The Breathtaking Effects Of Cutting Back On Meat

by Kathy Freston

From the Huffington Post...

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save:

• 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months;


• 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year;


• 70 million gallons of gas--enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare;


• 3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware;


• 33 tons of antibiotics.

Everybody gets upset when somebody raises this point. They are afraid that somebody is going to take their steak away from them.

This isn't the case at all. Anybody can argue the validity of the statistics, or the health benefits of vegetarianism, or any other nit-picky thing that they can come up with.

Unfortunately, the point of arguments like this isn't to convert everybody to this dark religion known as vegetarianism. Rather, the idea is that when you consider the impact that the food you eat has on the world around you, you begin to make more careful decisions about what food you put on your table and in your mouth.

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Meat the Truth

Meat the Truth

From the Web site:

The documentary Meat the Truth is the first major project undertaken by the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation.

Meat the Truth is a high-profile documentary, presented by Marianne Thieme (leader of the Party for the Animals), which forms an addendum to earlier films that have been made about climate change.

Although such films have convincingly succeeded in drawing public attention to the issue of global warming, they have repeatedly ignored one of the most important causes of climate change, namely: intensive livestock production.

Meat the Truth has drawn attention to this by demonstrating that livestock farming generates more greenhouse gas emissions worldwide than all cars, lorries, trains, boats and planes added together.

Playing at the Drexel East

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

7:30pm - 9:00pm

2254 E Main St

Bexley, OH

Hospitals cut meat

From The Guardian:

Hospitals will take meat off menus in bid to cut carbon

Way to go U.K.! Hospital food just got infinitely more palatable.

Slam Dunk News Day

Big man Greg Oden may be done for the season after he had microfracture surgery on his knee. The first pick in the draft should have plenty of time left to work on his dance moves with the women of Portland while the team is traveling and playing basketball games.

What would the day's news be without a pile of Iraq reports? The Dems are trying to attract moderate Republicans to join the Anti-War efforts in order to prevent a filibuster. A compromise passed regarding oil in Iraq has collapsed. Reports about the deaths of the soldiers who authored a piece that was critical of the military efforts in Iraq continue to pour in. A key U.S. ally in Iraq was killed today by a bomb planted outside his house. The best possible option for the country would be to allow Iraq to be governed by a reality television show where viewers in the country could vote on what steps should be taken next in the glorious enterprise that is democracy. That is, if they can get enough electricity to run "Iraqi Idol."

In other parts of the Middle East, tensions are flaring in Syria after Israel's air strike on mysterious targets within Syrian borders. The strikes were thought to be on nuclear targets. Both sides are tense, and whatever happened, at least the efforts didn't involve a bomb that was as big as the Cleveland Browns performance against Pittsburgh on Sunday.

The presidential debate has gone Web 2.0, with Democratic candidates communicating with the voting public in an online forum that goes by the name of the Presidential mashup. Each candidate offers their views on a series of predetermined questions, and then a few questions are generated by the audience. I'm into the health care issue, and nobody with a real chance of winning has a working plan for guaranteeing health care for all that addresses the issues I'm interested in. Until Hillary quits taking money from the insurance lobby, I'm still supporting somebody else.

Finally, vegetarianism is good for the environment. Scientists have determined that meat production is a significant contributor to global warming. Just keep eating your steaks, Earth killer. You should be able to chase your favorite piece of carcass down with a heaping helping of methane gas. Mmm mmm. Tastes like the apocalypse.

Are You Ready for Some Football?

And with the first pick in the 2007 draft, the United States penal system selects Michael Vick, quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons. Here's hoping your cell mate isn't carrying a rape stand, Mike.

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee is calling for the ouster of the "democratically" elected President of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki. It's a shame that American citizens don't have the option of picking new elected officials because the last batch of elected officials is ineffective and unnecessary.

The ineffective and unnecessary leadership at the White House is making a stand against health care for children of the middle class without insurance. Their logic is that if these kids die off young while their parents also die off from old age, nobody will be left to be critical of the shambles that are the Bush legacy.

The Democratic majority in Congress has given birth to a 33 percent increased budget meant to battle global warming. It's about time somebody in this country spent money on something that will actually do ME some good in the future. Bravo to their selflessness (and a hurrah for my selfishness).

If you think the U.S. has trouble in our coal mines, maybe you should try China on for size. Relatives of the 172 miners trapped in a flooded mine protested the government's inactivity related to their loved ones. China's relationship with good press is about as longstanding as Michael Vick's, suggesting that China may want to just shoot all journalists dead before the press corps tears China to shreds at its own Olympics.

