The above image is from a NASA news release discussing that interactions with aerosols boost the global warming potential of gases such as methane. A study published in Science by a team led by Drew Shindell of NASA concludes that chemical interactions between emissions cause more global warming than previously estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

"We've known for years that methane and carbon monoxide have a warming effect, but our new findings suggest these gases have a significantly more powerful warming impact than previously thought," said Shindell.

Many atmospheric pollutants compete for access to hydroxyl radicals (OH), highly reactive molecules that "scrub" the atmosphere of pollutants. Carbon monoxide has an indirect radiative effect by elevating concentrations of methane and tropospheric ozone through scavenging of atmospheric constituents that would otherwise destroy the methane and ozone in transformations that reduce their impact as greenhouse gases. Over time, hydroxyl converts methane (CH4) into carbon dioxide (CO2), which is less potent as a greenhouse gas.

The study showed that increases in global methane emissions have caused a 26% decrease in hydroxyl. Methane now persists longer in the atmosphere, before getting transformed into the less potent carbon dioxide. At the same time, methane levels are rising, believed to be caused by rapidly growing industrialization in Asia and rising wetland emissions in the Arctic and tropics, as shown on the edited NOAA image on the left.

This makes it extra important to look at ways to reduce methane emissions. Production and transport of livestock and their feed accounts for nearly 80% of agricultural emissions, through release of gases such as nitro-oxide and carbon dioxide, but mainly in the form of methane.

Animals like cows and pigs are responsible for huge amounts of methane. Enteric fermentation and manure together respresent about 35-40 percent of all anthropogenic methane emissions, according to the U.N. report Livestock's Long Shadow.

A recent analysis published by the Worldwatch Institute estimates that livestock may be responsible for more than half of all anthropogenic emissions. The estimates are reached when using a higher warming potential of methane, while taking additional things into account, such as the meanwhile higher numbers of livestock, as well as byproducts such as leather and fur, and packaging, waste disposal and medical care associated with livestock products. Furthermore, the estimates take into account the respiration of 56 billion livestock (FAO figures 2007).

Fees on the sale of livestock products therefore makes a lot of sense. We could leave it up to local politics to work out how high such fees should be, but a flat 10% fee on all sales of livestock products looks like a good start. The fees could be higher the more methane was released, which would go hand in hand with mandatory disclosure on livestock products of the amount of greenhouse gases that was needed to produce and ship them. Once there's a good system in place that displays how many greenhouse gases were released in production, fees could vary accordingly. There could be different fees, even a gliding scale proportional to the emissions. This would encourage research into different diets for cows or somehow replacing the methane-producing bacteria inside a cow's gut.

As indicated on above image, the proceeds of fees on livestock products are best used to help fund rebates on biochar, which can help improve soil quality and offset emissions caused by livestock.

This post has been updated - the original post is still visible at Tax the sale of meat!

On 5 November 2001, the General Assembly declared 6 November of each year as the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict (resolution 56/4). In taking this action, it considered that damage to the environment in times of armed conflict impairs ecosystems and natural resources long after the period of conflict, often extending beyond the limits of national territories and the present generation. The Assembly also recalled the United Nations Millennium Declaration, which emphasized the necessity of working to protect our common environment.http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/environment_war/index.html

 NEW YORK, New York, November 6, 2008 (ENS) - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on all nations of the world to prevent the exploitation of the environment in times of conflict.

 "The natural environment enjoys protection under Protocol 1 of the Geneva Conventions," Ban said. "But this protection is often violated during war and armed conflict. Water wells are polluted, crops torched, forests cut down, soils poisoned, and animals killed, all in order to gain military advantage."

The secretary-general's message on the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, which is observed each year on November 6, was issued as he was in the air on his way to Nairobi, Kenya, to attend a UN-backed high-level summit tomorrow aimed at ending an armed conflict that is destroying the environment.

The crisis was brought on by renewed fighting this week in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Fighting broke out two days ago in the Rutshuru area between the National Congress in Defence of the People, a militia led by former general Laurent Nkunda, and a mixed group of Coalition of Patriots in the Congolese Resistance/Mayi-Mayi militia.

