This is a talk I gave at the Volunteer Selection Program
If you look at this logically, the CAUSE is the eating of meat and the EFFECT is the destruction
The purpose of this project is to inform the world, that eating meat, is causing the greatest environmental destruction of the on the planet.
Why do People eat Meat?
They like the taste of meat
People think it is natural to eat meat, it is far from natural;
1 Cattle and prime lambs eat grass, grain or anything else the farmer wants to feed them. What is natural is the grass they eat
2 There is nothing natural with cattle in a feed lot, or in US in what they call a factory farm. 99% of farm animals in the US are raised in factory farms
Nutritionists;
1 tell their clients that meat is a good source of protein, iron and vitamin B12, they do not tell them what other food is a good source
2 they also do not tell them what harm eating meat can do to their bodies
Graziers;
1 meat is readily available
2 there is no cost
3 they eat what they produce
Cultural and Religious Reasons
1 Some religions have special days, when it is traditional to eat certain foods, that includes meat
2 Feasts e.g. birthdays, celebrations, Christmas, Easter
3 People are now wanting larger servings and more marbling in their meat, thus causing more stress to the animals as they are forced to eat food that is not their natural grass diet. The stress caused at the abattoir often results in, what is called, black meat. This meat is unable to be used for human consumption and goes into blood and bone products
Why do You Eat Meat?
Advertising:
In Australia every time you sell an animal, there is a Levi you pay to the Meat and Livestock Organisation, a portion of which is paid to advertising of the product.
In America the Cow Lobby is one of the most powerful groups influencing the Government
Subsidies:
In Europe and other countries, grazers are paid to produce animals for meat consumption
How Much do People Know and Do They Care?
Most consumers of fish and salmon know that they are farmed. The fish are fed waste animal products or fish and other creatures, dragged from the bottom of the sea, causing unbelievable damage and the area may never regenerate
In developing countries, where most people, ate very little meat or none at all in their diet, are now wanting, as they call it, real protein. It is regarded as a status symbol for those that have more wealth
This goes to show how entitled people feel. They do not care that they are killing animals, that animals have a spirit body, that animals go through great pain, fear and suffering. Does the consumer of meat ever think or do they just want what they want. Do these people not care if the world is being destroyed, or maybe, they just need to be shown what is occurring to the planet and be willing to change
I grew up on the land and was grazing animals and ate meat all my life. I did not ever think I was destroying the land or even wonder what damage I was doing to the animals. I did get messages at times, God is always trying to see the sin we have, and sold all the cattle and just had sheep for fine wool production but it was not until I heard about Divine Truth that I stopped eating meat and grazing animals. All animals that are born on the property, unless they died on the property, went to an abattoir
The Damage that Eating Meat is Causing the Planet
Has anyone here seen any hoofed native Australian animals? The reason why no one has, is Australia has very fragile soils, when hoofed animals are introduced on these soils, the soil will be compacted and not be able to absorb water when it rains, water rushes to the gullies causing erosion and the land is also destroyed with the top soil being carried away in the fast moving water. God in her Great Wisdom knew and man has denied and done what man wanted to do
Cattle also trample the banks of water courses, causing erosion of the banks and contaminating the water, the riparian areas are destroyed
Billabong, talked about by early white settlers of NSW and Victoria, were destroyed by sheep and cattle. These were lost very early after colonisation by Europeans
Much of the land throughout the world has already been destroyed, even whole countries have been gradually turned into deserts. Because of lack rainfall in Southern Spain and if the lack keeps happening for a few more years, scientists believe it will turn into desert
Because it does not happen overnight, we tend not to notice and often the next generation, to take ownership, does not know what the land looked like so, the destruction continues
When whole hectares are cleared for grazing animals, there is no protection from the sun, the wind, or heavy rain
The rain then washes away any viable seeds
Erosions will then occur, gradually taking the top soil away and the once fertile country will turn into wasteland
Clearing of forests causes droughts and causes changes in the water table thus causing salinity
Clearing forests and bush land for animal industries results in habit loss throughout Australia, which is the major cause of wild life species becoming threatened, endangered and extinct
Cattle, grazing on the land, especially in a drought, will eat the grass down as far as possible. Each time this happens the plant becomes weaker and weaker and will eventually die, it has lost the energy to keep growing
It is interesting to look at the earlier aerial maps of Australia and aerial maps taken today. You can see the difference in the amount of vegetation that is on the earlier maps and how little is left on the most resent maps. Much of the clearing had already begun before the photos had even been taken. The most noticeable maps to look at are northern Queensland, where much clearing is still occurring
Australia is clearing more land than any other developed country, and is high up in the list with all developing countries. These areas are usually being cleared for the production of livestock
A few Interesting Facts
A cow has 4 stomachs, I won’t go into the digestive process, but methane is produced during digestive process.
Methane is one of the destructive gases causing climate change.
Methane produced by animals is much more dangerous in the short term than CO2, over a 20-year time frame, methane has a worming potential at least 72 times that of carbon dioxide. 1
Animals raised for food in Australia produce about 3 megatons of methane annually. Multiply this figure by 72 and you get a worming equivalent to 216 megatons of Co2.1
The annual output of all Australia put together totals 180 megatons of carbon dioxide1
Over 60% of global human- caused greenhouse gasses, or at least 36.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annual emissions can be attributed to live stock and their bi-products. This is taking into account their direct emissions as well as their fuel consumption and energy use in production1
Grazing animals take up nearly 60% of the Australian continent1
Australia is the driest inhabited country on earth1
It takes between 50,000 and 100,000 litres of water to produce 1kilogram of beef compared to only 2,500 litres of water to produce 1 Kilogram of white rice and much less for most fruit and vegetables1
In Victoria, 77% of agricultural water is used for pasture and hay production for grazing animals raised for meat and dairy products. In comparison only 10% is used for the production of fruit and vegetables for human consumption1
According to the CSIRO and the University of Sydney a massive 92%of all land degradation in Australia is caused by animal industries. Plant agriculture, mining, forestry, manufacturing, residential building and all other industries account for the small remainder1
How can we change how people feel about their entitlements?
We need to explain to the consumers of meat, that if they stopped eating animals and fish, farmers would grow something else, such as pulses, fruit or vegetables there are many other occupations the owners of the farm could do e.g. many forms of education
Farmers that wish to remain on their land, we could show them how to regenerate the land. Tourism in Australia is growing at at a fast rate. Grey Nomads, as they are called in Australia, are always looking for places to stay in their caravans and new and interesting things to see. It would be very exciting to see land being regenerated back to its natural condition
Governments could pay farmers for the amount of carbon that is requested on their property
Short term goals is to inform the world that eating meat is destroying the world
Gather as much information that is available to prove what is occurring
Are there other organisations that have the same purpose as we do
Find out what organisations information may present to, such as Land care Groups, Service Clubs E.g. Rotary, Quota, others and Schools
Talk to scientist and others who may have other information that we have been unable to research such as, due to changes in the weather, rising sea water, where the worst destruction is occurring, how much is due to clearing of the vegetation and forests and therefore eating of meat.
Gather together maps, photos and videos that are available
Put information on blog spot
Learn how to write and do a power point presentation
Long term goals
Get together all our short-term goals
Write up our presentations for the different organisations that talks can be given to
Do interviews with government organisations such agriculture, mining, climate change and another’s organisations that may listen
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