Why a More Plant-based Diet?

March 4, 2024 Cj Willie Featured

Every day there is news about the effects of climate change…severe droughts, flooding, fires, catastrophic storms, etc. Our planet is in serious trouble and the behavior of human beings is the primary cause. Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato Si’, challenges us to adopt a more Earth-friendly sustainable lifestyle. Moving towards a more plant-based diet is often cited as a crucial means of addressing climate change. But why? Below are some of the reasons a plant-based diet can both address climate change and provide multiple health benefits.

Animal agriculture is currently the single largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, making it one of the largest drivers of climate change. Key to this contribution is the release of methane gas from livestock production: Since 2007, the concentration of methane in the atmosphere has risen significantly, faster than any other greenhouse gas. According to National Geographic, “The 20-year global warming potential of methane is 84. That is, over a 20-year period it traps 84 times more heat per mass unit than CO2.” A leading cause of this increase in methane is the billions of livestock grazing in pastures and confined in feedlots around the world. Decreasing the consumption of meat, even by one or two days per week, can make a difference.

Livestock currently graze on more than one-third of Earth’s ice-free land surface which was once forest or grasslands that had captured and stored carbon dioxide. In the Amazon rainforest, clearing land for grazing cattle accounts for 70 percent of recent deforestation, with additional forest being cleared for growing soy to feed livestock. Restoring these lands to native ecosystems or forests has the potential to sequester quantities of carbon dioxide that could significantly offset decades of global fossil fuel emissions.

Animal agriculture is a major cause of water pollution, contaminating drinking water, causing toxic algae outbreaks in local waterways, and killing fish. Slaughterhouses that process and package poultry, beef, pork, and other meats dump millions of pounds of harmful substances directly into our nation’s rivers and streams.

Humans consume more animals today than ever before. Worldwide, some 80 billion animals are raised and slaughtered for food each year; in the United States about 10 billion are slaughtered, approximately 1 million per hour. According to one analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average U.S. citizen consumes about 21,000 land animals in his or her lifetime.

Most animals raised for human consumption in the United States are raised on factory farms where they are subjected to small spaces and horrendous conditions. The majority of these factory farms are currently exempt from federal animal welfare laws.

A plant-based diet also has personal health benefits. The overconsumption of meat in our diets increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases. As early as 2016 a University of Oxford study stated that “a global switch to diets that rely less on meat and more on fruit and vegetables could save up to 8 million lives by 2050, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two-thirds, and lead to healthcare-related savings. It could also avoid climate-related damages of $1.5 trillion (US)”.

Small changes can make a huge difference. For instance, the World Resources Institute tells us that “Americans eat approximately 10 billion burgers each year. Replacing 30 percent of the beef in those burgers with mushrooms would:

  • Reduce agricultural production-related greenhouse gas emissions by 10.5 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per year, equivalent to taking 2.3 million cars (and their annual tailpipe emissions) off the road.
  • Reduce irrigation water demand by 83 billion gallons per year, an amount equal to 2.6 million Americans’ annual home water use; and
  • Reduce global agricultural land demand by more than 14,000 square miles, an area larger than the state of Maryland.”

Reflect on your daily diet and, if it is high in meat consumption, think about adding one or more meatless days to your week as your contribution to a healthier planet. Pope Francis reminds us that there is a connection between the abundance of food available in the developed countries and the hunger which plagues those in the less developed countries. He noted that “The future is not up somewhere in the clouds, but is rather built by promoting and accompanying processes of greater humanization. We can dream of a future without hunger, but this is only reasonable when we engage in tangible processes, vital relations, effective plans, and real commitments.” What commitment will you make today?

Resources:

World Resources Institute at https://twitter.com/WorldResources/status/1021787231672049664

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Laudate Deum and COP 28

January 4, 2024 Cj Willie Environment

On the fourth of October 2023, Pope Francis released an Apostolic Exhortation entitled Laudate Deum. He states clearly in this document that “Eight years have passed since I published Laudato Si’…yet, with the passage of time, I have realized that our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point…”

Francis reiterated the words frequently found in Laudato Si’: “Everything is connected.”  He notes in Laudate Deum that climate change will affect every aspect of our lives: healthcare, sources of employment, access to resources, housing, forced migrations, etc. Yet at the dawn of 2024 it appears that we still do not understand the reality of our interconnectedness. Francis notes that “Millions of people are losing their jobs due to different effects of climate change: rising sea levels, droughts, and other phenomena affecting the planet have left may people adrift.” We see the effects all around us but refuse to acknowledge the role humanity is playing in climate change and the systemic change that is necessary.

