Bill McKibben, leading the international climate campaign 350.org, urged an attentive audience at Natural Products Expo West to make a difference for the future of the planet. Over 5200 demonstrations, which circled the globe in 181 countries on October 24, 2009, show grassroots understanding of the need to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide to no more than 350 parts per million. The current level of 390 parts per million, rising with no end in sight, spells catastrophe for life on earth as we know it.

The most significant part of the talk was McKibben’s answer to an audience question. One woman asked why 350.org does not include a truly sustainable diet as a critical action item in the campaign. She pointed out that a recent analysis by Worldwatch Institute demonstrates that 51% of greenhouse gases are directly traceable to raising animals for food.

The effect of these native ruminants, in an intact ecosystem, on greenhouse gases is in no way like the impact of cows

The obvious solution to getting at least halfway to the goal of stopping climate change is simple, rapid, and no cost – eat a plant-based diet.

In his response, McKibben acknowledged that factory farming animals is a huge cause of climate change. However, he was not advocating immediate action to change diet. Instead, he advanced the idea that a carbon tax, once enacted, would make factory farmed animals so expensive that meat would be priced out of the range of most people. This would happen because people in the animal foods business would have to pay the “true cost” of their carbon impact.

McKibben also theorized that “grass fed cattle” could actually be helpful in reducing greenhouse gases. The theory is that, as large animals roam and trample vegetation into the soil, the ground itself stores carbon and keeps it from being released into the atmosphere.

This idea stems from the observation that, before humans started large scale environmental destruction, millions of ruminants roamed the earth and the average temperature was cooler. Ruminants are animals with multiple stomachs to efficiently digest their plant food. Bison, deer, antelope, cows, goats, and sheep are all ruminants.

Three significant flaws blemish McKibben’s response to his audience question. First is the timeframe. Passing meaningful legislation to tax carbon emissions will likely take years. The phase-in of the new tax would be years more.

We don’t have time to wait. People can start eating a plant-based diet now. Today. Immediately. No need to wait for stalling politicians protecting powerful industries. We can’t wait for a carbon tax. The danger is too great and climate destabilization is happening as you are reading this.

Second, “grass fed cattle” is no rebuttal to the damage from raising animals for food. Just on a purely cost level, only a few wealthy

Look in the mirror. If your teeth don't look like this, you are not a natural carnivore.

people could afford this product when a population of 7 billion people want it. There is just not that much rangeland, and most of the land that cattle can graze is already highly degraded.

In no way are cows, which are a domesticated species, comparable to native wild animals that are part of an intact ecosystem. Bison were an integral part of the great prairie that once blanketed the middle of North America. Deer were inseparable from their forested and open habitat. Big horn sheep were woven into their desert environment.

Then humans introduced cows into these areas, crowding out and killing most of the native animals, wiping out plant species, and in general leaving the ecosystem in tatters. Cows trampling sparse vegetation into a thin layer of soil can not in any way reproduce the effect that buffalo had on the tall, lush grasses and fertile topsoil of the original prairie.

If one tactic to reduce climate change is to sequester more carbon in the soil and living vegetation, the way to accomplish this is to not raise cows. Instead, bring back the native ruminants and their natural predators, the original vegetation and insects and amphibians and all the other species in the web of life.

Of course this task is difficult, but there is no reason to stall by advocating “grass fed cattle.” The cows keep the rangeland from the natural succession of open space to forest. The trees in the forest will keep far more carbon out of the atmosphere than the grass the cows are trampling.

Most subtly but perhaps most importantly, the failure of McKibben and 350.org to advocate an animal-free diet is tied to the worldview that humans are the masters of the planet. For example, the 350.org website suggests people should herd their livestock to spell out 350. This destructive idea is about as good as a suggestion to pour oil into a pristine lake in a 350 pattern.

Raising animals for food distances people for nature instead of showing people as part of an intact web of life encompassing millions of other beings. If this way of relating to nature does not change, the chances of saving life as we know it on this planet are dim.

