Lecture Script 11: Other Reasons for Eating a Whole …...4. Dr. Oreskes asks us, what if our...

Lecture Script 11:

Other Reasons for Eating a Whole Food, Plant Based Diet.

Part 2: Our Environment

© www.BetterEatingforLife.com

1

Introductory Video:

Thanks for joining me today. This last presentation of the series is entitled Other Reasons for Eating a Whole

Food, Plant Based Diet. Part 2: Our Environment. I am a big believer in using knowledge as power, and my

intention is to give you some knowledge to help you, help all of us. We live in such a big beautiful, diverse and

dynamic world! The beauty on earth is staggering. We are in trouble because so many people eat so many

animals.

This presentation about the environment is a hard one. We are dealing with a huge gap in awareness. Large

organizations and corporations don’t want us to talk about it. It is challenging, it’s depressing, and feels very

big to grapple with, but we must, for our children and grandchildren's sake.

This presentation is about how we humans have influenced our environment via animal based agriculture:

Specifically, our land, air, water and oceans. We will also talk about species biodiversity, our health living in

such an environment, and the ethics of eating animals knowing what we know.

This session takes about 50 minutes and I will pop back in two additional times to recap important points. Make

sure you have reviewed the questions for reflection and discussion first, have your vegan snack, and notebook

handy because here we go!

Power Point Slides:

2. Every individual can make a difference. This is a far reaching topic and there are many excellent books,

articles and resources out there to substantiate this presentation. This presentation is simply a brief overview of

some of the environmental effects and pollution caused by humans eating animals. This presentation is not

about the entire topic of environmentalism, or climate change, or any of that. This presentation focusses on

industrial animal agriculture and how that industry is changing our environment. However, we have to

acknowledge it is easy to be overwhelmed, and disheartened, we have a very convoluted system run by a few,

very large, global corporate players and politicians who want to maintain the status quo.

However, please remember that every day one person can make a difference by what we choose to put on our

plate. Our food choices have a huge impact on the planet; the more of us who eat more plant based meals, the

better for the environment, the animals themselves, and our health. Think of it as living lightly on the Earth,

with an eye toward the future, and with a smaller, kinder, more compassionate footprint for our fellow

inhabitants. But first we have to address climate change deniers and the scientific consensus on climate change.

3. While we are focusing on just the environmental effects of animal agriculture, I want to briefly address

climate change deniers and skeptics, actually about 20% around the world, by addressing a massive study and

book by Harvard Professor Naomi Oreskes, a science historian.

Lecture Script 11:




2

Dr. Oreskes analyzed 928 peer reviewed, scientific articles published between 1993 and 2003 with the key word

climate change.

None of these articles’ authors disagreed that 1. Yes climate change does exist, and 2. Humans are causing it.

That means there is widespread scientific consensus and evidence that human activity is heating the earth, thus

greatly influencing global climate change.

To quote Dr. Oreskes, “Politicians, economists, journalists and others may have the impression of confusion,

disagreement, or discord among climate scientists, but that impression is incorrect.” In other words, the science

is there. It’s like gravity, there is agreement among scientists. Sadly, others have corrupted that conversation for

their own benefit.

From their book’s webpage, Merchants of Doubt, historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway explain how a

loose–knit group of high-level scientists, with extensive political connections, ran effective campaigns to

mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades. In seven compelling

chapters addressing tobacco, acid rain, the ozone hole, global warming, and DDT, Oreskes and Conway show

how the ideology of free market fundamentalism, aided by a too-compliant media, has skewed public

understanding of some of the most pressing issues of our era”.

The result is that some people are mixed up regarding climate change as a result of the same strategies of

causing doubt or denial that twisted the publics’ knowledge of the health impacts of tobacco and DDT in the

past. Do we want to repeat this cycle of misinformation?

4. Dr. Oreskes asks us, what if our grandchildren knew we knew, about climate change, and we failed to do

anything about it. Good question. But we can do something about it every day when we decide what to eat, and

we can share this knowledge with our children and their children! There is hope.

5. Dr. Oppenlander shares this vision:

Our world has “created the most efficient and nourishing food production systems possible. These systems

should build and conserve topsoil and soil fertility, while using the least amount of land, water, and other

resources. These goals can be accomplished by devoting all agriculture efforts toward purely plant-based

systems – no livestock, no diary, and no chickens”.

I love the title of his amazing book. I was comfortably unaware of the impact of animal agriculture on climate

change until a few years ago. I just didn’t know. I thought I was an environmentalist….. I wasn’t.

