The facts you should know!

2. “ If there is no action before 2012, it is too late. What we do now in the next 2-3 years will determine our future. This is the defining moment.” (2007) “ We are really running out of time. in fact, this next year or two years are the critical time period.” (2008) “ We are so close to the red line, we may wake up tomorrow and discover there is nothing left to save.” “ We have a full-scale planetary emergency.” - Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of IPCC - Dr. James Hansen, Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies - Maneka Gandhi, former Indian Environment Minister - Al Gore, former US Vice President

3. The Union of Concerned Scientists , some 1,700 of the world’s leading scientists, including the majority of Nobel laureates in the sciences issued this warning as far back as 1992: We the undersigned, senior members of the world's scientific community, hereby warn all humanity of what lies ahead. A great change in our stewardship of the Earth and the life on it is required, if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated. WARNING The scientists issuing this warning hope that our message will reach and affect people everywhere. We need the help of many. We call on all to join us in this task. Source: “1992 World Scientists' Warning to Humanity”. www.ucsusa.org .Union of Concerned Scientists. Retrieved on 17-01-2009. http://tinyurl.com/5qndft

5. Many sectors contribute to Greenhouse Gases (GHGs), however ONE SECTOR is the single largest source of two of the most significant GHGs : methane and nitrous oxide This sector is also our single largest user of land and water ; a major cause of deforestation, wide-scale land degradation and species loss ; and a major polluter of our rivers, oceans and drinking supplies : it is ANIMAL AGRICULTURE “ Livestock’s contribution to environmental problems is on a massive scale and its potential contribution to their solution is equally large. The impact is so significant that it needs to be addressed with urgency.” - UN Food & Agriculture Organization, 2006

21. The fastest way to slow global warming and curb climate change? Cut down on short-lived greenhouse gases such as methane (the single largest source of which is livestock)

23. Source: Interview with Supreme Master TV US Environmental Protection Agency, Global Mitigation of Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases, June 2006 NASA GISS Report: Methane’s Impact on Climate Change May Be Twice Previous Estimates Buys us Time in Fight against Global Warming “… many of us are saying if you want to make an impact soon, slow down the melting of the glaciers, slow down the rise of the sea level, and so on, give us more time to deal with things, give us, society, more time, shouldn’t you work more on methane?” - Kirk R. Smith, MPH, PhD Professor of Global Environmental Health, University of California, Berkeley “ The mitigation of non-carbon dioxide (non-CO 2 ) greenhouse gas emissions can be a relatively inexpensive supplement to CO 2 -only mitigation strategies.” “ Methane mitigation has the largest potential across all the non-CO 2 Greenhouse Gases.” “ Control of methane emissions turns out to be a more powerful lever to control global warming than would be anticipated.” - Drew Shindell, PhD Atmospheric Physicist, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies - US Environmental Protection Agency

24. Source: Cabinet Office, “Food Matters: Towards a Strategy for the 21st Century”, July 2008 http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/strategy/work_areas/food_policy.aspx World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research. Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective. 2007. www.dietandcancerreport.org The single most effective action individuals can take for their health and for the survival of the planet? “ ...the balance of environmental analysis suggests that a healthy, low-impact diet would contain less meat and fewer dairy products than we typically eat today.” “ Eat mostly foods of plant origin.” Reduce or eliminate meat & dairy consumption

29. Source: Water Inputs in California Food Production, Water Education Foundation, September, 1991 (chart E3 p28) http://tinyurl.com/6kd6kx Vegan Diets Are The Most Water Efficient Entire Vegan Meal: tofu, whole grain rice, 2 vegetables Chicken – 227g, Beef – 227g

31. What Leading Scientists and Politicians are saying... “ Please eat less meat; meat is a very carbon intensive commodity.” - Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “ The single action that a person can take to reduce carbon emissions is vegetarianism.” - Dr. James Hansen, Top World Climatologist, NASA “ I would advocate getting off of the meat diet, that it really is not sustainable.” - Dr. Jonathan Patz, Professor of Env. Studies & Populations Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin – Madison “ We have to reduce the meat consumption and one way of doing it is of course that a larger amount of what we eat is vegetarian and everything else other than meat.” - Erik Solheim, Minister of The Environment & International Development, Norway

