VEGETARIAN LIFE-STYLES CAN HELP REDUCE GLOBAL WARMING

Batam, June 30 (ANTARA) - Vegetarian life styles can help reduce global warming caused by emissions which are among other things produced by the cattle-breeding industry, a Taiwanese environmentalist said.

By only consuming vegetarian food, people can help reduce the cattle population needed for consumption, said Wang Tim Koamg, founding president of the Taiwan-based Internatioal Nature Loving Federation, here Sunday.
Speaking at a seminar themed "Survival of the Planet and Life," he said it had been established in studies that the livestock industry releases more greenhouse gases such as methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous dioxide into the atmosphere every day than other industries or automotive vehicles.

Wang also urged the public to use bicycles as a transportation means for travel on short distances.

He also called for tree planting because trees can help cool the air, he said.

According to a new United Nations report a few years ago, cattle-breeding generates more global warming greenhouse gases, as measured in CO2 equivalent, than transportation, and therefore smarter production methods, including improved animal diets to reduce enteric fermentation and consequent methane emissions, are urgently needed.