This is from his website: “Dr. Richard Oppenlander is a consultant and researcher whose award-winning book,

Comfortably Unaware, has been endorsed as a “must read” by Ellen DeGeneres, Dr. Jane Goodall, and Dr. Neal

Barnard, among many others.

http://comfortablyunaware.com/books/comfortably-unaware/

Lecture Script 11:




3

Since the early 1970’s, Dr. Oppenlander has studied the effect our food choices have on our health and the

immense impact those choices have on our environment. With his work, Dr. Oppenlander addresses the fact

that our current choice of foods is the leading contributing factor for detrimental climate change, the loss of our

land and freshwater, devastation of our oceans, rapid loss of biodiversity and mass extinctions, world hunger

and food insecurity, and loss of our own health.

Conversely, with new found global awareness, and immediate adoption of a fully plant based diet, and

agricultural systems, the highest level of relative sustainability will be achieved, and we will flourish as a

civilization.”

Yes, each of us can do something every day to help alleviate climate change. Next, let’s talk briefly and

specifically about our land, air, and water.

6. Planet earth is comprised of about 70% water and about 30% land. Land is limited. We raise and slaughter 70

billion animals a year for 7 billion people to eat on this limited amount of land. These animals, who are animals

first and humans’ food second, require massive amounts of natural resources. Let’s talk about that.

7. What shall we do with our land? We have mentioned before how awful factory farms are, and they are

horrific, kept under wraps by legislation, called Ag-Gag laws, so we cannot see what truly goes on in there.

Livestock now use 30% of non-ice, usable land in the world and we only have 30% of our planet as

land!

While in the US, half the land mass is used for producing, growing crops, feeding, or dealing with the

waste of animals that people eat.

70% of forests in the Amazon now used for grazing.

Grass fed cows are not sustainable. While the animals might be happier than those raised in factories, we

do not have the land. Cows require 2-20 acres per animal depending on where in the world they live. We

have 7 billion people on this planet, soon to be 9 billion. We simply do not have room to graze on grass

animals raised for food. Moreover, grass fed animals need a longer time, another year, to get bigger

before we kill them so that means more water is consumed, and more methane is released through their

massive amounts of waste.

On one acre of land we can grow 12-20 times amount of edible grains, veggies and fruits as animal

products.

Purely plant based agricultural systems rebuild soil over the long term. Planting a wide variety of crops

can increase crop yields by 400%!

8. What are some of the effects of animal agriculture on our land?

Deforestation causes habitat loss for plants, animals, and people. Trees, forest cover, are home to many species

are complex interrelated ecosystems.

Lecture Script 11:




4

Overgrazing: 700 million acres have been degraded which results in loss of topsoil. Every back yard gardener

knows we need topsoil to raise crops. Due to the large amounts of over grazing on US lands, we have lost about

13% of our topsoil, that is 7 billion tons of topsoil.

The result is that more of our land is less productive, so we have to add all sorts of chemicals to enrich it such as

pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers which all cause problems of their own.

Desertification occurs when soil cannot retain water or grow plants, and the land suffers from rapid erosion by

wind and rain.

9. You can see from this infographic that numbers are floating all over the globe. These numbers represent

billions of dollars in tax subsidies. Yes, in 2012, 18 billion dollars went directly to just beef and veal subsidies.

Over 15 billion dollars went directly to milk producers, while pork producers received 7.3 billion and chicken

producers received 6.5 billion dollars.

In the past decade, tens of billions of taxpayer dollars were used to provide grain subsidies only to factory

farms; these subsidies were not available to farms that raise animals on pasture lands. Right, grass fed cattle do

not receive any subsidies.

Meanwhile, the costs of pollution imposed onto taxpayers by these factory farms is in the tens of billions. While

waste created by the animal agriculture sector is a major source of water and air pollution, the agribusiness

lobby has pressed repeatedly, and occasionally, successfully to exempt factory farms from the mandatory

reporting required of other major polluting industries. This just isn’t right is it?

The only way we are going to effect change in our environment is by demand, consumer action, the more of us

who do not buy animal products the better. We can also pressure our elected officials to respond to their

constituents’ needs versus industry needs.

10. The air we breathe: Greenhouse gas is mostly made up of three poisonous gases, specifically carbon

dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. These three gasses impact global warming in a significant manner. Since

1750, carbon dioxide levels have risen 35%, while methane has risen 145%, primarily due to the animal

agriculture industry.

Did you know that methane is much more toxic to the ozone layer than carbon dioxide? Yes but everyone talks

about carbon dioxide, when we really should be talking about methane, which is 23 times as destructive as

carbon dioxide. Well then there is nitrous oxide too. Nitrous oxide is almost 300% more toxic than carbon

dioxide. The animal Ag industry generate 65% of all human related nitrous oxide emissions.

