Divine Within: Selections from “Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramahansa Yogananda (vegetarian), Part 2 of 2

“Livestock’s Long Shadow” provided the initial assessment of the ecological cost attributed to the animal-people meat and dairy sector to be 18% of global greenhouse gases, more than all transportation produced emissions combined. This fact, however, is often hidden, edited, or omitted altogether. University of California Davis’ CLEAR Center and Colorado State University’s AgNext are two of the most well-known US academic institutions working to influence public perception and legislation about the climate effects of the animal-people-raising livestock sector.

Dr. Mitloehner is not a climate scientist and has never contributed a report to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Yet, his challenge to “Livestock’s Long Shadow” propelled him to be often called upon by mainstream media outlets as a climate “expert.” Additionally, Dr. Mitloehner takes every opportunity to dismiss the main economic threat to the animal-person meat industry, the vegan diet. Although this is the most viable and fastest solution to reducing and completely halting the negative effects of greenhouse gases, he uniformly dismisses any such suggestion as a “vegan agenda.”

The Irish government hosted a meeting in 2022 that culminated in the signing of a petition, “The Dublin Declaration of Scientists on the Societal Role of Livestock,” an action that has since been reported as overwhelmingly linked to raising animal-people as livestock, by Greenpeace’s Unearthed. Dr. Peter Smith, a lead author on eight reports by the IPCC, said: “The Dublin Declaration reads more like livestock industry propaganda than science. It makes a mockery of independent, objective science publishing. This is not about stifling debate – it is about protecting scientific integrity.”

Additionally, The Guardian has subsequently discovered that the Dublin Declaration’s website, hosted by the International Meat Research G3 Foundation, was registered by the Polish Beef Association. The Dublin Declaration was used by the lobby group Global Meat Alliance to seek influence over senior officials of the European Union (EU), successfully getting its European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, to endorse the document at a Polish Beef Association meeting in Warsaw, Poland, in January 2023.

As the animal-people-raising industry continues to expand its global market exponentially, it applies leverage over a multifaceted network of influence over academia, the media, and government institutions, all in pursuit of unchecked financial profit. Irreversible environmental changes endanger our shared home, Planet Earth. Our habitat may be lost and, ultimately, financial wealth rendered useless.

Our World in Data, a scientific online publication, has released the following facts, obtained from the FAO in 2021. It records the number of animal-people slaughtered directly for food consumption and does not include the culling in many other industries such as in egg and dairy production. We ask that you share this tragic loss of life with others so that they may see the needless killing they partake in every plate with animal-people products and consider the karmic consequences.

How many animal-people get slaughtered for meat every day?

331,950,000 Cow-people per year = 908,830 per day

500,870,000 Goat-people per year = 1,371,307 per day

617,260,000 Sheep-people per year = 1,689,966 per day

1,400,000,000 Pig-people per year = 3,832,991 per day

4,310,000,000 Duck-people per year =11,800,137 per day

73,790,000,000 Chicken-people per year = 202,026,010 per day = 140,296 per minute