In an effort to end the fighting, Ban is scheduled to meet with DRC President Joseph Kabila and with President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, which borders North Kivu.

The leaders of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and South Africa are also slated to attend the summit, which is being hosted by the African Union.

The latest broad wave of violence has displaced as many as 250,000 Congolese in the far east of the impoverished country.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said a vast area of about 10,000 square kilometres, stretching from the western edge of Garamba National Park to the border with Sudan, has now been depopulated because of recent attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army.

Three different sites for internally displaced people in the Rutshuru District have been destroyed this week. The UN High Commission for Refugees and its partners are now looking for the thousands of people that have fled to the north and east.

Since the outbreak of fighting in August 1998, the conflicts have been rooted in struggles for control of natural resources such as water, timber, diamonds and other minerals as well as various political agendas.

"The United Nations attaches great importance to ensuring that action on the environment is part of our approach to peace," Ban stressed today. "Protecting the environment can help countries create employment opportunities, promote development and avoid a relapse into armed conflict.

Ban said that the UN is studying the environmental impacts of conflicts around the world, from the Balkans to Afghanistan, from Lebanon to the Sudan.

Lasting peace in war-torn Darfur will depend in part on resolving the underlying competition for water and fertile land, Ban said, adding that there can be no durable peace in Afghanistan if the natural resources that sustain livelihoods and ecosystems are destroyed.

"We have seen how environmental damage and the collapse of institutions are threatening human health, livelihoods and security," he said. "These risks can also jeopardize fragile peace and development in post-conflict societies."

"Let us renew our commitment to preventing the exploitation of the environment in times of conflict," said the secretary-general, "and to protecting the environment as a pillar of our work for peace."http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2008/2008-11-06-02.asp

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved

Introduction

  These chronic diseases include obesity, heart disease (the number 1 killer in the US), cancer (the number 2 killer in the US), stroke, diabetes, hemorrhoids, and perhaps more. the high content of fiber in the diet is one of the reasons for this. Also there is no cholesterol in the vegan diet.

Hypertension

"Have a banana." Rob Hicks, MD

  This quote is from the book "Control Your Blood Pressure" by Dr. Hicks. One of the reasons for this advice is that bananas are high in potassium and low in sodium. Another reason is that they are high in fiber with few calories because they have almost no fat. They are mostly water, like other fruits. 

"Garlic and fish oil, for example, may both help lower blood pressure." Hicks

  He recommends potassium-rich foods including bananas, peaches, green peppers, spinach, peas, watercress, papaya, and apricots.

Stress

  Protein has been a sacred cow in nutrition for a long time. Many British experiments on rats have been largely ignored in the US. It seems that stress causes an increase in certain amino acids in the brain (1).

Alzheimer's Disease

"Blood levels of homocysteine may be increased in Alzheimer disease (AD) and hyperhomocysteinemia may contribute to disease pathophysiology by vascular and direct neurotoxic mechanisms. Even in the absence of vitamin deficiency, homocysteine levels can be reduced by administration of high-dose supplements of folic acid and vitamins B(6) and B(12)." (4)

Make Good Nutrition Your Ambition

“It is the position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada that appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.”

ADA June 2003 

  This quote is from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association (5). The article is available free full text on the Internet. The issue is Volume 103, Issue 6, Pages 748-765 (June 2003).

  An interesting source on this subject is the Compassion Over Killing website. It is at www.cok.net. Although it is a nonprofit organization, cok.org was already taken by Christ Our King.

  Refs. 6, 7, and 8 are academic articles supporting the vegetarian diet.

Psychiatry

  I have been severely criticized for advocating a modified vegan diet for mental health. However, there have been terrible problems with drug treatments (9). Ref. 9 is from The Lancet, which is a prestigious medical journal from England. The issue is February 21, 2009 - pages 621 - 622 - Vol 373.