11. Animal agriculture emissions. Quick, guess how many pounds of waste livestock animals excrete per

minute in the US? These animals excrete 5 million pounds of waste per minute, which is 130 times more than

Lecture Script 11:




5

all the human waste in the US. The animals we raise for consumption in the US create massive amounts of

waste filled with antibiotics, pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and other chemicals.

The animal agriculture industry generates of our 18%: carbon dioxide emissions vs 13.5% emissions

from the entire transportation system. We breathe more greenhouse gasses from the animal agriculture

industry that from all the transportation emissions in the world. What we eat creates more of a threat to

the environment than all the cars, busses, trucks, trains, and airplanes in the world.

37% of methane emissions come from livestock manure.

65% nitrous oxide pollution is also due to livestock manure.

The Independent World Watch Institute reports that 51% of global warming is due to animal agriculture.

With animal based food, a.k.a meat, eating increasing as developing nations get richer, this is a big stinking

mess! Experts all over the world are talking about how economic growth and animal agriculture are closely

linked and how that association needs to be converted to a healthier more sustainable situation.

12. Factory farm air pollution. As everyone knows, in cities and towns, we have sewage treatment plants.

Animal agriculture does not use sewage treatment plants. Instead of treating this animal waste, it is poured into

huge open cesspools filled with toxins; these toxins release gasses into the air. For the local adjacent

communities breathing in this polluted air is health hazard for asthma, bronchitis, diarrhea, heart palpitations,

headaches, depression, nosebleeds, and even brain damage. For example:

Animal feedlots in TX produce more than 7,000 tons of particulate dust, containing bacteria, mold, and

fungi from feces and feed.

When these open cesspools of urine and feces are full, they are then sprayed as liquid fertilizer for crops

and carried by the wind to local residents and communities.

These cesspools emit toxic airborne chemicals that cause inflammatory, immune and neurological

problems in humans.

The EPA estimates that 80% of ammonia emissions come from animal waste. You know the smell, it

burns your lungs. There is much more we could say.

Video Snippet #1

We started out this session with the idea that we CAN do something about it! Yes, we can! I feel better knowing

that I am helping in my own small way, by reaching out to share this information with you, as well as, continue

to eat only a plant based diet.

By not eating animals, we are helping reduce air, land, and water pollution. We are reducing the huge negative

environmental effects of the animal agriculture industry. We are consumers voting with our purchases and

walking away from the corporations that produce unhealthy foods and ruin our planet.

Lecture Script 11:




6

Our land is over used, over grazed, and less productive. Whole species are losing their habitats. We breathe

more greenhouse gasses from the animal agriculture industry than from all the transportation emissions in the

world. So what we eat creates more of a threat to the environment than all the cars, busses, trucks, trains, and

airplanes in the world. CRAZY isn’t it?

Our precious water, is both scarce and contaminated, as we will discuss next. Animals require huge amounts of

water to survive. Another massive amount of water is needed to kill, butcher, and process them so people can

eat them, because as you can imagine, slaughterhouses are filthy places.

Power Point Slides

13. We have all seen the photos of the adorable, fluffy, baby polar bears in distress due to a reduction of their

icy habitat. It is heart breaking and very real. As our earth’s temperature rises due to the emission of methane,

nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide gasses, the polar ice caps are shrinking. Estimates vary, but some say so much

ice will melt, that we will experience an increase of up to one meter (that’s 39 inches) of ocean this century.

That can cause flooding! Today the Arctic Ocean ice is the smallest in recorded history. The Greenland ice

fields are also rapidly melting, they lost more ice in 2012 than all the ice combined in the Swiss Alps.

14. Everyone knows that California is suffering from a four year drought, the worst in 1,200 years, and residents

have been asked to cut watering lawns and to take short showers. Yet California is also the leading dairy

producer in the US. Annual gross profits are about 5 billion dollars. Surprisingly, the dairy industry has not

been asked to restrict water usage despite the many hidden uses of water we forget about in industrial animal

aquiculture. For example, first water has to produce feed for livestock and that is mostly corn and soy which

require quite a bit of water, then water to hydrate the cows at 50 gallons per day. Finally lots of water is needed

to keep the processing plant clean. 700 cows at a typical plant uses 3.4 million gallons per day.

80% of CA water goes to agriculture. Large scale farmers are exempt from restrictions during the 4 year

drought.

50% of the freshwater used in US is for the animal agriculture industry.

