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While the battle rages on about global warming, there is
simply no denying the fact that concern about our environment is a rapidly
growing movement. From cars that run on
alternative fuels to your “carbon footprint”, humanoids all over planet earth
are starting to embrace ecological alternatives over business as usual. You may be surprised how perfect the fit is
between plant-based eating and these ecological concerns.
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IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE A MEAT EATING
ENVIRONMENTALIST?
According
to the United Nations, the meat industry generates more greenhouse gasses than
all of the cars, trucks, ships, and planes, combined.
According
to the University of Chicago, the average American meat-eater is responsible
for nearly 1.5 tons more carbon dioxide per year than a vegan is.
A
Japanese study showed that producing just 2.2 pounds of meat generates as much
greenhouse gas as driving a car nonstop for three hours.
-- from
PETA’s Animal Times, Fall, 2007
HUNGRY COWS
The
North American Vegetarian Society notes that 1.3 BILLION people could be fed
with the grain and soybeans eaten by livestock in the United States alone (1).
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One
vegetarian physician figured that if all the grain used to feed cattle could
instead be used to feed people, 90% of the protein deficit for the entire world
would be met (2).
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It is
estimated that it takes 16 times more grain to produce one pound of feedlot
beef than it does to produce one pound of bread (16 lbs. vs. 1 lb.) (3).
THEY’RE NOT MAKING LAND ANYMORE
Experts
at the University of California Cooperative Extension Service calculate that
the same one-acre of prime land that can produce 250 pounds of beef could be
used instead to produce 40,000 pounds of potatoes, or 50,000 pounds of
tomatoes, or 60,000 pounds of celery (4).
The
following tidbits were gleaned from the Pulitzer Prize nominated book Diet For
A New America, by John Robbins.
This
will start you thinking.
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Human
population of the United States:
243,000,000
Number
of human beings who could currently be fed with the grain and soybeans
currently fed to U.S. livestock:
1,300,000,000
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Percentage
of corn that is currently grown in the United States for livestock consumption:
80%
Percentage
of corn that is currently grown in the United States for human consumption:
20%
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Percentage
of oats that is currently grown in the United States for livestock consumption:
95%
Percentage
of oats that is currently grown in the United States for human consumption:
5%
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Every 2
seconds, a child starves to death somewhere in the world.
Number
children who starve to death each day:
Over
40,000
Number
of people who starve to death each year:
About
60,000,000
Number
of people who could be fed with the grain saved if Americans reduced their meat
intake by 10%:
About
60,000,000
Number
of human beings who could currently be fed with the grain and soybeans
currently fed to U.S. livestock:
1,300,000,000
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Number
of pounds of grain protein that must be fed to a chicken to produce one pound
of protein as chicken flesh:
5
Number
of pounds of grain protein that must be fed to a hog to produce one pound of
protein as hog flesh:
7.5
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Number
of pure vegetarians who could be fed on the amount of land needed to feed one
person on a meat-based diet:
20
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Percentage
of original U.S. topsoil that has been lost to date:
75
Acres of
U.S. cropland that are lost each year to soil erosion:
4,000,000
(about the size of Connecticut)
Percentage
of U.S. topsoil loss that is directly related to raising livestock:
85
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Number
of acres of U.S. forest that have been cleared to create cropland to produce a
meat-centered diet:
260,000,000
How
often an acre of trees disappears in the United States:
Every 8
seconds
Amount
of trees spared per year by every individual that switches to a pure vegetarian
diet:
1 acre
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Of all the
water used in the United States for all purposes, the percentage of that water
that is used in livestock production:
Over 50%
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Quantity
of water used to produce an average cow:
Sufficient
to float a destroyer
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Water
needed to produce one pound of wheat:
25
gallons
Water
needed to produce one pound of meat:
2,500
gallons
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Length
of time that the world’s petroleum reserves would last if all human beings ate
a meat-centered diet:
13 years
Length
of time that the world’s petroleum reserves would last if all human beings ate
a vegetarian diet:
260
years
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Pounds
of soybeans that could be produced by the amount of fossil fuel that is needed
to produce one pound of feedlot beef:
40
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Production
of excrement by total U.S. human population:
12,000
lbs. / second
Production
of excrement by total U.S. livestock population:
250,000
lbs. / second
Sewage
treatment systems in U.S. cities:
Common
Sewage
treatment systems in U.S. feedlots:
Nonexistent
Where
feedlot waste often ends up:
In our
water
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Diet for
a New America, by John Robbins
Buy it.
Read it. Believe it.
Live it.
Please
visit our on-line store:
Please
visit our other on-line sites:
Contact us at:
BahiaBeachEnterprises@yahoo.com
(1) Farley D. Vegetarian diets. FDA Consumer May 1992.
(2) Ballentine R. Transition to Vegetarianism: An Evolutionary Step. Honesdale PA. Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, 1987.
(3) Lappe FM. Diet For a Small Planet (20th Anniv. ed.). New York: Random House Inc., 1991.
(4) Gustafson, Nancy, MS, RD, LD Vegetarian Nutrition, Eureka, CA, Nutrition Dimension, 3rd ed., 2000.