 "Antipsychotics are, at times, cruel drugs. Some cause shaking, salivation, restlessness, infertility, stiff ness, agitation, and frail bones; others cause obesity, somnolence, and increase the risk of heart attack, diabetes, and stroke. Antidepressants also have side-effects, although theirs are typically less dramatic: sickness, sexual dysfunction, a feeling of being numbed, or losing one's personality, and acutely increased risk of suicide." Athar Yawar
The Lancet, London NW1 7BY, UK (Ref. 9)

  Ref. 10 & 11 claim that the drugs don't work, as does Ref. 9.

Conclusions

  The vegetarian diet and the vegan diet both fight against chronic diseases, particularly heart disease. The vegan diet is better at this because it has no cholesterol and it has more fruits and vegetables, which have polyphenols. For more information on nutrition, consult Ref. 12. For more information on mental diseases, which are also physical, consult Ref. 13. Both 12 and 13 are available free full text at Associated Content.

  I have submitted this to the ethics group for two reasons. One reason is that the drug companies have fudged their work. Their science is to maximize corporate profits. Another reason is that animal rights groups such as PETA and COK have claimed that there is serious abuse of farm animals on factory farms. They both support the vegan diet.

  I have submitted the article to political groups because I support the political activism of PETA and COK. Neither of the two major political parties has endorsed animal rights so far as far as I know. I have never heard a peep about this from Rush Limbaugh's show. 

References

1. Effects of food deprivation and immobilization on tryptophan and other amino acids in rat brain. Knott PJ, Joseph MH, Curzon G. J Neurochem. 1973 Jan;20(1):249-51.

2. Free tryptophan in plasma and brain tryptophan metabolism. Knott PJ, Curzon G. Nature. 1972 Oct 20;239(5373):452-3.

3. Effects of immobilization and food deprivation on rat brain tryptophan metabolism. Curzon G, Joseph MH, Knott PJ. J Neurochem. 1972 Aug;19(8):1967-74.

4. High-dose B vitamin supplementation and cognitive decline in Alzheimer disease: a randomized controlled trial. Aisen PS, Schneider LS, Sano M, Diaz-Arrastia R, van Dyck CH, Weiner MF, Bottiglieri T, Jin S, Stokes KT, Thomas RG, Thal LJ; Alzheimer Disease Cooperative Study. JAMA. 2008 Oct 15;300(15):1774-83.

5. http://www.adajournal.org/article/PIIS0002822303002943/fulltext

6. Sabate J, Ratzin-Turner RA, Brown JE. Vegetarian diets: descriptions and trends. In:  Sabate J editors. Vegetarian Nutrition. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press; 2001;p. 3–17.

7. Lea E, Worsley A. The cognitive contexts of beliefs about the healthiness of meat. Public Health Nutr. 2002;5:37–45.

8. Fraser GE. Associations between diet and cancer, ischemic heart disease, and all-cause mortality in non-Hispanic white California Seventh-day Adventists. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999;70:532S–538S.

9. http://research.exercisingyourmind.com/2009/03/19/the-fool-on-the-hill-an-essay-sharply-critical-of-the-psychiatric-industry-the-lancet.aspx?ref=rss

10. The Myth of the Chemical Cure: A Critique of Psychiatric Drug Treatment by Joanna Moncrieff (Palgrave Macmillan) 2008. 296 pages. ISBN 0-230-57431-9.

11. Side Effects: a Prosecutor, a Whistleblower, and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial by Alison Bass (Algonquin Books) 2008. 260 pages. ISBN 1-565-12553-3.

12. www.associatedcontent.com/article/2332174/giants_of_science_dr_sauls_work.html

13.
www.associatedcontent.com/article/2313589/neuroimaging_in_basic_brain_disorder.html

Sewa's Project Urja ("energy"), with funding from U.S.-based Lemelson Foundation, partners with India's Solar Electric Light Co (SELCO) to improvise lighting and cooking devices.