400 gallons of water is used at the slaughterhouse to kill butcher and process one cow.

Cows drink 50 gallons per day.

1 Pound beef represents 1,800 gallons of water! While 468 gallons represents one pound of chicken, and

576 gallons for one pound of bacon or pork.

1 pound nuts require 4.5 cubic feet of water; beans require 2 cubic feet and vegetables 0.15 cubic feet of

water.

1 gram of beef protein requires 6x as much water as 1 gram of protein from beans, peas, or lentils.

Increases in urbanization, consumption, industrialization, and population are all interrelated in the conversation

about humans’ responsibility toward climate change …

Lecture Script 11:




7

15. By 2050: Experts say we will need 50% more water when our global population increases from 7 to 9

billion people.

Right now 1.2 billion people live where water is scarce. This is not getting any better. Are saying by our actions

that those one plus billion people are less important than the animals people eat?

As developing nations (China and India for example) become more successful, their standard of living changes

along with growing disdain for their traditional vegetarian diet which they forgo for Western animal based

nutrition instead.

The former environmental minister of Brazil, Lizzie O’Leary said …. “We have all the elements of a perfect

storm, except we don’t have water!” The parts of that perfect storm include rising numbers of people, rising

incomes, rising consumption, lack of resources and poverty alleviation. And that the country could be bracing

for water riots and she is not alone is her worry. Wow, water riots? Scary!

16. Drinking water pollution: What we would do if our civic leaders told us our community had run out of fresh

drinking water due to the pollution caused from the animal agriculture industry? This would include the raising

of food for the animals, as well as all the water used in killing, butchering, and processing? This could be a

future scenario.

In 2015 the city of Toledo, Ohio experienced a record setting algae bloom in Lake Erie that costs millions to

filter and process so the water was safe for drinking. It is a risk to swimmers and nuisance to boaters. Lake Erie

used to be really polluted by all the heavy “rust belt” industry that occurred around the city of Toledo, Detroit,

and the Midwest. Now the lake, and local citizens, are under siege again because excessive run off from

fertilizers used on feed for animal agriculture, specifically corn and soybeans, which are threatening the

drinking and bathing water of residents. Who wants to bathe their infant in toxic water?

This pollution is caused by excess nutrients from fertilizer, manure, and sewage. Citizens rely on bottled water.

Incidentally the Clean Water Act does not monitor most agriculture operations because they are not what is

called “on point” pollution sources meaning there isn’t a pipeline pushing the pollution out, instead the

pollution leaks out and runs off.

Ohio and Iowa are in similar distress due to massive amounts of fertilizer used on corn for animal Ag. Speaking

of Iowa, let’s add Missouri and you get more than 50 million pigs and only 8 million people. Think of the urine,

excrement, and the greenhouse gasses they produce, plus all the natural resources those animals require in just

two states.

These water borne pollutants work their way via the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, where the world’s

largest algae bloom, the size of Connecticut, is located creating a “dead zone” without any plants or animals.

The UN says there are 150 “dead zones “in the world all caused by excess nitrogen from farm fertilizers and

sewage. That leads us to fishless oceans….

Lecture Script 11:




8

17. Fishless oceans by 2050? We talk more about fishing in the animals session so right now let me say just a

few things about the polluting effects of industrial fishing.

The EPA tells us that 100% of freshwater fish samples in the US contain mercury, and ocean fish

samples contain heavy metals, PCBs, highly toxic cancer causing chemicals. Don’t forget antibiotics! If

people eat fish they ingest those chemicals.

Due to industrial fishing practices, fishing lines, weights, and nets entangle, kill, wildlife and birds.

Massive drift nets accelerate species extinction via “by-kill”.

The nonprofit, Oceana, organization recently published a report about by-catch or by-kill. By-kill is when

other animals like sea turtles, baby fish, dolphins and sea birds are caught along with the target fish.

Annually, commercial fisheries across the world bring in approximately 160 billion pounds of marine catch,

or 400 million pounds per day. 40% of that 400 million catch is discarded, dead, or maimed and left to die

back in the ocean. That equals 16 million dead, maimed pounds of sea life per day. Our oceans are depleted

and under severe stress. Our large fish stock is 10% of what it was in the 1950s due to industrial fishing

practices. Some scientists predict we could have fishless oceans by 2050.

Because of consumer demand; we have already eaten all the wild fish so now enterprising corporations have

developed fish farms. Picture 90,000 fish in a pen that is 100 feet by 100 feet. Connected together, fish

farms can easily raise one million fish is a relatively small space.

