Pachouri, president of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, called on everyone to "avoid eating meat, ride bicycles and simply consume" in view of global warming. This is not the persuasion of religious scholars, but the research essence of thousands of top scientists.
Following vegetarianism and self-denial, Tzu Chi also put forward the campaign of "Reducing Carbon 333, Protecting the Earth 999" according to these three sentences. The non-meat part extends to vegetarian food, low-carbon mileage food and waste-free food. The extension of riding is to drive less, save water and electricity, and cherish paper. As for pure consumption, it means not pursuing fashion, prolonging life and not using disposable goods. I hope to save the earth together through these nine lifestyles.
According to one data, producing one kilogram of beef emits 36.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to driving for three hours. Raising cattle emits carbon dioxide in one year, which is equivalent to driving a sports car for 70,000 kilometers.
In order to slow down global warming, even the United Nations has called on everyone to eat less meat. In fact, many people have changed their lifestyles to reduce their carbon footprint, such as driving less, but do you know? Driving for less than half an hour, reducing carbon dioxide is equivalent to eating a steak or a bowl of beef noodles. In other words, as long as you eat a steak or beef noodles, your carbon dioxide emissions are equivalent to driving for half an hour. In addition, 30% of the land in the world is used for animal husbandry. Eating a steak or a bowl of beef noodles is equivalent to cutting off half the area and so many trees in Tai 'an Forest Park in Taipei. Therefore, by changing living habits, the earth can be less destroyed.
Animal husbandry emits more carbon dioxide than all cars and locomotives, which is really amazing. From this perspective, animal husbandry is a very environmentally unfriendly industry. Some people may say that growing vegetables, rice and fruits will also emit carbon dioxide. Yes, but the carbon dioxide emissions of fruits and vegetables are only 1/9 of those of animal products. Moreover, to produce one kilogram of meat, these livestock must eat seven kilograms of grain, which directly or indirectly causes food shortage. If you eat meat here, you may leave people at the other end with nothing to eat.
In addition, meat eaters produce 1500 kg of carbon dioxide a year, while vegetarians produce 430 kg a year, with a gap of 1070 kg, equivalent to 82 trees a year, and the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by 7 trees is also equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed in one month. Many people like to plant trees to reduce carbon. In fact, vegetarianism can plant 82 trees a year, which can slow down global warming.
We are all people living on the same earth. You and I are both responsible for the life and death of the earth.