We already know that we should eat less meat for the sake of the planet – the United Nations has said reduced meat consumption would help curb greenhouse emissions. While many ardent environmentalists are vegetarian, initiatives like Meatless Monday are trying to encourage all of us to do our part, as well.

So meat production helps cause global warming. But did you know that climate change might also affect the quality of meat? According to New Scientist: “Pork chops will become …

Tags: climate , climate change , food , food production and global warming , global warming effects , meat , meat eating , vegetarian

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Anyone who grew up on Westerns and novels such as Little House on the Prairie and My Antonia would be hard-pressed to recognise the Great Plains today. The woods and grasslands known to the native Americans and the early pioneers have largely made way for suburban sub-divisions and industrial agriculture, with a co-dependent duo of grain crops and cattle destined for feedlots.

There is a movement afoot to restore the American West to its former glory and two animal species are taking centre stage.

The first is the American buffalo, a species …

Tags: American West , biodiversity , bison , buffalo , Great Plains , meat , prairie , ranching , restoration , wolf

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The U.S. is one very carnivorous nation. But what if, just for one day, everyone went vegetarian?

Well, according to a Huffington Post article by Kathy Freston, just one meat free day in the U.S. would save nearly 100 billion gallons of water, 1.5 billion pounds of crops, 70 million gallons of gas, and 33 tons of antibiotics.

Wow. All that just for eating pasta instead of pork chops. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. After all, the Livestock’s Long Shadow report, released recently by the UN, has already concluded that the …

Tags: consumption , energy , meat , sustainability , vegetarian

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Among the internet-based April Fool’s hoaxes was one that particularly caught my eye. Ben & Jerry’s put up a fake website advertising milk from 100% “perfect” cloned cows. I actually saw it last week before they copped to the joke and it took me a minute to realize it was a fake. (It was just too tongue-in-cheek to be real.)

The web was buzzing with speculation – who was behind it? On April 1, Ben & Jerry’s admitted they were the creators of the site and they also …

Tags: Ben & Jerry's , dairy , food , hoax , internet , meat , meme , website

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Conservation of fossil fuel, reduced methane emissions, less water waste – now saving your eyesight can be added to the list of reasons to give up red meat.

Researchers at the Centre for Eye Research, part of the University of Melbourne Department of Ophthalmology in Australia, say they’ve found a link between age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of vision loss, and the frequent consumption of red meat.

Their study in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that people who ate red meat 10 times a week …

Tags: blindness , Centre for Eye Research , diet , eyesight , health , meat , red meat , vegetarian , vision

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Our delightful friends at PETA have been at it again. Running far over the line between attention-grabbing activism and attention-seeking lunacy, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals show no sign of changing their ways – which might be fun, if sanity weren’t so useful. Here, 5 more ridiculous PETA stunts of late.

Fluff and Nonsense: PETA Denies Fish Exist (October 2008)

Because much of the natural world is generally eww gross and lacking in cuteness, PETA are eager to helpfully rename the birds and the beasts …

Tags: activism , diet , meat , peta , stunts , vegan , vegetarian

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Everyone has heard the factoid about cow farts: The methane from cattle passing gas is apparently a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. (Though apparently cattle burps are an even bigger problem).

It sounds like something you’d see on Snopes but it’s actually true. And believe it or not, scientists are trying to fix it by tinkering with the animals’ diets. Even if cattle eat a natural diet of grass – which applies to so few modern farmed cattle anyway – apparently there’s a lot they …

Tags: climate change , food , meat , methane , sustainability , vegetarianism

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America is the king of King Size, the cream of the crops, the place where portions are out of all proportion. When it comes to food, the United States is one of the most influential countries in the world. But what will happen if the rest of the world adopts American food habits? In short: it can’t. Here are nine incredible facts about the incredibly unsustainable diet we call the Standard American Diet.
Meat
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Tags: conscious eating , diet , environment , food , meat , nutrition , sustainable , wellness

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Image: striatic

Let’s pretend we have a mutual friend. We’ll called him Peter.

There’s a lot to like about Peter: he’s deeply concerned about his impact on the environment, he donates time to local community projects, he’s thoughtful, charismatic and likeable. But there’s something odd about Peter, something deeply Out To Lunch – and every so often, this weirdness springs out of him. He builds a floodlit shrine out of recycled credit cards outside the local Walmart and surrounds it with pictures of flowers and animals. He paints all …

Tags: animals , fur , meat , peta , testing , vegan , vegetarian

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