Fish farms are plagued with parasites and disease, they contaminate local ecosystems.

The water around fish farms are full of fish feces, uneaten food, antibiotics, and chemicals that pollute

waterways.

To make matters worse, farmed fish require wild caught fish for food. Yes! 3 lbs. wild fish is needed for

every 1 lb. of farmed shrimp or salmon.

We cannot forget livestock factory farms, 1/3 of all fish caught used as fish meal for livestock, fish

eating cows just seems wrong though doesn’t it?

18. As we wrap up the sections about land, air and water please think about this information as you consider the

health of our animals and our food supply. Dealing with animal waste is huge problem.

Farmed animals produce 130 times the amount of waste than the entire world population. Where does that waste

go? Cesspools!

Open air cesspools are not regulated by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Contents of cesspools are

sprayed on fields and drift to neighboring areas creating more air and water pollution.

Many of us know how antibiotic resistance is a growing problem. One reason is because chickens only

metabolize about 20% of the antibiotics given them. 80% ends up in their waste.

Lecture Script 11:




9

Factory farmed animals produce about 3 trillion tons waste per year. A dairy farm with 2,500 cows generates as

much urine and feces as a city of over 400,000 people (160x as much waste).

Waste is used to fertilize crops, leaches into our waterways full of antibiotics, drugs, bacteria, even arsenic.

19. The Union for Concerned Scientists is the leading science based, non-profit working for a healthy

environment and a safer world. They recently issued a report, the Greatest Potential for Reducing Land Use

Emissions, saying that damaging land use, which includes deforestation, methane from cattle, and nitrogen from

over fertilization, can be and must be reduced so we can avoid the worst consequences of climate change. We

could mitigate emissions by:

Decrease emissions from livestock, raise fewer animals to eat

Decrease emissions from fertilizer, use organic sustainable healthy options

Reduce food waste

Reduce consumption of high emission foods like beef and

Increase reforestation. We can do this, you can do this, and there is hope!

Biodiversity and our own personal health are next up.

20. We live in a wonderfully, diverse world with many interrelated species. Insect, birds and bats pollinate

flowers and feed on pests. Microbial species live in soil, on plants, and serve to recycle nutrients and facilitate

in the uptake of water and other nutrients. There are numerous mammals, amphibians, reptiles and fish. Food

chains are robust and complex in healthy ecosystems but we are upsetting this delicate balance very quickly.

Biodiversity loss specifically means that habitats are changed and/or overexploited, there is pollution, invasive

species crowd out natives, and of course climate change, raging super storms and fires, some of which we will

briefly discuss here.

21. Cattle grazing in the US contributes to 26% of our threatened endangered animal species. A lot of people in

the US love horses. We have deep affinity for horses with our cultural heritage.

Did you know that wild horses, wolves, and other wildlife are being poisoned, trapped and shot from helicopters

so that cattle can graze on public lands, which we pay for, and all so people can eat more animals? I wonder, if

more people knew, would they be horrified too? Cattle corporations rule because of the consumer demand. If

we decided to eat less animal based food, fewer animals would be raised for food, and fewer other large,

beautiful animals would be killed at tax payer expense on public lands.

22. We are in awe of the Amazon Rainforest and its colorful, interesting, and unique wildlife. Are we in awe

enough to actually do something?

Deforestation due to cattle ranching is the main reason for loss of plant and animal life. One to two acres of

rainforest are cleared every minute. 91% of this destruction due to animal agriculture. The problem with

Lecture Script 11:




10

deforestation is far reaching. First, animals and people are displaced. Second, the land is susceptible to erosion

and then to eventual desertification. Interesting to note that most rainforest land is only viable for about 8 years

before it is depleted, spent, useless, thus wasted.

95% Brazil’s Atlantic Ocean coast rainforest is now gone.

110 Animals and insect species lost per day in the rainforest.

6th Extinction: The largest mass extinction in 65 million years is occurring NOW. There is a new

Pulitzer Prize winning book out called the Sixth Extinction written by Elizabeth Kolbert. Its premise is

that, right now, our planet earth, our home, is experiencing a mass species extinction similar to when the

dinosaurs roamed over 66 million years ago. She estimates the loss of flora and fauna to be up to 50% of

all living species on earth by the end of this 21st century.

Paleontologist Anthony Barnosky at UC Berkeley thinks it will be worse! He estimates that we will lose

75% of the species on earth by the end of the 21st century. Quibbling over 50-75% is beside the point, it

is all too much.

