“Vegetarianism is the sign of a compassionate mind. When we cultivate compassion, blessings and merits increase, and good health will come naturally.”-- Grand Master Wei-Chueh
We are encouraging people everywhere to pledge "Go Vegetarian 1 Day A Week".
Director of IPCC, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has stated that the meat and dairy industry contributes 18% of all the greenhouse gases that causes global warming. In comparison, all the air, land, and water traffic produces 13%. (IPCC shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore in 2007.)
If everyone make a slight change in our diet, we can make a real difference to our world.
Be kind to your body. Be kind to the animals. Be kind to our planet.
Go Vegetarian 1 Day A Week (more than 1 day is even better, of course).
Show your support by pledging (joining) the Facebook group we created.
Ask your family, friends, boss, coworkers to pledge.
If you're not on Facebook, please make your pledge by signing up at the Zen Center of Sunnyvale .
Our goal: 100,000 people. This will effect a change of lifestyle for human beings.
Some facts taken from the book "The Food On Your Plate" (references to these data can be found in the book):
The more than 2.5 billion pigs and cattle excrete more than 80 metric tons (176 billion pounds) of waste nitrogen annually; by comparison, the entire human population produces 30 million tons. (Nitrous oxide has 296 times the effect on global warming than CO2).
The EPA says that the 3 trillion pounds of waste from factory animals is a greater source of pollution our our rivers and lakes than ALL OTHER industrial sources combined.
Animals on factory farms in the U.S. produce 87,000 pounds of waste EVERY SECOND, which 130 times more than the entire population of the United States. This equivalent to about 5 tons of animal waste for each person in the U.S.
A typical pig factory farm generates as much wast as a city of 50,000 people.
Cornell University research has calculated that it takes 13,000 gallons of water to produce a single pound of beef. Other researches found that it takes 2,600 gallons of water to produce a single serving of steak.
Producing 2 pounds of animal protein requires about ten times more water than producing 2 pounds of grain protein.
EPA: chemical and animal waste runoff from factory farms is responsible for 173,000 miles of polluted rivers and streams.
Our water sources are also disappearing fast. 17 trillion gallons of water were used for irrigation annually to produce feed for U.S. livestock.
New York Times: "As the world's appetite for meat increases, countries across the globe are bulldozing huge swaths of land to make more room for animals and the crops to feed them. From tropical rain forests in Brazil to ancient pine forests in China, entire ecosystems are being destroyed to fuel our addiction to meat."