It all depends on what the burger is made from ... A 408 page report by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) states that 18% of greenhouse gases are coming from animal agriculture – meat and dairy, that is. Therefore, what many people are eating is contributing more to global warming than the entire transportation sector of the United States.

But here’s the interesting part. This report was published two years ago, back in 2006. Last year, in 2007, ABC produced a prime time television special about the top ways we can save Planet Earth. Amongst those “top tips” were suggestions about turning off lights when we’re not using them and trying to use less toilet paper. Great suggestions, mind you, but top tips?! The UN report had already been out for one full year. This year, in 2008, there’s been a regular parade of programs on all major networks and cable – even CNN has their program “Planet in Peril” – telling people how to help save the world. Where is their discussion about the primary culprit of global warming as shown by the 408 page report put out in 2006? Global warming has simply become a sensational story ... while the planet burns.

The Earth, and all who reside here, are in grave peril like never before. We have a moral, ethical responsibility and imperative to face up to the truth. Yes, it may mean we need to change our daily habits. Please don’t shoot the messenger. If we don’t do it voluntarily, the Earth will do it for us. There has never been a time in man’s existence when it is so critical to move away from the Standard American Diet (SAD) and embrace an Earth-friendly and sustainable plant-based diet – a vegan diet. It is categorically the single best thing you can do for your health and the health of the planet.

By switching to a plant based diet, mankind will instantly eradicate nearly 20% of the global warming problem. If that isn’t amazing enough, this simple yet profound change would greatly curtail further deforestation, top soil erosion and even the ever-worsening tainting of the world’s waters. Not enough? High cholesterol and heart disease, hypertension, obesity, adult-onset diabetes, kidney disease and many cancers would virtually disappear. Yet the human race has an incredibly huge reluctance to embrace an incredibly huge part of the solution – a plant-based, vegan diet. Even the media seems to be a monumental fortress lying squarely across the path of human and planetary salvation. Why?

The great news is that we don’t have to give up our burgers; we just have to make them from plant-based ingredients. Veggie burgers, like the one pictured here, have the taste, smell and texture of the traditional burger but without the harmful ramifications.

Do you believe the suggested health benefits of a vegan diet? Do you believe the United Nations? VeganWorld.com has just posted their latest poll inquiring about this very thing. You can check it out on the homepage of www.VeganWorld.com.