Christian Vegetarian Association Blog - A Diet to Save Creation


	CVA BLOG

A Diet to Save Creation
July 9, 2012

Welcome to the weekly CVA blog! In it you will find famous quotes, news and commentaries.

The Air We Breath

Famous Quote: Phlip Wollen, Australian philanthropist and former VP of Citibank

A Thorough View of the Devastation Caused by Factory Farms

Bible verse: Hebrews 1:1-2

Is Meat-Eating Still a Taboo?

This Week’s Video: Jonathan Foley, The Other Inconvenient Truth

1. The Air We Breath

Not surprisingly, this article in the Washington Post reveals another major source of smog in Los Angeles, one of the country's most highly air-polluted cities. According to a new study, dairy cows produce much more smog than the millions of automobiles in the region. This is because the ammonia emissions caused by dairy operations combine with nitrogen oxides to form the small particles in smog, leading to levels 100 times more intense than background levels caused by daily road commuters.

Please visit Ammonia emissions from Calif. herds contribute heavily to smog, study says:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/ammonia-emissions-from-calif-dairy-herds-contribute-heavily-to-smog-study-says/2012/05/04/gIQAcRO97T_story.html

Animal agriculture is so devastating that it's actually amazing that the vast majority of people manage to continue eating animal products virtually every day of their lives while going on with their normal routines as if nothing wrong came out of their dietary choices. However, I believe that the time has come and that the abundant information on the negative effects of animal agriculture can no longer be ignored. We are at a point at which each and everyone has to take a stand: healing and restoration or suffering and devastation.

2. This Week’s Famous Quote

Poor countries sell their grain to the West while their own children starve in their arms. And we feed it to livestock. So we can eat a steak? Am I the only one who sees this as a crime? Every morsel of meat we eat is slapping the tear-stained face of a starving child. When I look into her eyes, should I be silent?

Phlip Wollen, Australian philanthropist and former VP of Citibank

3. A Thorough View of the Devastation Caused by Factory Farms

Factory farms are almost everywhere around the world and the negative consequences of raising animals this way are becoming more evident. A new 163-page report titled "What's on Your Plate: The Hidden Costs of Industrial Animal Agriculture in Canada" shows clearly the terrible impacts of Canada's industrial animal agriculture practices. Among the issues addressed in the report are: poultry waste fed to cattle, pigs pumped with growth-promoting antibiotics and mounds of manure dumped in ditches that lead to incredibly high costs to public health, the environment and rural community development.

To read the report please visit What's on Your Plate: The Hidden Costs of Industrial Animal Agriculture in Canada:
http://www.choosecagefree.ca/whatsonyourplate/WSPA_WhatsonYourPlate_FullReport.pdf

We need to realize that God’s creation cannot continue to suffer such abuse in our hands. The time has come for each of us to do our part in healing this world. But healing cannot occur unless we stop exploiting God’s animals as if there were not consequences for it. After all, we should never forget that we reap what we sow.

4. This Week’s Bible Verse

(RSV) Hebrews 1:1-2

“In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”

Jesus Christ's teachings provide us with the tools to follow God's will. Jesus' teachings encompass love, compassion and peace, helping us be good stewards of God's Creation.

5. Is Meat-Eating Still a Taboo?

Frances Kissling, an independent consultant on ethics for NGOs and a former president of Catholics for Choice; and Peter Singer, professor of bioethics at Princeton University and a laureate professor at the University of Melbourne, wrote an excellent piece about the incredible fact that meat was served at Rio+20 meeting earlier this month, where leaders from around the world gathered to discuss sustainable development as well as the environmental problems that the planet faces.

Kissling and Singer find it terribly ironic and inconsistent to gather and discuss environmental problems while at the same time enjoying food containing the flesh of animals. After all, animal agriculture is one of the most destructive industries on the planet. From global warming to air, water and soil pollution, the problems that animal-based diets cause are too great to ignore.

Please visit To fix the climate, take meat off the menu:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-are-they-serving-meat-at-a-climate-change-conference/2012/06/15/gJQAUn0afV_story.html

6. This Week’s Video: Jonathan Foley, The Other Inconvenient Truth

In this TED talk Jonathan Foley shows how agriculture and land use are devastating to the environment. He also warns the challenge of feeding 9 billion people in the not so far future.

Please visit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFTdfeOfc1U Jonathan Foley, The Other Inconvenient Truth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFTdfeOfc1U

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