Shifting the world’s reliance on fossil fuels to renewable energy sources is important, certainly. But the world’s best chance for achieving timely, disaster-averting climate change may actually be eating less meat, according to a recent report in World Watch Magazine. (While I’d happily nudge the world toward a vegetarian diet, the report authors are more measured and simply suggest diets containing less meat.)
“The entire goal of today’s international climate objectives can be achieved by replacing just one-fourth of today’s least eco-friendly food products with better alternatives,” co-author Robert Goodland, a former World Bank Group environmental advisor wrote in an April 18 blog post on the report.
A widely cited 2006 report estimated that 18% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions were attributable to cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, camels, pigs and poultry. However, analysis performed by Goodland, with co-writer Jeff Anhang, an environmental specialist at the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation, found that figure to now more accurately be 51%.
Consequently, state the pair, replacing livestock products with meat alternatives would “have far more rapid effects on greenhouse gas emissions and their atmospheric concentrations — and thus on the rate the climate is warming — than actions to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy.”
The pair describe several areas related to anthropogenic (human-caused) greenhouse gases that have been overlooked or underestimated. For example, livestock breathing. They explain:
[L]ivestock (like automobiles) are a human invention and convenience, not part of pre-human times, and a molecule of CO2 exhaled by livestock is no more natural than one from an auto tailpipe. Moreover, while over time an equilibrium of CO2 may exist between the amount respired by animals and the amount photosynthesized by plants, that equilibrium has never been static. Today, tens of billions more livestock are exhaling CO2 than in preindustrial days, while Earth’s photosynthetic capacity (its capacity to keep carbon out of the atmosphere by absorbing it in plant mass) has declined sharply as forest has been cleared. (Meanwhile, of course, we add more carbon to the air by burning fossil fuels, further overwhelming the carbon-absorption system.)
The human population is expected to grow by 35% between 2006 and 2050, while livestock numbers are expected to double during the same period.
“This would make the amount of livestock-related emissions even more unacceptable than today’s perilous levels,” states the report. “It also means that an effective strategy must involved replacing livestock products with better alternatives, rather than substituting one meat product with another that has a somewhat lower carbon footprint.”
Food companies, Goodland and Anhang believe, have at least three incentives to respond to current risks in their industry. The first is that companies already suffer from disruptive climate events — floods, hurricanes, etc. — and so it’s in their best interests to not worsen the situation.
Second, they expect the demand for oil to rise to point of collapsing “many parts of today’s economy.” One way in which this will be particularly troublesome for livestock producers will be that crops grown for feed will be refocused on biofuel sources.
A third incentive is to offer “alternatives to livestock products that taste similar but are easier to cook, less expensive and healthier, and so are better than livestock products.”
Sales of just soy “analogs,” or alternatives to livestock products — such as ice cream, milk and cheese — totaled $1.9 billion in 2007. That same year, sales of U.S. meat and poultry products totaled $100 billion — which they optimistically suggest means there’s much room for growth.
“Worldwide, the market for meat and dairy analogs is potentially almost as big as the market for livestock products,” they write.
Still further motivation, they note: “Meat and dairy analog projects will not only slow climate change but also help ease the global food crisis, as it takes a much smaller quantity of crops to produce any given number of calories in the form of an analog than a livestock product.”
Plus, meat alternatives would help to alleviate the global water crisis, since livestock production uses a tremendous amount of water; it could have health and nutritional benefits; and, given that meat alternatives are more labor intensive, they would create both more jobs and more skilled jobs — while workers in the livestock industry could be retrained for jobs in meat-alternative industries.
“The case for change is no longer only a public policy or an ethical case, but is now also a business case,” write Goodland and Anhang. “We believe it is the best available business case among all industries to reverse climate change quickly.”
By: Michelle Maisto
Paul Gustafson, R.N., C.H. has been a clinical hypnotherapist for over 12 years and up until 2011 he routinely saw clients for an array of problems including smoking, stress, fear, pain, confidence, IBS and weight. Since then his efforts have become unexpectedly specialized.
