Americans eat lots of meat. So much so that livestock is now one
of the leading contributors to global warming, responsible for
18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions as measured in a carbon
dioxide equivalent. A recent United Nations report concluded
that the meat industry causes almost 40% more greenhouse gas
emissions than all the world’s transportation systems — that
means all of the globe’s cars, trucks, planes and ships
combined. Kathy Preston poses an important question for meat-
eating Americans concerned about the effects of global warming:
what are the effects of going vegetarian for just one day? Here
are her astounding statistics about how going vegetarian for a
single day can help prevent global warming: If everyone went
vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save: - 100 billion
gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England
for almost 4 months; - 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed
to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more
than a year; - 70 million