It probably depends on what's added to the calculation. There are many hidden environmental costs in meat production. I didn't see any mention of the vast amounts of fossil used to grow industrial feed corn or to cart animals from pasture to feedlot to slaughterhouse to grocery store.

I admire some of what PETA does, and I admire much of what a whole lot of others do to combat what ails this planet, but it seems no one has noticed the 500 lb elephant in the room: human overpopulation. Therefore, I respectfully suggest that the best way to arrest the decline of this, our home, is to stop freaking producing more and more little-mes, who in turn will demand their own acreage for food production, including animals, and who will just add to the total BS our species produces every day.

But resisting the urge to clone ourselves is only one, slow step. To really speed up the process of returning Earth to itself we should immediately legislate that all burger joints henceforth use only human meat in their products. That way, we can have our Jake and eat him, too, and at the same time bring the Earth's human population down to a manageable level.

This proposal merits your serious consideration.

...not widespread veganism or vegetarianism, seems to be the real point here.

a.) People can certainly eat less meat, and should be encouraged to do so. But they're not going to give it up altogether. Hell, beef is tasty! Plus, we are omnivorous apes--our bodies require some animal protein to maintain optimal health.

b.) Most of the problems described in the article are effects of large-scale industrial farming, and could be mitigated by the widespread adoption of organic, sustainable techniques--which are not, as the fear-mongers say, inadequate to the task of feeding the world. Indeed, organic farming, whose foundational principle is that the soil must be rebuilt and replenished as it's farmed--is the only long-term solution to our agriculture and climate woes. Those "waste lagoons?" A waste of valuable fertilizer. Composting would take care of those emissions. The grain vs. grass controversy? Not much of a question when you consider the pounds of fossil fuels going into the grains the cows eat.

I don't know why it's self-righteous to discuss how meat production harms the planet. I'm vegan- for ethical and environmental reasons. I didn't become vegan so I could feel superior, believe me. That would wear off real quick.

It can be a huge pain trying to find something to order at an American restaurant, and go to your local supermarket and look for any packaged food that doesn't contain chicken stock or a milk product. I spend a lot of money on food and I gave up things I grew up with that I missed at first. Again, no one chooses this lifestyle because of you. It's not about you. It's about realizing that you just can't contribute to an industry that you don't believe in.

Things change. Abolishing slavery had a major impact on the economy and people's lifestyles, but no one would argue that we should have kept doing it because it was tradition. People used animals for food for a long time. The planet can no longer support this practice, period. Deal with it.

Eating meat is, in fact, the number one cause of global warming. Consider the facts:

• The United Nations report Livestock's Long Shadow determined that raising animals for food emits 18 percent of all global warming emissions, which is about 40 percent more than all the world's transportation systems—that's all the cars, trucks, SUVs, Hummers, ships, and planes in the world combined. (All residential and industrial buildings combined account for about 15 percent of emissions, and the entire chemical industry accounts for about 5 percent.)

• When measured by CO2 alone, power plants appear to emit more global warming emissions than animal agriculture, but this comparison is deceptive, as power plants don't generate energy for their own sake but rather to provide power for industrial and consumer purposes—like animal agriculture. To say that power plants are the number one cause of global warming would be like saying that humans are the number one cause. In fact, animal agriculture uses enormous amounts of the energy produced by power plants to grow and process feed crops (the vast majority of staple crops grown in the U.S. are fed to farmed animals); to operate factory farms, slaughterhouses, and processing plants; and to ship animals' flesh, eggs, and milk in refrigerated trucks and to store it in refrigerated cases.

• All this power used (and CO2 emitted) by the animal agriculture industry is in addition to the fact that the industry is the number one emitter of both methane and nitrous oxide. Along with carbon dioxide, these two gases cause the overwhelming majority of global warming.

• The official handbook for the Live Earth concerts says that "refusing meat" is the "single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint" (emphasis in original). The researchers for this handbook based this on their scientific research, based (we assume) on the points above.

If you'd like to learn more about helping to save the Earth one bite at a time or order a copy of PETA's free "Vegetarian Starter Kit" that's full of delicious recipes and handy shopping tips, visit www.GoVeg.com/eco.

This article’s focus on chickens is again misleading. The solution for environmentalists is to withdraw our support for animal agriculture. Eating chickens is unnecessary, and it's a part of the number one cause of global warming. In fact, according to Environmental Defense, "If every American skipped one meal of chicken per week [and substituted vegan foods], the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads."

In addition to emitting enormous amounts of greenhouse gases, the chicken industry also causes staggering amounts of pollution. Oklahoma's attorney general is suing poultry factory farms in Arkansas because their manure runoff is decimating life in Oklahoma's waterways. He said that if nothing is done, the chicken factory farms would "[d]estroy the water and … destroy the future for our children and our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren." In addition, Greenpeace recently condemned KFC and the chicken industry in general for destroying the Amazon rain forest to grow crops to satisfy their voracious need for chicken feed.

It may be an inconvenient truth to meat-eaters who care about the environment, but solving global warming and the world's other leading environmental problems will not be accomplished simply by switching light bulbs or cars. Consider that researchers at the University of Chicago determined that switching to a vegan diet is more effective in countering global warming than switching to a hybrid car. And as noted, the U.N. report mentioned above says that animal agriculture is "one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global."

Sincerely,

Matt Prescott

Assistant Director

PETA