By Rina Chandran

AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) -

ALTERNATIVE POWER

In India, renewable energy makes up less than 3 percent of the country's total installed capacity, with wind accounting for much of this contribution.

Investor interest in solar is growing, and a new solar plan for the country is to be unveiled by December, around the same time as a global climate change summit in Copenhagen.

In western Gujarat state, which launched its own solar mission earlier this year, mega solar parks are planned. But even here, it is microfinance that is helping power lights and stoves in rural homes and small towns, where power outages are common.

REEEP, which is developing 10 renewable energy projects with microfinancing, estimates that 234 billion rupees ($49 billion) is needed to provide solar lanterns to 65 million rural homes.

This amount is less than half of the total subsidy the government provides to make kerosene affordable for the poor.

Some of this money will come from MFIs, who face a much smaller risk on the small, short-term loans for solar appliances. REEEP, along with energy research institute TERI, is spearheading the "lighting a billion lives" campaign, which seeks to replace kerosene and paraffin lanterns with solar devices.

Launched last year with partners including the Clinton Climate Initiative, it has so far covered more than 100 villages.

Sewa's Project Urja ("energy"), with funding from U.S.-based Lemelson Foundation, partners with India's Solar Electric Light Co (SELCO) to improvise lighting and cooking devices.

"It's cheaper, healthier and it's low maintenance," said Pinal Shah, in charge of energy projects at Sewa Bank, which has disbursed more than 6 million rupees ($124,000) in loans for solar appliances to about 10 percent of its 300,000 members.

SELCO's other devices include headlamps for midwives, solar lights for farmers breeding silk worms for India's silk industry and sewing machines powered by solar power.

In the congested Jamalpur neighborhood in Ahmedabad, Salma Mohammad's small corner shop is lit by a solar-powered battery that she bought with a loan of 33,000 rupees from Sewa Bank.

"This shop has helped me raise my children," she said. "The solar battery has improved our lives, given us much to be grateful

When night falls in remote parts of Africa and the Indian subcontinent, hundreds of millions of people without access to continous electricity turn to candles or flammable and polluting kerosene lamps for illumination.

Slowly through small loans for solar powered devices, microfinance is bringing light to these rural regions where a lack of electricity has stymied economic development, literacy rates and health.

"Earlier, they could not do much once the sun set. Now, the sun is used differently. They have increased their productivity, improved their health and socio-economic status," said Pinal Shah from Sewa bank, a micro-lending institution.

Vegetable seller Ramiben Waghri took out a loan to buy a solar lantern which she uses to light up her stall at night. The lantern costs between $66-$112. ($1=48 rupees)

"The vegetables look better by this light, and it's cheaper than kerosene and doesn't smell," said Waghri, who estimates she makes about 300 rupees ($6) more each evening with her lantern.

"If we can use the sun to save some money, why not?"

In India, solar power projects, often funded by microcredit institutions, are helping the country reduce carbon emissions and achieve its goal to double the contribution of renewable energy to 6 percent, or 25,000 megawatts, within the next four years.

Off-grid applications such as solar cookers and lanterns, which can provide several hours of light at night after being charged by the sun during the day, will help cut dependence on fossil fuels and reduce the fourth biggest emitter's carbon footprint, said Pradeep Dadhich, a senior fellow at energy research institute TERI.

"The applications not only satisfy these needs, they also improve the quality of life and reduce the carbon footprint."

Sewa, or Self Employed Women's Association, is among a growing number of microfinance institutions in India focused on providing affordable renewable energy sources to poor people, who otherwise would have had to stand for hours to buy kerosene for lamps, or trudge miles to collect firewood for cooking.

SKS Microfinance, India's largest MFI, offers solar lamps to its 5 million customers, while Grameen Surya Bijlee (Rural Solar Electricity) Foundation helps fund lamps and home and street lighting systems for villagers in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

"Providing electricity is a government responsibility, but it's a gigantic task and the government alone cannot do it," said Shirish Garud, coordinator of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) in south Asia.

"In many cases, the end-user has no access to conventional banking and financial services, which is why we need MFIs."