Now keep in mind a species is essentially the whole large group of living creatures capable of inter-

breeding with each other. Dogs and elephants are different species while poodles and pit bulls are the

same species. To put this into perspective, for example, since 1900 we have lost 477 entire species of

vertebrates (that includes mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish). Scientists say it is not too late

and we can curb these terrifying extinction rates. We must act quickly!

50 years ago: 15% of earth was covered with rainforest.

Today: Less than 2% of earth is covered with rainforest.

Numerous medicines are derived from rainforests such as prescriptions for muscle relaxants used in

surgery; birth control; arthritis; asthma; heart medicine; malaria; pneumonia; bronchitis; dysentery;

Hodgkin’s disease; leukemia and other cancer fighting drugs.

23. Modern famers grow only 15 plant species for 90% of animal feed, thus reducing plant diversity and

undermining local ecosystems. The kind of plant based food available for us to eat, for animals to eat, is vast yet

we rely on a few stalwarts.

The total number of plant species in the world is estimated at 270,000. Remember now that species are different

than varieties or types. For example there are thousands of varieties of tomatoes and bananas. Approximately

1,000 to 2,000 species of plants are edible by humans. About 100 to 200 species of plants play an important role

in world commerce, and only about 15 species provide the majority of food crops. These include soybeans,

peanuts, rice, wheat and bananas.

When we limit eating so many different types of plants we limit, and undermine, our health and the health of

our ecosystems. We need to plant, harvest, and eat a wide variety of plants for strength and vitality in our bodies

Lecture Script 11:




11

and eco-systems. When we don’t plant a variety of crops it is called mono-culture and that is what we have

now. Very unhealthy and not sustainable.

Harvard scientists write: “Genetic diversity in crops reduces the odds of crop failure secondary to changing

weather, genetic diversity protects against the spread of plant diseases and pests, and can lead to greater crop

yields” When we just plant crops of the same type, like corn, it isn’t smart. These giant agro businesses are

depleting our earth.

The old fashioned farms that planted a bit of everything are the smartest, most effective way to farm. Now we

also have to deal with the fact that almost 25% of the world’s plants are nearing extinction.

In summary, it is a vicious cycle that livestock stimulate the release of gasses that hasten global warming, while

making our environment more vulnerable to the effects of climate change like severe weather, droughts, floods

and extreme rates of fluctuations in temperature.

VIDEO SNIPPET #2

During this last bit we talked about water pollution, due to animal waste, fertilizer run off, antibiotics and

chemicals. Both fish farms and industrial fishing are exploiting our oceans. Fresh, clean, drinking water is also

likely to be scarce with so many billions more people in the world.

But there is hope! As numerous scientists have said, it is not too late, and we can reclaim our home, our planet

earth, for our children’s children. Yes, it will take effort, and yes we can do this.

We are now going to shift our attention to our personal health, and then to the ethics of eating animals knowing

what we know about the environment and animal agriculture.

We will also journey on a thought experiment asking the question: What would happen if the entire world went

vegan?

We close out this session with a plea for action. Yes, there is hope; we do need to act today and save dwindling

natural resources and wildlife by eating more plants. The plant based, vegan diet has the smallest, lowest,

carbon footprint. After the session, please do go back to the questions for reflection and discussion, and spend

some time thinking….. What can you do? What kind of world do you want to leave for your children’s

children?

Power Point Slides:

24. Poor Health is also linked to environmental factors.

25. Climate change leads to more intense and frequent weather events like floods, droughts, extreme heat, and

storms which we continue to see around the world. Very briefly, this is terrible for our health!

Lecture Script 11:




12

A recent study published in the prestigious Journal of American Medical Association searched for five years’

worth of articles about climate change and health published between the years 2009-2014 as well as a number

of other government reports and climate data.

They write that extreme heat causes heat related disorders, such as heat stress, reduced work capacity,

respiratory disorders, asthma, infectious diseases, water-borne diseases and mental health disorders such as

depression or PTSD. Keep in mind that aging populations, like we have in many developed countries, are also

more susceptible to air pollution and are more at risk than younger people for health problems such as heart

attack and stroke.

Regarding Air Pollution: Another study published in the STROKE journal found that air pollution actually

changes our brain structure which can lead to aging and reducing the size of the brain, also called atrophy.

People with the highest exposure had higher incidence of silent strokes.

While researchers in Australia, where there are many fires and drought, report an increase in cardio vascular

events like heart attacks, from people breathing the smoke from out of control wild fires. There is more to

discuss in the realm of public health. I just wanted to mention it today so we didn’t forget about it.

26. Our last major topic will be the ethics of eating animals knowing that we are contributing to climate change

and animal extinction on a grand scale.

