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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Report: Another Reason to Go Meatless Today

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Monday, October 7, 2013   

PHOENIX - Observing "Meatless Monday" may not only be good for your health and for animals, but a new study says it's also good for the environment. The report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reaffirms what others have claimed: that livestock production is a major contributor to climate-changing pollution.

According to Geoff Orme-Evans, public policy manager for the Humane Society International, globalization and huge, concentrated factory farms are the reasons meat is cheaper and people are eating more of it. He said 70 billion land animals are raised for food every year around the globe, a number that is unprecedented.

"So, it's really a wake-up call and confirms what we already know, that the sector is a huge contributor to climate change, and we need to start figuring out what to do about it," he declared.

While the report offers some solutions to the pollution caused by livestock, Orme-Evans said there are steps individuals can take, including buying locally produced foods and eating less meat. Giving up meat just one day a week, he added, is the equivalent for the environment of driving about 1000 fewer miles a year.

Orme-Evans said there are several ways that today's massive livestock farms are affecting the environment. One major problem is that having a large number of animals on a very small amount of land creates a concentrated amount of animal waste.

"There can be really bad effects to the waterways, there have been fish die-offs, and in addition, there is a climate change effect," he said.

Other contributing factors to pollution, he said, are gases produced from manure storage, fertilizer production and, in some cases, deforestation to create more pasture, as well as the energy required to transport animals, and meat and dairy products.

The report, "Tackling Climate Change through Livestock," is at FAO.org.





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