Reduce Global Warming: Go Veggie!

The single most important step an individual can take to reduce global warming is to adopt a vegetarian diet. This is because the largest contributor to global warming is the livestock industry, according to a United Nations study published in 2006 titled, "Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options."

“Raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined.”
– United Nations, 2006

Some key findings of the UN report include:

Raising animals for food accounts for respectively 37 percent of all human-induced methane (23 times as warming as CO2), which is largely produced by the digestive system of ruminants, and 64 percent of ammonia, which contributes significantly to acid rain.

Global meat production is projected to more than double from 229 million tons in 1999/2001 to 465 million tons in 2050, while milk output is set to climb from 580 to 1043 million tons.

Methane sources - not carbon dioxide sources - are the biggest cause of global warming today, and will continue to be for the next 50 years. The number one human-related source of methane worldwide is livestock.

Methane is 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. While carbon dioxide levels have risen by 31 percent, methane levels have more than doubled.

Animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tons of methane a year, about 85 percent from livestock digestion and 15 percent from manure "lagoons" used to store untreated feces.

Methane cycles out of the atmosphere in just 8 years, so reducing meat consumption quickly translates to cooling of the earth. In comparison, carbon dioxide can stay in the atmosphere for centuries.

Livestock now use 30 percent of the earth’s entire land surface, mostly permanent pasture but also including 33 percent of the global arable land used to producing feed for livestock. As forests are cleared to create new pastures, it is a major driver of deforestation, especially in Latin America where, for example, some 70 percent of former forests in the Amazon have been turned over to grazing.

Go Green, Eat Green, Live Green

Peace College’s Wellness Center and Belk Dining Hall are pleased to announce the excitement of “Go Green- eat green, live green.”

Let’s have fun trying more green vegetables and fruits for the last two weeks of March. Belk Dining Hall is working extra hard to bring almost 40 shades of green to your plates.

Your mother was right; eat your greens! Did you know that Green vegetables like broccoli, spinach and brussel sprouts are nutritional powerhouses and green vegetables are low in calories, promoting weight loss!

How To Go Green & Save Money

I have created a list of ideas for going green. Click to review.

Hello everyone! I wanted to let everyone know what some of the Green Team members were up to on this spring break!

I am in New Orleans right now and a lot of the Green Team members are with me. Here is an update of what we have done so far!

-saw Brad Pitt's Project make it right. All of the houses he built are covered in solar panels.

-we also went to a model "green home" which is the first sustainable home in a New Orleans neighborhood. They are building 5 more completely sustainable signle family homes and an apartment complex. They will be offered for very affordable prices to family's from the lower 9th ward.

-we went to the musicains village where homes were made for the local musicians who lost their homes. this was in hopes of keeping the New Orleans culture alive.

-spent the day today packaging over 10,000 pounds of food at the first harvest food bank

-we have gone shopping, ate good New Orleans food, met tons of really cool people, learned a lot, and had a great time.


We are going out tonight to Cafe Du Monde for beignets and coffee, and then start our project for Habitat tomorrow.... so I will keep everyone updated!!!!

Hope everyone is enjoying their spring break!

-Immie Miles (Green Team Chair)

Six Interesting (and somewhat scary) Facts About Bottled Water

· Buying one gallon’s worth of bottled water is three times more expensive than buying one gallon of gasoline. – emagazine.com

· 30 million water bottles are thrown away every day, and each one of them takes 1000 years to biodegrade. – emagazine.com.

· Nearly 90 percent of [water] bottles are not recycled. – SeattlePI.com

· An estimated 25 percent or more of bottled water is really just tap water in a bottle—sometimes further treated, sometimes not treated at all. – Allaboutwater.org

· It takes 15 million barrels of oil per year to make all of the plastic water bottles in America, according to the Container Recycling Institute. Sending those bottles by air and truck uses even more fossil fuel. - emagazine.com.

· Bottled water, because it is defined as a “food” under federal regulations, is under the authority of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—under much stricter standards—regulates tap water. Thus, bottled water, depending upon the brand, may actually be less clean and safe than tap water. The EPA mandates that local water treatment plants provide city residents with a detailed account of tap water’s source and the results of any testing, including contaminant level violations. Bottled water companies are under no such directives. - Allaboutwater.org

Now, here are tips for alternatives to buying bottled water:

· Get a filter for your tap (unless your tap water is quite good in the first place). There are many ways to go about doing this, from getting a Brita-filter to go over your faucet spout to installing one right into the sink system.

· Nalgene bottles are great.

· Brita pitchers are also really great for those who can’t get the faucet filters (e.g. college students).

· For barbecues, parties, and other events, use pitchers or water dispensers that you can use over and over again. In conjunction with these, try to also provide reusable cups instead of disposable cups, and if you must use disposables, try to get recyclable disposables.

Heading Out

Tomorrow morning a group of 14 students along with myself and Cori and Tildsley from the Peace College Wellness Center, will head to New Orleans for an Alternative Spring Break Trip. While in New Orleans we'll stay at Camp Hope and volunteer with a local food bank and Habitat for Humanity. Many of the girls going are also a part of the Green Team. We will try and keep you updated on all the exciting things we are doing while gone.

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Survey Results Are In!

Click on the image to enlarge.

Should we at a minimum reduce the number of phone books sent to us every year?

1.2 Tons of paper really is a lot to discard annually for such little use.

RecycleMania First Month Results!

Thanks to everyone for such an improvement in our recycling program. Over the first month we have had a reduction in the amount of material we discard (combined trash & recycling), a reduction in trash and an increase in our recycling. It is up to the staff and faculty to keep this trend going while our Green Team is away.

Maintenance and Grounds has accumulated quite a large amount of scrap metal that will be taken to TT&E for recycling. When we add the weight of this material to our total we will have Meredith College eating our dust. Call me with any questions. I cannot reveal everything on this blog. Spies from Meredith are frequent readers of this blog.

Reduce, Reuse & Recycle!

Phone Books

The Green Team was alarmed on Tuesday to see the number of phone books that are delivered to our campus every year.

They are looking for your input on the usage of phone books and yellow pages. Please click on the link below to take a very brief survey.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=OROpau2ISq_2bpO3uOa5cXwA_3d_3d