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Opinion: Help climate with plant-based diet, says Potsdam resident

Posted 6/23/17

To the Editor: Are you, too, fighting mad about Pres. Trump pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord? Then let's fight back three times a day by adopting an eco-friendly plant-based diet. …

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Opinion: Help climate with plant-based diet, says Potsdam resident

Posted

To the Editor:

Are you, too, fighting mad about Pres. Trump pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord? Then let's fight back three times a day by adopting an eco-friendly plant-based diet.

Yes, our diet is pivotal. A 2010 United Nations report blames animal agriculture for 19% of greenhouse gas emissions, 38% of land use, and 70% of global freshwater consumption.

Carbon dioxide is emitted by burning forests to create animal pastures and by fossil fuels combustion to operate farm machinery, trucks, factory farms, and slaughterhouses.

The more damaging methane and nitrous oxide are released from digestive tracts of cattle and from

animal waste cesspools, respectively.

In an environmentally sustainable world, meat and dairy products in our diet must be replaced by vegetables, fruits, and grains, just as fossil fuels are replaced by wind, solar, and other pollution-free energy sources.

Each of us has the power to protest Trump's failure to maintain America's leadership in moderating climate change, simply and effectively, by what we choose at the grocery store.

Nico Clister

Potsdam