organisations for the design and implementation of projects which improve the lives of animals in Australia.

The award was presented by Brian Sherman AM (Voiceless Co-founder and Director) and actor Hugo Weaving (Ambassador for Voiceless). Rebecca Irvine, a representative from the VNV Team, went to Sydney to receive the award on VNV’s behalf. The award presentations were held on 3 December 2007 at the Sydney Opera House flagship restaurant ‘Guillaume at Bennelong’. When asked about the awards event Ms Irvine said “It was really fantastic to see so many not-for-profit organisations of a like minded nature receiving awards, all for really fantastic animal related causes. Each organisation was so deserving. It just goes to show that all their hard work is being recognised and supported and how much great work can be done with the grants mechanism provided by Voiceless”.

We sincerely thank Voiceless for their very generous support.

An editorial in geoscience magazine Nature deals with the Price of Animal Protein

Livestock production has undergone a massive transformation in the past few decades. As meat demand has increased around the globe, small holdings and independent farms have been replaced with colossal corporate facilities, where animals are crammed into excrement-filled cages, and injected with antibiotics and hormones to maintain health and maximize growth.

Dec. 23, 2009: During and after the Copenhagen climate summit, a coalition of vegetarian or vegan, environmental, animal rights and other groups and activists was formed to promote a major shift towards plant-based diets. Following a campaign of the Veg Climate Alliance, to “turn Copenhagen into CopenVegan,” the coalition is now presenting the draft of a declaration, “The Copenhagen Declaration on Meat Consumption and Climate Change” (text follows this release).

This declaration was initiated and first presented by Wayne Kao from Global Vegetarians Against Climate Change (GVACC) at a workshop of the Veg Climate Alliance in Copenhagen on Dec. 13th. This draft, which may be amended based on possible suggestions, marks the beginning of a global campaign to help save the planet through a major reduction in meat consumption. The coalition is presently seeking supporters for the declaration and calls on likeminded groups and activists to join their campaign. They also plan to get vegetarianism/veganism on the agenda of the COP16 climate summit in Mexico in 2010.

“We feel that the fate of humanity and all of Creation is at stake,” stated Richard H. Schwartz, director of the Veg Climate Alliance, “and it is essential that people recognize the urgency of dietary changes to avoid an impending global climate catastrophe.”

Wayne Kao from Global Vegetarian Against Climate Change (GVACC) explained the goals of the global campaign he is envisioning: “Since it is essential that meat consumption be sharply reduced if the world is to have a chance to avert a climate disaster, it is vital that all subsidies to the meat industry be stopped as soon as possible and instead that there be a major tax added to all meat and other animal products that are sold. This would not only reduce GHGs from livestock (estimated to be at least 51% in a recent article in World Watch magazine), but it would also reduce the consumption of water and energy, deforestation, species extinction, soil erosion, water pollution, desertification and other environmental problems as well as the current epidemics of heart disease, various types of cancer and other chronic degenerative diseases.”

The alliance believes this is probably the single most effective policy we can implement NOW to save the world from a climate change catastrophe in three to five years.

Albert Einstein was right, after all, when he said: “Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”

For further information:
www.CopenVegan.com
http://www.VegClimateAlliance.org

If you would like to support the declaration and the campaign, please contact: Carolin@VegClimateAlliance.org

Press Contacts:
Europe:
- Denmark: Sune Borkfelt:  sune@vegetarforening.dk,  0045-40 58 64 18, Danish Vegetarian Society, http://www.vegetarforening.dk
- Geneva, Switzerland: Wayne Kao: kao@globalink.org, 0041-78 629 8963, Global Vegetarians Against Climate Change (GVACC)
- Portugal: Centro Vegetariano, http://www.centrovegetariano.org

North America:
Richard Schwartz,  Director@vegclimatealliance.org,  001-718 7615876, Veg Climate Alliance,  http://www.vegclimatealliance.org

Africa:
Philip Otieno, philmacotieno@gmail.com,  00254-724 857 647, Ecological Sustainability Programme Kenya Young Greens

Copenhagen Declaration on Meat Consumption and Climate Change

A call from people concerned about the future of humanity and the planet for a major shift to plant-based diets, in order to avoid an impending global climate catastrophe.

