We are eating up our world

Hello everybody, today were gonna talk about the issue of the 21 st century: we are eating up the world, and destroying our earth. You should know, that just small changes in our habits can make a huge difference We live on a planet, and there is just one, we should take care of it; As Jason CLAY, WWF senior Vice president said, We need to begin to manage this planet as if our life depended on it, because it does. It fundamentally does Unfortunately, yet we have ravaged it, In this quotation, Jason CLAY, means that indeed, we have entailed the degradation of our world, by our irresponsible behavior, but each of us, should be aware of it and should act to change things. As a matter of fact, Our planet faces serious environmental challenges. Water shortages, global warming, land degradation, deforestation, ocean degradation, are just some of these important issues. It is now clear that we are using the Earths resources at an unsustainable rate. The problems we face have an impact at all levels: on our planet This presentation highlights some of the key problems that are facing our planet, notably caused by our food habits, we will focus on this point.

Air Over 30% of the greenhouse emissions produced can be attributed to animal industries. This is taking into account their direct emissions as well as their substantial fuel consumption and energy use from power stations. Methane has far greater global warming potential than carbon dioxide. Efforts to combat global warming must not be concentrated solely on reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Methane produced by animals is also a substantial contributor to climate change. Methane is much more dangerous in the short term than CO2. Over the next

20 years methane has a warming potential at least 72 times that of carbon dioxide.

Water Many people are surprised to learn that the amount of water used to produce food is much greater than that used directly in households. A 2004 Melbourne University study concluded, Water use through food consumption is 90% of a households water use. This implies that for any water saving effort to have an effect; it should be concentrated on indirect water use. For example, In Victoria, 77% of agricultural water is used for pasture and hay production for grazing animals raised for meat and dairy products. In comparison, only 10% is used for the production of fruit and vegetables for human consumption. Land Increased numbers of agricultural animals, over-farming and overgrazing can lead to vicious cycles of deforestation, erosion and habitat destruction. Eventually this can lead to starvation prompted by the disappearance of plant food sources.

Did you know? within 50 years population will reach 9 billion, consumption will triple, Poverty and malnutrition are widespread and are growing more and more. 790 million people in the world are chronically undernourished. About 27,000 children under 5 die of poverty and starvation everyday. To face it we have only SUSTAINABILITY Ok, but what can I do? lets start with dinner; Sustainability is complicated, but dinner is a reality that we all very much understand, so let's start there!

Barton Seaver Chef in Washington DC and advocate Did you know? Indeed, livestock production is one of the biggest culprits in the world Did you know? it uses 70% land of the agricultural, of Earths land surface, it requires 1000 times cultures more water than vegetable, it produces 18% greenhouse gas of all the world