Believe it or not, United Nations in 2006 released a shocking report that found raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. Also not to forget the cow burps.

A 1988 study by the University of California Press estimated that for each hamburger made from rainforest beef, members of life forms from approximately 20 to 30 different plant species, 100 different insect species, and dozens of bird, mammals, and reptile species are destroyed.

In a 1997 report titled, A Geography of Hope, the USDA found that in the United States, grazing has contributed to the demise of 26 percent of federal threatened and endangered species. Such an outcome should be similar for every other country.

According to Ed Ayres, of the World Watch Institute, “Around the world, as more water is diverted to raising pigs and chickens instead of producing crops for direct consumption, millions of wells are going dry. India, China, North Africa and the U.S. are all running freshwater deficits, pumping more from their aquifers than rain can replenish.”

According to Cornell ecologist David Pimentel, the production of animal protein demands tremendous expenditures of fossil-fuel energy—about eight times as much for a comparable amount of plant protein.

According to a 2006 study by researchers at the University of Chicago, eating a vegan diet prevents the equivalent of 1.5 tons of CO2 emissions every year, more than the 1 ton of CO2 emissions prevented by switching from a typical large sedan to a Toyota Prius.

Happy Vegetarian & Less Meat Day !

Here is the lantern I made… Let’s pray for Earth and our future.