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vegan reforestation

Seeing the needs of the whole is the opposite of egotism. Change your perspective on life from private to united in heart. The World Health Organization reported that 6 million children starved to death in 2009.1 The Berkeley, California City Council declared the climate emergency is worse than the World War II emergency.2

A 2019 publication in Science indicates that if we add one trillion trees to the Earth, we will cut the atmospheric carbon pool by 25% and return to the safe zone with respect to global warming.3 But we need to quickly free up massive parcels of land for reforestation.

Converting animal agriculture (AAg) land use to vegan use a) could stop climate change4-10 and b) will significantly reduce world hunger.11 Here's how:

  • Eating meat and dairy requires 5-15 times more land than veganism,12
  • AAg consumes 40% of the usable land mass of Earth,13,14
  • Reforestation of 41% of the extra land made available through veganism will sequester huge sums of carbon – more than the carbon released from 1750 – 2015.15

This was all explained to the European Parliament.16 The UN Environment Programme urged the whole world to go vegan by 2050.17 But that's too late; we only have 5-8 years!18-20

The Climate Solution

  • Documentary - United in Heart: Hunger & Climate Solutions

    1. The What and the Why.
      1. Watch our 30 minute documentary on Amazon Prime (free for members, $1.99 for non-members) or for free on YouTube and our app.
      2. The video explains how rainwater harvesting, food forests, veganism, and reforestation are essential to solving climate change and world hunger.

  • Free United in Heart App

    1. The Who and the How.
      1. The free App empowers everyday people by outlining the roadmap and practical steps to solve climate change.
      2. The Food Forests tree-planting program increases the sovereignty and self-sufficiency of indigenous people of the Global South and reduces climate refugeeism.
      3. The App includes a video platform, goal-setting tools, and communication tools so you can carry out key imperatives to save the planet.

    REFERENCES

    1. Rifkin, J. “The World’s Problems on a Plate,” The Guardian, May 17, 2002.
    2. Re, Gregg “Berkeley declares ‘climate emergency’ worse than WWII,” June 14, 2018. Fox news / New York Post.
    3. Bastin et al., “The global tree restoration potential,” Science 365, 76–79, July 5, 2019.
    4. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations."Livestock's Long Shadow: environmental issues and options". Rome 2006.
    5. Goodland, R Anhang, J. “Livestock and Climate Change: What if the key actors in climate change were pigs, chickens and cows?” WorldWatch. November/December 2009.

    6. Hickman, Martin. "Study claims meat creates half of all greenhouse gases". Independent. November 2009.
    7. Hyner, Christopher. "A Leading Cause of Everything: One Industry That Is Destroying Our Planet and Our Ability to Thrive on It". Georgetown Environmental Law Review. October 23, 2015.
    8. Raloff, J. “AAAS: Climate-Friendly Dining…Meats. The Carbon Footprints of Raising Livestock for Food.” Science News. February 15, 2009.
    9. Rao, Sailesh et al., “The Lifestyle Carbon Dividend: Assessment of the Carbon Sequestration Potential of Grasslands and Pasturelands Reverted to Native Forests,” AGU Fall Meeting, December 14-18, 2015.
    10. Hayek, M.N., Harwatt, H., Ripple, W.J. et al. “The carbon opportunity cost of animal-sourced food production on land.” Nat Sustain 4, 21–24, September 7, 2020.
    11. Rifkin (n. 1) (“In the US, 157 million metric tons of cereal, legumes and vegetable protein suitable for human use is fed to livestock to produce 28 million metric tons of animal protein for annual human consumption.”).
    12. Rifkin (n. 1).
    13. Thornton, Phillip, et al. "Livestock and climate change". Livestock xchange. International Livestock Research Institute. November 2011.
    14. Smith, Pete & Bustamante, Mercedes, et al. "Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU)". Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Chapter 11.
    15. Rao (n. 9).
    16. Rao, Sailesh. “Sailesh Rao's presentation to EU Parliament before Cowspiracy Screening (part 3 of 7)” youtube.com 2015.
    17. Carus, Felicity. “UN urges global move to meat and dairy-free diet” The Guardian. June 2, 2010.
    18. McMahon, Jeff. “We Have Five Years To Save Ourselves From Climate Change, Harvard Scientist Says” Forbes, January 15, 2018.
    19. Suleman, Nadia. “Canada's Permafrost Is Thawing 70 Years Earlier Than Expected, Study Shows.” Time Magazine, June 19, 2019.
    20. Oppenlander, Richard. “Plant Based Symposium: Richard Oppenlander” youtube.com 2017.

Arvin Paranjpe