27. Animal agriculture is terrible for animals and workers.

This is more than an ethical, humanitarian social justice issue, it is an economic one. Working in an animal

agriculture factory farm, slaughterhouse, or processing plant is brutal work. Most people will not work in these

places, even when faced with unemployment. It is physically hard, and the pay the about $10-12 hour. The work

also involves torturing and killing animals which many of us are loathe to do. The smell is overpowering, the air

is unbreathable. The buildings, hidden from plain view, are filthy with blood, fluids, feces, and polluted water

streaming everywhere. Unlike migrant workers, who can obtain a work permit for seasonal agricultural jobs,

foreign workers can't get the H-2A visa because their jobs are year-round rather than temporary. It is a huge

immigration problem and effects the entire animal agriculture industry. Most of these workers are terrified of

losing their jobs, which at about $23,000 a year is about at the poverty line. Labor laws do not always hold up

either; investigators have found teenagers as young as 15 working in these plants.

As people think about their food, their meat, dairy, cheese and ice cream, I simply ask you to also think about

the people who make that food possible. Most of us don’t think about who exactly produces our food. I think it

is time we do. Are these workers treated with respect for doing work no one else wants to do? No, they are not.

Factory farm workers have largest turnover rate in USA

38% do not speak English

Lecture Script 11:




13

48% do not have legal authorization to work

They are at will employees and can be fired at any time

Workers with 5 + years’ experience have a 50% chance of injury. 167 workers per day suffer lost work

time injury

70% suffer from respiratory disorders and in 2012 there were

20 deaths per 100,000 workers.

One final example is that we know that in-organic arsenic is added to chicken feed for about 70% of US

chickens. Right now, over 100 residents in Arkansas have been diagnosed with arsenic poisoning that has led to

blood diseases and rare forms of cancer. Factory farm workers’ health is severely compromised every day by

these practices.

In addition to the misery and human toll of these working conditions, who pays for their care? What happens to

these families? There are numerous public health and economic questions to ask. These are part of the ethical

considerations to address when eating animal based food.

28. Just what is our responsibility? Let’s think for a minute.

Environmental vegans focus on the conservation of resources like land and water. Eating animals is not

sustainable due to our population. We have to come to terms with feeding the increases in population when we

talk about the environment. In the year 1812 the world had about 1 billion people. In the year 1912, 1.5 billion,

and in the year 2012, we had 7 billion people. We are projected to have 9 billion people by 2050. Keep in mind

however, our current practices are very inefficient regardless of how many people we have on earth.

Deforestation displaces native people, and animals suffer extinction. Is that we REALLY want? I don’t think so,

I think more people just need to be aware of the consequences.

We produce enough food to feed 2x as many people as there are on Earth, that’s 14 billion. Where does that

food go? To the animals people eat of course. Grain and other foodstuffs could be used to feed humans, instead

of animals. Today, 870 million people suffer from hunger in our world. 6 million children will die of starvation.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in 2013 more than 49 million Americans lived in

households struggling against hunger. Of them, 15.7 million were children (that is 21.4 percent of all children).

Previously, in 2012, 48.9 million Americans lived in food insecure households. Our numbers are going up.

Eating animal products leads to chronic disease which effects families on a personal level, and the health care

industry on an organizational level. Health care is a huge topic and touches many aspects of our lives.

Developing countries are sacrificing valuable land and water to increase animal agriculture for other countries.

While this occurs all over the world, it is the most significant in South America and Sub Saharan Africa where

forests are slashed for grazing lands. We need to think about who eats what, and why.

Lecture Script 11:




14

29. In June of 2015, Pope Francis issued the first Encyclical letter ever written about our stewardship of the

planet earth, our common home. The pope attacked the consumerism and wastefulness of modern life, linking

stewardship of the natural world with justice for “the poorest and most vulnerable people” and calling for a

transformation of economic systems and political policies in order to avert environmental catastrophe.

He reminded us that the worlds’ most vulnerable bear the greatest environmental burdens, and are most

adversely affected by climate change. With the Pope’s well publicized Encyclical, he has converted climate

change into a moral and ethical issue. He asks, “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come

after us, to children who are now growing up?”

30. Here is a good question! What if everyone in the world stopped eating animals and animal food products?

Let’s take a leap forward. We know that the animal agriculture industry is a massive contributor to greenhouse

gas emissions, takes up valuable land, contributes to species extinction, animal torture, pollution, poor health

and a host of other problems as we have discussed in each of these sessions. We also know that no government

has taken on the animal Ag industry as they have the energy and transport industry for a host of reasons. It is

not an insurmountable problem, many changes in behavior have come about because people wanted something

and took action.

