Over 285 Great Animal Rights and Animal Protection Organizations by State.

You can also check out www.greenpeople.org for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), Buying Clubs, Organic Farming......Food Safety, Vegetarian and Environmental Organizations...... Health Food Stores and Natural Food Coops.....Farmers Markets, and much more, all by State.

According to the Environmental Defense, if everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save:

• •100 billion gallons of water
• •1.5 billion pounds of crops therwise fed to livestock
• •70 million gallons of gas–enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare
• •3 million acres of land
• •33 tons of antibiotics
• •Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as produced by all of France
• •3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic damages
• •4.5 million tons of animal excrement
• •Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant

By not eating beef– and other farm animals as well–you:

• Save massive amounts of water – 3,000 to 5,000 gallons of water for every pound of beef you avoid. Animal production consumes an amount of water roughly equivalent to all other uses of water in the United States combined.
• Avoid polluting our streams and rivers better than any other single recycling effort you do. 1.4 billion tons of solid fecal matter is produced by US farm animals per year - This fecal matter is often left outside in open pits and seeps into groundwater, and into lakes and rivers.
• Avoid the destruction of topsoil More than two-thirds of the land area of the mountain states are used for grazing. 70% of the lands in western national forests are grazed; 90% of Bureau of Land Management land is grazed, and over-grazed, resulting in severe erosion.
• Avoid the destruction of tropical forest. The United States imports roughly 200 million pounds of beef from Central America every year. A large percentage of the grazing land for this cattle is created by clear-cutting of forests and rainforest.
• Avoid the production of carbon dioxide. (Your average car produces 3 kg/day of CO2. To clear rainforest to produce beef for one hamburger produces 75 kg of CO2. Eating one pound of hamburger does the same damage as driving your car for more than three weeks)
• Reduce the amount of methane gas.
Livestock account for 37% of emissions of methane, which has more than 20 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, and 65% of emissions of nitrous oxide, another powerful greenhouse gas, most of which comes from manure, concludes Nierenberg.
• Reduce the destruction of wildlife habitat, and help to save endangered species. The immense degradation of habitat for wildlife that goes along with the production of meat-food is causing hundreds of species to become extinct each year.
• Avoid wasted resources. In order to produce one pound of meat, an animal needs to consume as much a 10 pounds of grains that could be consumed directly by humans.

'So You're an Environmentalist; Why Are You Still Eating Meat?", By Jim Motavalli, E Magazine. says: "Evidence shows a meat-based diet is bad for the environment, aggravates global hunger, brutalizes animals and compromises health. So why aren't more environmentalists vegetarians?"

• World Hunger and Resources The 4.8 pounds of grain fed to cattle to produce one pound of beef for human beings represents a colossal waste of resources in a world still teeming with people who suffer from profound hunger and malnutrition.
• Environmental Costs Energy-intensive U.S. factory farms generated 1.4 billion tons of animal waste in 1996, which, the Environmental Protection Agency reports, pollutes American waterways more than all other industrial sources combined. Meat production has also been linked to severe erosion of billions of acres of once-productive farmland and to the destruction of rainforests.
• The Human Health Toll There is some evidence to suggest that the human digestive system was not designed for meat consumption and processing, which could help explain why there is such high incidence of heart disease, hypertension, and colon and other cancers. Add to this the plethora of drugs and antibiotics applied as a salve to unnatural factory farming conditions and growing occurrences of meat-based diseases like E. coli and Salmonella, and there's a compelling health-based case for vegetarianism. The U.N.'s recent report on livestock and the environment could hardly be more sobering: 'The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global......... From pollution to water and land degradation, and global warming." The amount of land used to grow crops to feed livestock is 10 times we need to grow crops for human consumption. The runoff from factory farms has meant the degradation of water sources, and the energy used to feed, house, transport, and slaughter animals, and then pack and transport their flesh and by-products, is tremendous.
• Caring About Animals The average meat eater is responsible for the deaths of some 2,400 animals during his or her lifetime. Animals raised for food endure great suffering in their housing, transport, feeding and slaughter, which is something not clearly evident in the neatly wrapped packages of meat offered for sale at grocery counters. Given the information, many Americans -- especially those with an environmental background -- recoil at knowing they participate in a meat production system so oppressive to the animals caught up in it.