McKibben and 350.org can significantly speed and enhance their climate impact by rethinking their stance on a plant-based diet. Urging people to plant gardens and insulate their homes is safe and noncontroversial. Advocating a plant-based diet is riskier and could alienate some 350.org members.

Yet an animal-free diet is the only change with the powerful, immediate impact to reverse greenhouse gases now. Without this dietary evolution, all the other strategies are nothing but delaying tactics.

Leaders owe it to all the caring people supporting 350.org to tell them the whole truth about what will save the planet. Then let the people decide what changes they are willing to make to secure their children’s future. If a plant-based diet seems inconvenient or difficult, then imagine how much more painful the alternative is.

350.org is planning a Global Work Party for October 10, 2010. People around the world are signing up to make this date a powerful starting point for concrete action to reach the 350 parts per million goal and spur political leaders to stop talking and start doing. Participants will insulate houses, work on bike paths, install renewal energy sources, and take other effective earth-saving steps.

Yet if people doing great 10/10/10 actions stop for a meat-and-cheese sandwich lunch, they negate the good they have done in the morning. Let’s make 10/10/10 a real turning point. Let’s make it a 100% plant-based day!

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Blog by Janice Stanger, Ph.D.  Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet, a nutrition book built on sustainable food choices. Enjoy six kinds of whole foods for permanent, hunger-free weight loss and health.

With a frigid winter chilling much of the country and heavy snows setting new records, people have an easy time concluding that global warming is just a myth. Maybe you, or people you know, think it’s a scientific theory that did not pan out.

Record snows lead the way in climate change

In fact, once you understand global warming, you may be alarmed that all the snow so far is just a taste of what is to come over the next decade. “Global warming” indicates that the earth’s temperature, on average, is rising. It does not mean it will always be hotter in every location on each day of the year.

“Climate destabilization” and “climate change” are both more accurate descriptors of the weather shaping up worldwide. Average temperature, evaporation, wind and ocean current patterns, and forests, among many other factors, determine the complexity of weather day by day. Over time, weather on each day forms the overall pattern that is climate.

We are used to a specific climate pattern throughout the year in different parts of the globe. As those patterns shift with rising greenhouse gas concentrations and subsequent higher average temperature, weather will become more extreme. Hot places will get hotter, but the cold will get colder. Droughts and floods will become more frequent and intense. Hurricanes will grow more dangerous. We are seeing all this now. Climate change is here now and you are living it, like it or not.

The heavy snows of the winter of 2010 are a sign of the record-breaking climate changes to come.

Snow changes everything - it's a new world in many ways

Are you concerned for your own future and that of the next generations? While denial is easy, taking action is far more satisfying and empowering.

The single fastest, easiest, and most powerful action you can take to slow climate change is to switch to a plant-based diet. A recent study by the Worldwatch Institute shows over half of greenhouse gases are polluting our atmosphere due to the direct and indirect effects of raising animals for food. Just eat a diet based on fruits, vegetables, beans, potatoes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, herbs, and spices. Both you and the planet will benefit more than you could imagine.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on plant-based nutrition. Quick information at no cost!

Blog by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet, a nutrition book built on sustainable food choices. Enjoy six kinds of whole foods for permanent, hunger-free weight loss and health.

Weather is simple – rain, snow, hail, sun, wind, temperature. You can look out your window and see what it is right now.

If you’ve lived in the same place for a while, you can probably guess what the weather will be like in a few hours, too. You may even be able to predict ahead a day, and be right as often as the weatherman is. Unless you live somewhere with monotonous weather, though, you will have a hard time projecting the specific temperature and rainfall next week without help from scientific measurements.

Climate, in contrast, is a billion piece jigsaw puzzle. Climate is a pattern. Unless you keep detailed records over a long period of time, you can’t really tell for sure if the climate is changing. This is because the day-to-day weather

The gathering clouds of climate change threatens life as we know it

will bounce around all over the place.