Francis states clearly that “Despite all attempts to deny, conceal, gloss over or relativize the issue, the signs of climate change are here and increasingly evident. No one can ignore the fact that in recent years we have witnessed extreme weather phenomena, frequent periods of unusual heat, drought and other cries of protest on the part of the earth that are only a few palpable expressions of a silent disease that affects everyone.”

He points out that “It is no longer possible to doubt the human – “anthropic” – origin of climate change…The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which causes global warming, was stable until the nineteenth century, below 300 parts per million in volume. But in the middle of that century, in conjunction with industrial development, emissions began to increase. In the past fifty years, this increase has accelerated significantly, as the Mauna Loa observatory, which has taken daily measurements of carbon dioxide since 1958, has confirmed. While I was writing Laudato Si’, they hit a historic high – 400 parts per million – until arriving at 423 parts per million in June 2023. More than 42% of total net emissions since the year 1850 were produced after 1990.”

Given the above information, it is clearer than ever that systemic change is needed. Author Larry Hutchins tells us that “All the important problems we face are systemic problems: the survival of the planet’s ecology, world peace, the elimination of hunger and disease, the education of youth, and social justice…Over the past several decades the systemic nature of these complex problems has gradually entered the public’s consciousness. Complex problems are systemic; systemic problems are everywhere systemic problems are messy problems.”

Francis recognizes this complexity and writes “Our world has become so multipolar and at the same time so complex that a different framework for effective cooperation is required. It is not enough to think only of balances of power but also of the need to provide a response to new problems and to react with global mechanisms to the environmental, public health, cultural and social challenges, especially in order to consolidate respect for the most elementary human rights, social rights and the protection of our common home. It is a matter of establishing global and effective rules that can permit “providing for” this global safeguarding.”

Although Francis was unable to attend the UN Climate Summit (COP 28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates due to illness, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin delivered Pope Francis’ speech to delegates. Through Cardinal Paolin, Francis told delegates that “his presence serves to remind them that “the destruction of the environment is an offence against God, a sin that is not only personal but also structural, one that greatly endangers all human beings, especially the most vulnerable in our midst and threatens to unleash a conflict between generations.”

It was hoped that the conference would provide the structure and commitment to truthfully acknowledge the causes of climate change and put forth specific recommendations which countries would agree to act upon. Although it did not attain the objectives many people in countries throughout the world wanted, there were some important decisions made.

Some of the Key Outcomes of COP 28:

  • The final document calls for the world to “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050.” This signifies both a rapid near-term shift away from fossil fuels and a long-term direction of travel to a zero-carbon future. This is the first time such an agreement has been reached in 28 years of international climate negotiations.
  • The Loss and Damage Fund was fully operationalized on the first day of the Dubai summit. The fund is designed to help climate-vulnerable countries deal with climate impacts that go beyond what people can adapt to.
  • Outside of the negotiations, countries and others made major announcements on food, a milestone since the issue has historically been left out of the COP.  One hundred and fifty-nine nations, covering nearly 80% of the world’s land, signed the COP28 United Arab Emirates (UAE) Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action, committing to integrate food and food systems into their s by 2025.
  • The final COP28 agreement reflects a growing understanding of cities as critical climate battlegrounds and partners for action—a fitting recognition since 70% of carbon dioxide emissions come from urban areas.
  • COP28 saw an encouraging slate of actions to address methane pollution, a greenhouse gas 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Governments, companies, and philanthropies announced over $1 billion in new grants, which more than triples the funding for projects focused on cutting methane in the oil and gas, waste and agriculture sectors, with the goal of mobilizing billions more.

Attention turns now to the next essential tasks: turning the goals expressed at COP28 into national action and ensuring the finance is there to implement them. Importantly, these commitments must be seen as the floor — not the ceiling — in the fight against climate change. Climate-vulnerable communities and countries cannot afford to be shortchanged. It is up to countries to translate the UAE Consensus into their next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and transformative domestic legislation and policies, including ramping up renewables and fossil-free transport and tamping down fossil fuels at every turn. Global agreements can send the right signals, but the world’s fate will ultimately be determined by whether countries play their part in addressing the climate crisis.

