NEWSBYMICHAEL A. WEBER

Guest contributor Michael Weber coordinates events for World Farm Animals Day and FARM.

Each year, more than 55 billion cows, pigs, turkeys, chickens, and other sentient land animals are abused and killed in the world's animal farms and slaughterhouses. Since 1983, World Farm Animals Day has been dedicated to exposing, mourning, and memorializing their needless suffering and slaughter. It is a day for all to speak out against the atrocities and brutalization inflicted on animals raised for meat, eggs, and dairy.

October 2, 2009, will mark the 27th annual observance, and events will be taking place from late September until the start of November. Coordinated by Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM), and drawing support from In Defense of Animals, Compassion Over Killing, Mercy for Animals, and over a dozen other leading animal rights organizations, this year’s WFAD is gearing up to be especially eye-opening.

Note: Michael submitted this post in response to a recent post and discussion at the Stop Global Warming blog. As I've noted on this blog before, global warming/climate change is an animal rights issue. Animal advocates oppose animal agriculture for ethical reasons, but it is also a major contributor to greenhouse gases, deforestation, habitat loss, pollution, and more--all of which endangers, harms, and kills even more animals. Free-living animals (aka wildlife) are, and will continue, dying off at alarming rates because of climate change and other environmental problems to which animal ag contributes significantly. Killing animals is killing more animals. Finally, I find Michael's arguments (including his numbers) compelling and am glad to present them here. -S. Ernst

Between the deliberate misinformation spread by folks like David Martosko of the Center for Consumer Freedom and the well-intentioned but incorrect claims made by some environmentalists, there is a lot of confusion about something that, frankly, there is no valid debate about.

The worst effects of global warming will not be effectively prevented without a significant reduction in animal product consumption. Period.

I will counter the two most common arguments I hear about this, and I hope the numbers and statistics are not overwhelming. If you are unfamiliar with the concepts of greenhouse gases, climate change, and CO2/CO2 equivalent, please read the Wikipedia article on global warming.