You may have a hard time seeing the overall climate picture even for your own little corner of the world. So you can understand how much more difficult it is to determine climate patterns over millions of years for the entire planet. Yet a world wide network of scientists is engaged in this urgent task.

Climate scientists are not all on one formal team. Instead, these researchers are a loosely knit and shifting network communicating by email, published journal articles, data exchange, conferences, telephone, and meetings.

As with any group of people, climate scientists will have their differences of opinion. Sometimes a few of these researchers will say or do something that they wish would never be publicly aired.

Think about any team you’re a part of, whether at work, on a sports team, in a club or neighborhood committee, at your church, or even an informal circle of friends that meets for lunch every once in a while. Really, aren’t there differences of opinion, people who are less appropriate in their expression of ideas, and team mates you like more than others?

Scientists, being human, are no different than your own coworkers or teammates. This has no bearing on the legitimacy of their findings or research conclusions.

You have probably heard about the scandal arising from the theft of emails from some climate scientists at the University of East Anglia in England. Five reporters from the Associated Press read all 1,073 stolen emails and concluded the colorful language in these emails do nothing to undermine the overwhelming data for climate change.

Those who want you to believe that there is no climate change, that business as usual is just fine, fall into two classes. There are well-intentioned people who simply don’t believe the weight of scientific evidence. Remember, after Columbus crossed the Atlantic, there was no shortage of skeptics who still thought the earth was flat. Some people just have a hard time looking at information objectively.

The other class of people make money off telling you to ignore the world wide consensus of respected researchers that climate change is a dangerous threat. This group is on the payroll of “business as usual” industries, such as oil, utilities, and other polluters.

Who are you going to believe? And what action will you take? It’s impossible to sit on the sidelines. Every time you eat, you are choosing animal foods that accelerate climate change or plant-based nutrition that puts the brakes on the destruction of life as we know it. Look at this opportunity as your vote for the future – or against it.

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Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet, the smart person’s nutrition book built on sustainable food choices. Enjoy six kinds of whole foods for permanent, hunger-free weight loss and health.

In 2006, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization published the groundbreaking Livestock’s Long Shadow. This historical report focused attention on environmental facts that were long-known but studiously avoided by both consumers and policymakers.

Livestock’s Long Shadow documents the horrific environmental consequences of raising farmed animals for people to eat. Water shortages. Air and water pollution. Degraded soil. Deforestation. Extinction of wild plants and animals.

The list is heart breaking for anyone who cares about the future of our planet. I worry every day about the world my daughters are inheriting. How long

Global warming and climate change are here now

can we sustain even basic necessities on a plundered planet?

Most famously, this United Nations report documents that 18 % of greenhouse gas emissions can be directly traced to raising animals for food. This staggering impact is more than all transportation combined. You could scrap every truck, car, plane, and train on the planet – or you could stop raising farmed animals and have an even greater effect on climate change.

Now two respected researchers document that the impact of animal agriculture on global warming is almost three times worse that the UN estimated in 2006. The respected, independent nonprofit World Watch Institute published this analysis in their November/December 2009 magazine.

The study’s authors thoughtfully question what the United Nations left out or ignored. These pros have really done their homework. Their article demonstrates five major sources of greenhouse gas emissions from farmed animals left out of Livestock’s Long Shadow. The mistakes the authors found include overlooked sources of greenhouse gases, undercounted methane, and global warming contributors put into incorrect categories.

So what’s the bottom line? Over half – 51% – of global warming is directly caused by farming animals. You can have a direct, immediate impact on your kids’ future just by changing what you eat for dinner. Can you think of a single valid reason not to do this?

Changing what you eat is not nearly as hard as you think it might be. It’s not as painful as watching droughts, floods, disease, famine, and hurricanes rip people’s lives apart as global warming accelerates. Thank you World Watch Institute for these fearless insights. We don’t want to confront our comfortable habits, but we must.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on plant-based nutrition. Quick information at no cost!

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet, the smart person’s nutrition book built on sustainable food choices. Enjoy six kinds of whole foods for permanent, hunger-free weight loss and health.