Michael Willemsen, Sauk Rapids
Pope Francis is holding a conference on Global Warming and Human Trafficking with many world mayors (including Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges). This is great progress! I’m thankful these conversations are happening, and I’m hopeful they will discus the danger of animal agriculture. A report from the United Nations FAO says 18 percent of all GHG emissions (more than all of transportation combined) comes from farmed animals. A new study from Worldwatch says 51 percent of all CO2 emissions are the result of animal agriculture. These are some astonishing numbers, especially when most environmental groups are focusing on fossil fuels, green energy and other infrastructure projects that could take years to build, and that’s IF we have political alignment. A simple solution given these facts is to “embrace your empathy” and transition to a meat-free diet. This is something everyone can accomplish immediately. We are running out of time, future generations’ quality of life is at stake and we need real change now. In the United States alone we are responsible for the slaughter of more than 9 billion land animals every year. This requires an obscene amount of water both for the animals and for the corn/soybean production used in feeding these animals (not to mention what comes out the other end!). If the human species wanted to, we could effectively convert these wasteful animal feed lands into forests and other oxygen-producing environments (natural habitats for wild animals). The way we treat farmed animals is similar to the way we treat the poor and vulnerable people in our world. These abuses need to end, and we all have the power to choose compassionately three times a day.