Finally, sports and news of the weird intersect at the story of a 59-year-old senior football player at Sul Ross University in Texas waiting to hear if he made the squad 35 years after his junior year. I don't know what Mike Flynt thinks he's doing, but if he makes that roster, he may inspire Barry Bonds to be the designated hitter for the Angels until 2050. Boo that idea!

756 and Counting

Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present to you the new Sultan of Swat, the alleged greatest home run hitter of all time, Barry Lamar Bonds. Home run number 756 is sure to draw the ire of sportswriters everywhere. Whatever happens down the line, I hope somebody puts an asterisk next to Bud Selig's tenure as commissioner of baseball.

Temperatures are up across the board in the U.S. lately. Temperatures for the PGA Championship will be greater than 100 degrees everyday of the tournament. My advice is stay inside unless you are trying to win a competitive prfessional golf tournament, and if your name is Rory Sabatini, stay inside anyway.

In Iraq, the sectarian violence will continue to get worse if the Americans stay or if they go predicts former New York Times Middle East bureau chief Chris Hedges. About the only good news in Iraq is that the U.S. has put in a request to receive military assistance from the United Nations. Hopefully the U.N. gets there before things get much worse.

On the other front of the ever-failing war on terror, the Taliban staged an unsuccessful attack on a U.S. army base in Afghanistan. Stress like this could only drive soldiers to do hard drugs...like the cheap, easily available heroin in Afghanistan. This gives the phrase "War on Drugs" a whole new meaning.

On another front of the ever-failing war on drugs, Mexican President Felipe Calderon has asked for aid to fight the powerful drug cartels in his country. Bush promised financial support as well as the tenacious cooperation of the well-armed Ted Nugent and the deeply-indebted Wesley Snipes.

The six miners trapped underground in Utah may have to stay there for a week because of seismic activity and dangerous conditions. I'm curious as to what kind of conditions can be more dangerous than being trapped underground for a week in a coal mine.

North Korea and South Korea will hold a joint summit, bringing the two nations together for the second time in seven years. This could be the most anticipated reunion of the year save for the anticipation of Axl Rose for a future paycheck with a full band Guns N Roses reunion.

Federal authorities are also expected to announce a major crackdown on illegal hiring in the United Staes. They could also try investigating the formerly illegal warrantless wiretapping program and its illegal henchman Alberto Gonzales while they're at it.

Independence Day with 400% Less Will Smith

There will be some brief ruminating and complaining before I'm off to celebrate the birth of our great nation. Then it's off to drink and blow things up. God bless America, praise the lord and pass the ammunition.

If anybody was curious as to how we have spent these billions of dollars in Iraq, they need to look no further than the contractors (soldiers-for-hire) fighting in some sort of confederated union under the banner of the American flag. These contractors are the combat equivalent of the first credit card you got in college. You know you aren't supposed to buy these things and that you'll never be able to pay off the debt, but you keep swiping and stop thinking about it. Take the plastic away from the Oval Office before they spend your grandkids' grandkids' retirement plans.

Scootergate continues to pick up steam. Robert Sheer believes that the commutation shows that the administration believes it is above the law. The great philosopher Nico Toscani once said, "You guys think you're above the law... well you ain't above mine!" With Bush not ruling out a full pardon for Libby, perhaps Steven Seagal should be dispatched to Pennsylvania Avenue for a White House Showdown (I copyright that movie title...it's mine!).

After 100 days in captivity, BBC journalist Alan Johnston was freed by his captors in Gaza. He's a brave man for surviving this ordeal, and anybody who is working over in Gaza or the West Bank to dig up the truth is braver than somebody like myself, whose bravest act of defiance was wearing a Bears jersey into a Packers bar.

The Republican Presidential candidates are losing the money grab to the Dems, who have put up a sizable lead on the G.O.P. The only reason Mitt Romney can see Barack and Hillary is because he is throwing his own personal money into the fund. The only way these guys could stay in the race is by having a stockpile of ill-gotten gains to toss around in order to keep their ship afloat (a la Romney).

Weird news starts off with scientists finally figuring out how an entire lake in Chile disappeared while explaining where it went to. The scientists attributed the change to global warming while President Bush attributed the change to the boogieman or some other force out of our control.

Independence day brings about beer drinkers of many different stripes. Beermakers are complaining about massive revenue (millions of dollars) lost through kegs being sold for scrap metal. Consumers issue just as many complaints about the low quality swill being passed off as beer under the Budweiser, Miller and Coors banners. It appears that once again big business has created a new situation where nobody wins. Yeah big business, yeah big beer!