Pope Francis concludes Laudate Deum with the following: “If we consider that emissions per individual in the United States are about two times greater than those of individuals living in China, and about seven times greater than the average of the poorest countries, we can state that a broad change in the irresponsible lifestyle connected with the Western model would have a significant long-term impact.” These words are a direct challenge to us to evaluate our own lifestyles and ask what more we can do to care for Earth, our common home.

Pope Francis continually reminds us that systemic change is needed in multiple systems: our church, government, education, etc. so it is a call for us to hold leaders and each other accountable in all of the institutions of which we are a part. One concrete action each of us can take immediately it to take the Laudato Deum pledge which invites us to make personal changes in our own lifestyles, but also to hold the leaders of our institutions accountable for keeping the commitments they made at COP 28. This document can be found at https://catholicclimatecovenant.org/my-laudate-deum-action-pledge/  Pray with the actions suggested and make your personal commitment. Join with others to make a difference.

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Dangers Ahead

March 23, 2023 Cj Willie Environment

Dangers Ahead

(But Hope, Too)

The  U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released on March 21st found that the world is likely to surpass its most ambitious climate target — limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial temperatures — by the early 2030s. This most recent assessment by the IPCC synthesizes years of studies on the causes and consequences of rising temperatures.

In unequivocal terms, the report states that “The world is likely to pass a dangerous temperature threshold within the next 10 years, pushing the planet past the point of catastrophic warming — unless nations drastically transform their economies and immediately transition away from fossil fuels.” Scientists have found that beyond that threshold “climate disasters will become so extreme that people will not be able to adapt. Basic components of the Earth system will be fundamentally, irrevocably altered. Heat waves, famines, and infectious diseases could claim millions of additional lives by century’s end”.

“Human activities have already transformed the planet at a pace and scale unmatched in recorded history, the IPCC said, causing irreversible damage to communities and ecosystems. Yet global emissions continue to rise, and current carbon-cutting efforts are wildly insufficient to ward off climate catastrophe.”

Scientists have identified the need to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) as the threshold which would help save the world’s coral reefs and preserve the Arctic’s protective sea ice layer. This would help prevent dramatic sea level rise by avoiding further destabilization in Antarctica and Greenland.

The IPCC report shows humanity has reached a “critical moment in history,” IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee said. “The world has all the knowledge, tools and financial resources needed to achieve its climate goals, but after decades of disregarding scientific warnings and delaying climate efforts, the window for action is rapidly closing.”

Five key takeaways from the IPPC report:

  1. Climate change has already wreaked havoc on the planet.
  2. Every bit of warming matters.
  3. The impacts of climate change are and will continue to be severe.
  4. The warmer the world, the more animal species at serious risk.
  5. There is a window to act, but it’s small and getting smaller.

Climate change has already wreaked havoc on the planet.

Although this report is dire, there is hope. Today there are numerous organizations and individuals actively working for a sustainable climate. It will, however, take the combined efforts of people throughout the world to make the changes necessary. Our faith also calls us to take an active role in working a sustainability. In Laudato Si”, Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment, he repeatedly calls for our active participation in caring for God’s creation and reminds us that those who are suffering the most from climate change are the poorest individuals and countries; those least responsible for the damage.

What can be done? Below are some ideas to get started:

  • Reduce food waste
    • Start by buying less food and shopping more frequently, if possible. If your schedule doesn’t permit that, you can prevent food waste by choosing fruits and veggies that freeze well. Chop most of your produce haul when you get home and freeze it. Added bonus: this also cuts down on meal prep time.
    • Find and support your local community compost center by bringing food scraps, volunteering, and/or donating.
  • Begin a more plant-rich diet
    • Going plant-based (or mostly plant-based) is one of the most impactful actions you can take as an individual, and it’s also an approach that has huge potential if the masses follow suit.
    • Gradually reduce your meat consumption while increasing protein-rich foods like beans, nuts, and whole grains. If you do consume meat, think of it as an embellishment to the meal rather than the main course (added bonus: your health will likely improve dramatically too).
  • Work with others by joining an organization that works for environmental sustainability
    • At the national and/or international level:

(www.interfaithpowerandlight.org)

 At the local level in the Greater Cincinnati area, join an organization and/or check out their websites for programs and suggestions:

Check the above website for prayerful photo reflection on Laudato Si’ weekly)

(www. https://resources.catholicaoc.org/offices/catholic-social-action/catholic-social-teaching/care-for-creation)  

March 22, 2023

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