• The U.N.'s recent report on livestock and the environment could hardly be more sobering: 'The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global......... From pollution to water and land degradation, and global warming." The amount of land used to grow crops to feed livestock is 10 times that which we need to grow crops for human consumption. The runoff from factory farms has meant a huge degradation of water sources, and the energy used to feed, house, transport, and slaughter animals, and then pack and transport their flesh and by-products, is tremendous! We blame automobiles and factories for the greenhouse gases that are leading to alarming climate change, and well we should. But the fact is, as the U.N. report notes, almost a fifth of those deadly emissions come from livestock.

A great documentary which explores the relationship between our diet and environmental sustainabliity is Devour The Earth, narrated by Paul McCartney. You can watch it @ Devour The Earth

• Get An Energy Audit........An energy audit will tell you how much energy your home uses each year, and provide tips on how to reduce your consumption. Most utility companies will do this for free.
• Get More MPG's.......Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help stop global warming by getting more miles per gallon. When you are car shopping, consider a small more gas efficient car. Check out http://www.fueleconomy.gov/ to find the most fuel efficient cars.
• Replace Your Light Bulbs......Replacing your old incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) will help increase your energy efficiency. They may be a an investmet up front but they use two thirds less energy, give off 70 percent less heat and last up to 10 times as long as conventional bulbs.
• Reuse Your Shopping Bags.......Use neither plastic or paper! Help reduce oil consumption and save trees by bringing your own bags on your next shopping trip.
• Control the Temperture.........Up to 20 percent of heating and cooling energy is lost due to poorly sealed or insulated homes. Make sure your windows and doors have proper weatherstipping and insulation. This can be done as part of your "energy audit".
• Landscape Smartly..........planting trees and shrubs strategically can reduce heating and cooling costs; shade cooling in the summer and windbreaks shielding your home from winter winds.
• Reduce, Reuse and Recycle...........not only is it vital that we recyle aluminum cans, glass, newspaper and cardboard and plastic, but it is just as vital that we purchase products made from these recycled products. Please see my links page and check out www.ecomall.com for a list of companies that manufacture a variety of goods using recycled products. You will also find a link to www.freecycle.org, where you can post ads for items you need or items you want to give away for free.
• Conserve Water..........Replacing an older toilet can save about 7,500 gallons of water a year. Fixing a leak in a toilet can save as much as 200 gallons a day. Use low-flow shower heads and turn your water heater thermostat down to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Thnk before you water the lawn, wash your car, water the garden.....only do if absolutely needed. Water during the evening hours. Another great idea is saving rain water.....you can capture a surprisingly large amount of rainwater from your gutters! Instead of letting the water flow down your driveway and into a storm drain, you can collect it. If you use a rain barrel at each downspout, you can quickly start to collect enough to keep your flower beds, garden or houseplants well watered.
• Buying Green Energy.........Many electric companies offer renewable energy products that can be purchased as a percent of total energy use or in blocks of kilowatts. Buying green energy helps support the development and use of renewable fuel souces. Using solar energy for electricity or to heat water is another great option. To find out when and if you can choose your energy supplier, check the Energy Information Administration, http://www.eia.doe.gov/. Green-e, a green power certification program run by the nonprofit Center for Resource Solutions, identifies suppliers in these states that draw at least half their power from wind, solar energy and other clean sources
• Buy Energy Efficient Appliances..........your refrigerator uses more energy than any other appliance so replacing that alone can make a big difference.

I'd like to suggest that each of you watch "An Inconvenient Truth" (by Al Gore), which offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man's fervent crusade to halt global warming's deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it.

Please watch this thought provoking documentray examining the amount of products consumed in a lifetime and the impact it has on the environment.

Human Footprint.