By the end of 2010, Paul started to research a new trend in weight loss hypnosis which involved suggesting to the hypnotized client that he or she had undergone gastric band surgery. This approach proved to be an effective way to become more mindfully aware of healthier food choices, and to also reduce the volume of food consumed, resulting in comfortable weight loss.
Paul started designing a four session gastric band weight loss hypnosis program. His 10 years as a registered nurse really paid off as he was able to convey a sense of medical reality within the hypnosis experience. Even though the client certainly understands he or she did not really have surgery, the process seems to make the transition to fitness so much easier.
In addition to his medical experience, Paul’s program also benefitted from his past experience as a writer/musician. With an array of digital recording equipment he created an audio backdrop heightening the overall hypnosis experience. Wearing noise-cancelling headphones, you will experience a blend of voice, music and even the detailed sounds of the operating room.
The gastric band weight loss surgery hypnosis session, which is the second of four in the program, includes time in the pre-op area where you are guided to imagine receiving calming medication, just as those in real-life surgical situations would receive.
Once you are rolled into the imaginary operating room you hear typical operating room sounds including the beeping of the heart monitor, the sounds of surgical instruments being manipulated, and even the sound of the hospital intercom system in the distance. Once prepared for imaginary surgery, the anesthesiologist administers a mild general anesthesia which guides you into an even more blissful state of hypnosis.
The entire session is only 20 minutes long, but because hypnosis creates a timeless perception, and it is suggested how long each part of the surgery takes, you will feel as though the process was much longer. This altered sense of time lends credence to the perception, at some level, that something real may have occurred.
Paul’s gastric band weight loss program also offers individuals several levels of fitness control. In session one you have the opportunity to sever connections to past unhealthy nutritional patterns and are also guided to imagine going through pre-operative lab work, x-rays, meeting with a nutritionist and to also envision the surgeon in any way you choose. Session two is the gastric band surgery. In session three, as in real-life, you have the opportunity to get the gastric band adjusted, and session four offers a creative way to enhance your overall fitness confidence.
This program not only uses the concept of an imaginary gastric band but its primary theme supports healthy, balanced living. You are offered routine suggestions supporting less meat, dairy, sugar, salt, and fat, and to also seek out more plant-based whole food alternatives. This program also supports an active enjoyable lifestyle.
Hypnosis also offers an overall increased mindfulness. You will comfortably shift from being controlled by impulse and obsession to thoughtful choice and action. By relaxing so profoundly on a daily basis you become much more aware of your physical self, and the nutritional choices that support lasting fitness.
Hypnosis creates a linear connection between you of today and the enhanced fit version of you to come. You have the unique opportunity to envision yourself as being healthfully fit in every way. This practice guides inner thought to begin supporting what is most routinely imagined, which is why lifestyle changes with hypnosis are usually easy to accomplish.
In life we follow the path of our most dominant thoughts. Hypnosis offers you a wonderful opportunity to harness your thoughts and take control from within. There is none of the dieting dilemma and you never feel as though you are denying yourself what you want.
The reason traditional dieting consistently fails is because it only treats the symptom. Pounds are not the problem; it is the pattern of thought that needs to be addressed, how we think and what we most frequently think about. Using a diet to fix obesity is like a gardener trimming the weeds at ground level, looks great for a while but they soon grow back.
With access to the hard drive, or subconscious mind, hypnosis quickly pulls problem patterns out by the root. You are then guided to imagine scenarios supporting what they want, and with repetition these values grow long healthy roots of their own, thoughts become things.
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Paul Gustafson, R.N., C.H. has been featured on WBZ radio, hosts TV show Healthy Hypnosis, is an Angie’s List ‘Super Service’ provider. Check out his in-office Gastric Band weight loss program. Also available as MP3 download.
Contact Paul for free consultation: 888-290-3972 or info@burlingtonhypnosis.com and visit Burlington Hypnosis.