According to the cover article by two environmentalists in the November/December issue of World Watch magazine, the livestock sector is responsible for at least 51 percent of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). A 2006 UN Food and Agriculture Organization report indicated that animal-based agriculture is responsible for more GHGs (in CO2 equivalents) than all the cars, planes, ships and other means of transportation worldwide combined. Making the situation worse, if current trends continue, global meat production is  projected to double by 2050, with the associated increase in GHGs negating the effects of many positive changes, making it very difficult, if not impossible to reach the GHG reductions that climate experts believe is essential to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Technology-orientated solutions will not be sufficient to sufficiently mitigate global warming. A major societal shift to plant-based diets is essential.

To avoid a global climate catastrophe, it is urgent that governments, inter-governmental agencies, international donors and the development community, professional organizations, educators, religious, spiritual and political leaders and individuals, including artists and celebrities, promote effective steps to slow and ultimately reverse the growth of meat consumption by supporting the recommendations indicated below and by providing the resources and political and economic backing necessary to achieve them. Nothing less than the fate of humanity and all of creation is at stake and there is no time to spare.

Recommendations

• Ban all direct and indirect government subsidies for meat production, including support for animal feed crops, grazing lands and water for irrigation.
• Convert some of the areas currently used to grow food crops into forests to increase the absorption of CO2.
• Initiate a protocol under UNFCCC to reduce methane and nitrous oxide produced by livestock.
• Introduce a significant tax on all meat sold to create an incentive for people to shift toward plant-based diets and thereby providing an incentive for companies to produce more plant-based foods. The funds raised could be used to lower taxes/VAT on healthier and more climate-friendly foods (i.e. veg foods), educate people about shifting to plant-based diets, retrain people previously employed in the livestock industry, subsidize meat-producing companies willing to start producing plant-based alternatives, and establish sustainable food security programmes in developing countries, etc.
• Increase awareness about the devastating impacts of meat consumption on climate, other environmental concerns, public health, hunger, water and energy scarcities, and animal welfare.
• Implement carbon footprint labeling on meat products.
• Provide accurate information about plant-based diets and their many benefits.
• Provide increased access to healthy and affordable plant-based foods.
• Subsidize locally grown, organic plant-food production.
• Provide a variety of plant-based options at schools and other feeding programs.
• Encourage food producers to expand the number of healthy, nutritious meat substitutes and create financial and other incentives to do so.
• Use videos, the internet and other modern communication methods to educate people about the nature of the threats, the importance of actions to reduce them, and the health, environmental and other benefits of plant-based diets.
• Stress that a major shift to plant-based diets is essential to help meet the GHG emissions reduction targets that scientists claim are essential to avoid major climate upheavals.
• Encourage sustainable technologies and green, climate-friendly lifestyles.

The Declaration is supported by Danish Vegetarian Society, VegClimateAlliance, CopenVegan, Global Vegetarians Against Climate Change (GVACC), Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation, Jewish Vegetarians of North America, Brazilian Vegetarian Society, Coalition for Plant-Based Solutions to Feed All, Centro Vegetariano, Wam Kat and others (list in formation)

Their efforts didn’t fall on deaf ears and have been reported around the world – mostly with awe as many of these activists braved the freezing temperatures for long hours to get their message across.

If the world sharply reduced its meat consumption, we would significantly reduce the amount of methane,” said Mr. Lux outside the main conference hall here on a snowy morning.

Reducing meat demand would shrink the cattle-raising industry and, therefore, the amount of bovine emissions, a methane goldmine, he says.

Veggie Tales: Climate Activists Urge Meat-Free Lifestyle in Copenhagen