Links between NCDs and Climate Change, with a focus on diet. By Lalu Hanuman Attorney-at-law Barbados
Photo taken in Barbados.
Per capita meat consumption, , selected examples (kg/person) (source: FAOSTATS 2013)
WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer recently concluded that red meat is “carcinogenic to humans”, comparing it with cigarettes.
Obesity among vegetarians is low as compared with non-vegetarians with broadly similar lifestyles this impacts on the comparative incidence of diabetes and hypertension. Non-meat eaters tend to have less cancers than meat-eaters, and live on average ten years longer.
World Watch Institute: "Livestock are responsible for 18 % of GHG emissions, as measured in CO2 equivalent, which is higher than the share of GHG emissions from transportation. They produce 37 % of methane, which has more than 20 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, and they emit 65 % of nitrous oxide, another powerful GHG, most of which comes from manure... "
WWF says: “Marine life—including mammals, birds and fish—have declined by 49 % between 1970 and Humans have caused the decline in marine species largely through overfishing.”
Albert Einstein: "Nothing will benefit health or increase chances of survival on earth, as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."
"Try skipping meat for one day a week to reduce your carbon footprint and improve your health". Paul McCartney of the "Beatles"
Recommended Reading "Plant based nutrition and health" by Dr. Stephen Walsh - published 2012 by the Vegan Society, Birmingham, England. "The Ecological Hoofprint" by Professor Tony Weis- published 2013 by Zed Books, New York.