32. What Leading Scientists and Politicians are saying... “ We must transform ourselves from being passive consumers to active consumers. We need to lobby government for change, eat less meat and fewer dairy products, and garden more.” - Professor Tim Lang UK Government Advisor on Food Security & Obesity “ We should abolish meat subsidies, let meat bear its own environmental costs and work to make modern vegetarian food cheaper.” - Jens Holm, MEP, Sweden “ Unless we change our food choices nothing else matters because it is meat that is destroying most of our forests, it is meat that pollutes the waters, it is meat that is creating disease which leads to all our money being diverted to hospitals, so it’s the first choice for anybody who wants to save the Earth.” - Maneka Gandhi, Parliamentarian & former Environment Minister, India

33. And what they said in the past... “ Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” - Albert Einstein, Theoretical Physicist “ While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal conditions on this Earth?” - George Bernard Shaw, Playwright “ Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all human evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.” - Thomas Edison, Inventor

34. And what they said in the past... “ In their behaviour towards creatures, all men are Nazis. Human beings see oppression vividly when they’re the victims. Otherwise they victimize blindly and without a thought.” - Isaac Bashevis Singer, Author, Nobel Prize 1978 “ Auschwitz begins wherever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks: they’re only animals.” - Theodor Adorno, Philosopher “ A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral.” - Leo Tolstoy, Novelist “ The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Mahatma Gandhi, Spiritual Leader

35. It’s time for the truth about meat to be brought to light. Animal agriculture and the consumption of animal products are destroying our planet and are the root cause of the most pressing challenges of our time. We can no longer hide from the fact that meat is the single greatest contributor to the most prevalent and deadly global health problems, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. We must recognize that meat is causing global food shortage as we feed over one third of all grain products to animals (over 7 times the amount used for bio-fuels), and as farmers in developing nations grow feed crop for animals rather than food crops for their fellow citizens. And we must address the reality that meat and dairy are the leading causes of global warming , pushing our Earth beyond the tipping point, heading to where it can no longer maintain life as we know it. The facts and figures presented here are compiled from the latest research by leading climate scientists, governmental bodies, the United Nations, many independent organizations, and health professionals. They show clearly how by stopping the devastation of meat production and consumption and embracing a plant-based diet, we will be able to live in optimal health, preserve our planet and have enough food and clean water for all.

36. Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Yvo de Boer, has pointed out that a bigger part of higher food price increases comes from feeding grain to animals being raised for meat. Secretary de Boer stated, “The best solution would be for us to all become vegetarians.” Source: http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/34572

37. VIDEOS The Bio-Da Versity Code by Earth Scope: A Community of Scientists Conducting Multidisciplinary research across the Earth Sciences http://www.daversitycode.com/earthscope/ Earthlings: Documentary video on the correlation between nature, animals, and human economic interests http://veg-tv.info/Earthlings A Delicate Balance: Documentary with the latest discoveries of some of the most prominent experts on nutrition in the world, unravelling the mysteries behind the disease epidemic which has struck affluent countries with a vengeance. http://adelicatebalance.com.au/ ORGANIZATIONS Nutrition Ecology International Centre: An interdisciplinary scientific committee established with the purpose of investigating the impact of all stages and methods of food production and consumption, with regard to health, environment, society and economy http://www.nutritionecology.org/ European Parliament: European United Left/Nordic Green Left: The Livestock Industry and Climate Change – EU Makes Bad Worse http://ec.europa.eu/budget/reform/library/focus/meat_climate_report_en.pdf Global Canopy Program: An Alliance of 29 scientific institutions in 19 countries, which lead the world in forest canopy research, education, and conservation http://www.globalcanopy.org/ Food vs. Feed http://un.evana.org/

38. To assimilate, document and present scientific data relating to the significant detrimental effects of livestock production and consumption; including deforestation, disease, drought, global hunger and climate change. To provide materials and guidance for individuals to encourage the media to engage these topics and to encourage governments and other institutions to introduce beneficial legislation and policies resulting in decreased consumption of animal products; subsequently mitigating climate change and associated human, planetary and economic costs, safeguarding water supplies, preserving forests, minimizing environmental degradation, improving health and alleviating global food shortages.