Down to Earth tries to deliver gift basket to Rush Limbaugh

News Releases from Down to Earth

Yesterday, December 31, 2009, our community outreach team tried to deliver a deluxe collection of fruits, vegetables, and other vegetarian foods to Rush Limbaugh, the leading conservative radio commentator, who had been hospitalized at Queens Medical Center in Hawaii with chest pain. The fruit basket was ordered by Dr. Neal D. Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRN). 

Top 10 Reasons Why It's Green to Go Veggie

2. Avoid excessive CO2 production

  • According to the UN Report, when emissions from land use and land use change are included, the livestock sector accounts for 9 per cent of CO2 deriving from human-related activities, but produces a much larger share of even more harmful greenhouse gases.3

3. Reduce methane/nitrous oxide production

  • Cows and sheep are responsible for 37% of the total methane (23 times as warming as CO2) generated by human activity.4 With methane emissions causing nearly half of the planet’s human-induced warming, methane reduction must be a priority
  • The livestock industry generates 64 per cent of ammonia, which contributes significantly to acid rain.5

4. Save large amounts of water

  • Estimates of the water required to produce a kilo of beef vary, from 13,000 liters8 up to 100,000 liters9 . Whichever figure you use, the damage is plain when you consider that the water required to produce a kilo of wheat is somewhere between 1,000-2,000 litres.

5. Avoid further pollution of our streams/rivers/oceans

  • Pollution of our waterways is caused by animal waste, antibiotics and hormones entering the water cycle alongside chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers, and the pesticides used to spray feed crops.

6. Reduce destruction of topsoil & tropical rainforest

  • Thirty percent of the earth’s entire land surface—a massive 70% of all agricultural land—is used for rearing farmed animals. Much of this is grazing land that otherwise would host natural habitats such as valuable rainforests. And, of the entire world’s land suitable for growing crops that would otherwise directly feed humans, a third of it is used to produce feed for farmed animals.13

7. Reduce destruction of wildlife habitats & endangered species

  • The livestock industry is responsible for widespread deforestation and cultivation of vast tracks of land. Wide-spread cultivation of the land ruins animals’ natural habitat and forces millions of them to be evicted from their homes each year, causing long-term harm to our wildlife.

8. Reduce use of antibiotics, growth hormones, and chemicals

  • Farmed animals and fish are fed a wide variety of drugs to fatten them faster and to keep them alive in conditions that would otherwise kill them. These drugs enter the human food chain through direct consumption or through pollution of our waterways.
  • The effect on humans of consuming low levels of these drugs during a lifetime is unknown but could be serious. Antibiotics given to farmed animals include penicillin, erythromycin, and inorganic arsenic (the most toxic form of arsenic).

9. Reduce ecological footprint

  • By choosing a vegetarian diet instead of one loaded with animal products, individuals can dramatically reduce the amount of land, water, and oil resources that they consume and the amount of pollution they otherwise might cause. Of course, reducing one’s ecological footprint should also mean causing less harm to the Earth's non-human inhabitants. By switching to a vegetarian diet, each person can save more than 100 animals each year from the horrific cruelty of the meat industry24.

10. Help ensure environmental sustainability

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