Climate change is a worldwide catastrophe in the making

Sylvia Earle, a notable marine biologist and former chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association pointedly observed that, “Half the coral reefs are still in pretty good shape, a jeweled belt around the middle of the planet. There’s still time, but not a lot, to turn things around.”

Factory farming is contributing directly to global warming. Over 60 billion animals worldwide – including cows, chickens and pigs – are restricted to Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). These CAFOs release massive amounts of greenhouse gasses, surpassing even the entire global transportation industry. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations animal agriculture is responsible for 18 percent – nearly one-fifth – of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.

Factory farming is also indirectly intensifying climate change through deforestation. In fact, clearing land for feed crops and grazing releases up to 28 million tons of carbon dioxide per year globally. As Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Eating Animals, states, “We know, at least, that this decision (ending factory farming) will help prevent deforestation, curb global warming, reduce pollution, save oil reserves, lessen the burden on rural America, decrease human rights abuses, improve publish health, and help eliminate the most systematic animal abuse in history.”

Climate change equally impacts Democrats and Republicans alike; young and old; white and persons of color; men, women, and children; and every species. Those who have brought us face-to-face with this horrifying reality must now realize that their time is up. Climate change is real, and the plethora of scientific evidence is indisputable. This is a calamity in the making—all nations that care must wake up before it is too late.

All the power to the young Swedish student Greta Thunberg who bravely stood before the UN special session on climate change and forcefully stated that, "You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”