While skeptics continue to doubt
scientists’ warnings on the urgency of global warming, for millions of people, it
seems that doomsday has already arrived.
In the last two years, prices
of basic foodstuffs have soared to ominous levels, with wheat prices rising by
130 percent in the last year alone. Skyrocketing food prices have led to widespread
social unrest. Food riots have been
reported in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and Latin
America. The World Bank
recently warned that 33 nations are now at risk of social unrest because of rising
food prices.
People believe that the first
wave of global warming disasters will come sometime in the distant future from
rising sea levels. But, it is now clear that long before rising sea levels make
their inevitable catastrophic impact, we will be faced with serious problems
with our food supply. Food crises and the social unrest that follow represent
the first wave of global warming disasters.
The United Nations has even called this a “Silent Tsunami.” Poor countries,
with little greenhouse gas emissions, will suffer first and the most because
they are the least able to adapt. But, developed countries are not immune. With
the planet warming at a faster pace than previously predicted, scientists can’t
predict when and what will be next.
According to the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, a combination of factors have led to
this urgent threat: damage to agricultural production caused by climate change,
increased meat consumption (diverting food crops to feed livestock), the
production of biofuels, and rising energy costs. While politicians continue to argue the
issues, there is something that every one of us can do right now to prevent the
food crisis from worsening and to curb climate change at the same time. It is
so simple, and so obvious. Just stop eating meat!
The 2006 United Nations
report “Livestock’s Long Shadow” points out that meat consumption generates 18%
of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than all forms of transportation combined. One third of grain production worldwide is
used to feed livestock instead of humans. This just doesn’t make sense. It
takes about 700 calories’ worth of grain to produce a 100 calorie piece of
beef. Forgoing meat can help feed a lot
more starving people than you think. As
for greenhouse gas emissions, reducing meat consumption by just 20 percent
would be the equivalent of switching from a Camry to a Prius. Going vegan for a year would save 1.5 tons of
greenhouse emissions.
All of humanity is connected. Our
lifestyle affects the wellbeing of people in faraway countries, and vice versa. Going meatless is the most effective thing
that each one of us can do to help rein in the food crisis and global warming. It’s time for us to rise up with our knives
and forks. With simple changes in our food choices, we just might be able to
eat our way out of the doomsday scenario.
