News of the devastating impact that climate change will have on the planet and all it`s inhabitants, is never off our TV screens these days. Now widely regarded to be the most serious threat to the survival of mankind, the debate has moved on from whether or not we are changing our climate to what we can do to reverse our impact.

As a result, increasing numbers of people are endeavouring to live a more sustainable lifestyle, by conserving energy/switching to a renewable energy supplier, reducing car usage, buying locally produced food, cutting down on waste etc. By taking simple steps in every aspect of our daily lives, we can massively reduce the amount of land/water needed to sustain our own lifestyle - our ecological footprint.

Ecological Footprint Quiz

The Earthday Network is a non-political organisation who's goal is to educate all parts of society on what they can do to help the planet. Their website, www.earthday.net, provides an environmental footprint calculator from which you can calculate the number of hectares required to sustain your lifestyle and hence how many planets would be required if everyone lived like you. In the UK the average environmental footprint is 5.8 hectares. If we divided the planet among the world`s population and each was given an equal part we would all get only 1.8 hectares.

After answering 15 easy questions you`ll be able to compare your Ecological Footprint to that of other people and to the land available on this planet.

The Earthday calculator is of special interest because it asks questions about diet. Using this calculator, simple research conducted by The Vegan Society produced some results that would surprise not only meat eaters, but environmentalists too!

The adoption of a vegan diet was found to be far more beneficial for the environment than choosing to follow a local, unprocessed meat-based diet. Moving to a vegan diet has a similar impact to cutting out 25 hours of air travel a year. Switching to a vegan diet is similar to replacing one of the most thirsty cars on the market to a hybrid.

Have a go at the quiz and see for yourself how much your personal ecological footprint changes if you switch between meat eater and vegan!!

Environmental Destruction

Your waistline isn’t the only thing that gets damaged by a bacon butty - meat eating has a devastating effect on the entire planet.

Since the 1950s, global demand for meat has quadrupled and in 2005, 55 billion animals were slaughtered. It’s no coincidence that the natural world has crumbled at a corresponding rate. Almost every environmental disaster you’ve heard of is directly linked to the protein industries - meat, dairy and fish.

You want to save the rainforest? Everyone does it seems and yet up to 170,000 square kilometres get trashed every year as part of the burger culture. Cleared land is used to graze beef cattle or grow crops to feed them. Rainforest isn’t just trees - at least a half of the world’s species live there.

All countries have problems. We all enjoy a sunny day, but when global warming really starts to bite you’ll need more than a knotted hanky to protect you! Oceans will expand causing mass flooding, millions will be forced to migrate and dry weather will alternate with floods and water shortages. Animal agriculture is right there amongst the principal causes. Farting and belching by cows, sheep, goats and camels produce over two billion tons of methane annually - a gas 23 times more damaging than carbon dioxide (CO2). When CO2 from slash and burn forest clearing is added, you’ve probably got the second biggest cause of global warming after fossil fuel burning. Better in than out, it seems!

Acid rain has slipped off the agenda but it’s still a problem. Thirteen billion tonnes of animal manure a year are one of the main causes - in some countries the main cause. Stored as slurry, it can also leak into rivers and streams and exterminate all life. Further up the creek and still without a paddle... the UK uses 4.5 billion litres of pesticides a year - over 400 chemicals, many of which can cause cancer. Animal fodder is the main reason.

Think seafood’s safe? Think again! Fishing boats dragged 90 million tonnes of fish from the world’s ocean’s in 2003. No wonder Greenpeace says that up to 78 per cent of fisheries are exploited to the limit, over exploited or are depleted and that many fish species are close to extinction. The death toll also includes seals, sea-birds and turtles, whales and dolphins.

Factory farming of fish is offered as the answer but it’s just another problem as farmed fish are mostly fed wild caught fish. Many are caged in coastal waters so all waste products go straight into the sea (fish poo, too!). One tonne of farmed trout produces a similar amount of sewage to 200-300 people. It’s the same old story as with farmed animals - overcrowding, diseases, growth promoters, antibiotics, pesticides and party time for parasites. Sea lice have blossomed and are destroying wild salmon - helped by genetic pollution from escaped farmed fish.

Back on dry land (though not as dry as it’s going to be…), water use is spiralling - it doubled between 1960 and 2000 and the rate is accelerating. Some 70 per cent - up to 95 per cent in the developing world - goes on agriculture, mostly animals. It takes 9,680 litres to produce one kg of beef, 140 for a kg of onions. No wonder the world is running out of water.

By forgetting fish and missing out meat, you can remove yourself from this cycle of destruction. You don’t even have to strap on a Superman cape or wear Y-fronts to save the world. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a vegetarian!

Want to find out more? Viva!`s fully referenced and updated guide, Planet on A Plate, gives an excellent introduction to why environmental havoc is being wrought by the Western meat based diet and the increasing role that factory farms play in this dangerous situation. Read it free online at www.viva.org.uk, or in hard-copy for £1 (plus 50p p&p) each.