By Joanna S. Cabredo
I was enjoying a cheese steak sandwich last night when the Cable News Network (CNN) featured a segment called โ€œEating Planet Earthโ€. As I sat through the entire documentary, I was taken through a haze of information that left me bit disconcerted. Experts claim, with seven billion people on the planet we have roughly sixty years left to enjoy a good soil for food production.
United Nationโ€™s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), describes in alarming detail how agriculture, deforestation and other human impacts on lands are transforming the climate. Studies suggest that the entire food production system, with transportation and packing included, account for as much as 37% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions related to agriculture has grown, largely because of increases in livestock, deforestation to clear land for crops, fertilize use.
As my mind raced to an epiphany, I was having a mental picture of my food panda cart. How have my meal choices affected the planet? Has my occasional dinner steak destroyed the ozone layer?
Studies shows that in order to feed the expected 9.7 billion people on the planet in 2050, the world would need to shift toward plant-based diets, in addition to reducing food waste and adopting new farming technologies.
So, the next time I have a hankering for a beef wanton noodle, I would definitely be thinking of mother nature.
Remember, with less meat, the planet will get less heat!
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