As a thought experiment, let’s speculate what would happen if everyone in the world was a vegan by the year

2050. Let’s enjoy some “Blue Sky Thinking” curtesy of a research team in the Netherlands. They have

published their findings which include:

Global veganism would reduce carbon emissions by 17%, methane emissions by 24%, nitrous oxide

emissions by 21% and at lower costs than energy industry focused interventions such as carbon taxes

and renewable energy

New land would be available: Approximately 10 million square miles of land could be used for other

purposes

Antibiotic resistant infections would significantly decrease worldwide

By year 2050, the world population is projected to be 9 billion people, by 2100, we are projected to have 11

billion people, vs. our 7 billion now. What will people eat and where will they live? Food production will need

to increase 70%. Do we have enough water for people? We can’t answer these questions today but perhaps

think about it, talk about it with your friends and family. Learn more.

We have no choice, we are going to have to figure it out!

31. How will we feed our world? Paul Ehrlich, from Stanford University and John Harte from University of CA

Berkeley have recently written a new report that addresses how we can ensure that billions of people around the

world have enough to eat. To quote “… economic equality, population growth, and environmental health are all

linked’.

Lecture Script 11:




15

They recommend that governments must address the whole system to avoid future famine

This means limiting greenhouse gasses that warm the planet

Avoiding biodiversity losses specifically due to deforestation and land conversions, over grazing,

degradation of grass lands, and desertification

It means we must cut back on pesticides and antibiotics to grow food.

It means we must move climate change to the top of the agenda, and

End incentives to pull fossil fuels out of the ground.

Both professors add that there are solutions out there, that researchers, scientists and engineers are

working on these problems but some of our politicians are not facing these very real issues.

32. In summary: We have talked about many issues here let’s wrap up so you can go enjoy a well-deserved,

delicious, plant based meal or snack!

33. Dr. Oppenlander urges us to remember that moderate projections for consumption and deletion speculate

that we will need two planet earths by the year 2030 unless we act fast. Right now our global carbon footprint is

30% more than we can sustain. So we are in debt to the earth and this is the mess we leave for our children

unless we decide we don’t want to. We know that consumer demand and individual action is very powerful.

What will you do today?

34. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, a federally appointed panel of nutritionists created in 1983,

are working now in the first half of 2015 to revise the dietary guidelines that inform school lunch regulations,

the military, and other federal meal programs. The 571-page report says the average U.S. diet has a larger

environmental impact in terms of increased greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water use and energy use than

the healthy dietary pattern it suggests — one that’s rich in vegetables, fruit, whole grains, legumes and nuts. It is

good news! In its review of scientific studies, the committee highlighted research concluding that a vegan diet

had the most potential health benefits and the lowest impact on our world, our limited resources.

To quote the report: "The organically grown vegan diet had the lowest estimated impact on resources

and ecosystem quality”.

Additionally, “Beef was the single food with the greatest projected impact on the environment; other

foods estimated to have high impact included cheese, milk, and seafood." Federal agencies will develop

and publicize the federal guidelines from the advisory committee sometime in the second half of 2015.

35. We can ALL step into action and save dwindling natural resources and wildlife by eating more plants! You

can easily see by looking at this graph that a vegan diet has the smallest, lowest, carbon footprint. A person who

follows a vegan diet produces 50% less carbon dioxide, uses 1/11th of oil, 1/13th of water, and 1/18th of land

compared to an animal eater. The more of us do this the better for our home planet.

Lecture Script 11:




16

36. Just to refresh your memory from all the other sessions, here is an example of a whole food, plant based

food plate. If this is new to you, check out the other sessions on chronic diseases, obesity and diabetes, cancer,

protein, carbs sugar salt and fat, how to transition, meal plans and shopping. Look at my website for more

details.

37. In conclusion: Enjoy eating more plants and sharing this important information with your friends and

family. Thank you for joining me today to learn more about the vast environmental concerns that we can

alleviate by choosing to eat more plant based foods. It is my sincere hope that you can take this information, and

continue to learn more, as you continue to integrate more plant based meals into you and your families’ regular

nutrition. We can ALL talk about this vital topic in our daily lives and start shifting awareness that a healthy,

whole food, plant based diet is the new normal. Please visit my website, how to escape heart disease.com, and

Facebook page for more information and resources. Happy Eating!

Date post:	09-Aug-2020
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	1 times
Download:	0 times

Lecture Script 11: Other Reasons for Eating a Whole …...4. Dr. Oreskes asks us, what if our...

Documents