Perhaps the most important thing
that one can do to make our homes and institutions
more environmentally friendly is to switch toward
a plant-based diet and encourage others to do
so. Please consider the following facts:
1. It takes up to sixteen pounds
of grain to produce one pound of feedlot beef
for human consumption. Over 70 percent of the
grain produced in the United States and over
one-third of the world's grain production is
fed to animals destined for slaughter. While
one hectare (about 2.5 acres) of land growing
potatoes can feed 22 people, and one hectare
growing rice can feed 19 people, that same area
producing beef can feed only one person.
2. The standard diet of a meat-eater in the
United States requires 4,200 gallons of water
per day (for animals' drinking water, irrigation
of crops, meat processing, washing, cooking,
etc.) A person on a purely vegetarian (vegan)
diet requires only 300 gallons per day. The
production of one pound of edible beef in a
semi-arid area such as California requires as
much as 5,200 gallons of water, as contrasted
with only 25 gallons or less to produce an edible
pound of tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes, or wheat.
3. Producing animal products also
wastes energy. In the United States, an average
of 10 calories of fuel energy is required for
every calorie of food energy produced; many
other countries obtain 20 or more calories of
food energy per calorie of fuel energy. To produce
one pound of steak (500 calories of food energy)
requires 20,000 calories of fossil fuels, most
of which is expended in producing and providing
feed crops. It requires 78 calories of fossil
fuel for each calorie of protein obtained from
feedlot-produced beef, but only 2 calories of
fossil fuel to produce a calorie of protein
from soybeans. Grains and beans require only
two to five percent as much fossil fuel as beef.
The energy needed to produce a pound of grain-fed
beef is equivalent to one gallon of gasoline.
4. Almost 6 billion of the 7 billion
tons of eroded soil in the United States has
been lost because of cattle and feed lot production.
Cattle production is a prime contributor to
each of the causes of desertification: overgrazing
of livestock, over-cultivation of land, improper
irrigation techniques, deforestation, and prevention
of reforestation.
5. Mountains of manure produced
by cattle raised in feedlots wash into and pollute
streams, rivers, and underground water sources.
6. The tremendous amount of grain
grown to feed animals requires extensive use
of chemical fertilizer and pesticides, which
cause air and water pollution.
7. Demand for meat in wealthy
countries leads to environmental damage in poor
countries. Largely to turn beef into fast-food
hamburgers for export to the U.S., the earth's
tropical rain forests are being bulldozed at
a rate of a football field per second. Each
imported quarter-pound fast-food hamburger patty
requires the destruction of 55 square feet of
tropical forest for grazing.
8. Current modern intensive livestock
agriculture and the consumption of meat greatly
contribute to the four major gases associated
with the greenhouse effect: carbon dioxide,
methane, nitrous oxides, and chlorofluorocarbons.
The burning of tropical forests releases tons
of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and eliminates
the ability of these trees to absorb carbon
dioxide. Also, the highly mechanized agricultural
sector uses enormous amounts of fossil fuel
to produce pesticides, chemical fertilizer,
and other agricultural resources, and this also
contributes to carbon dioxide emissions. Cattle
emit methane as part of their digestive process,
as do termites who feast on the charred remains
of trees that were burned to create grazing
land and land to grow feed crops for farmed
animals. The large amounts of petrochemical
fertilizers used to produce feed crops create
significant quantities of nitrous oxides. Likewise,
the increased refrigeration necessary to prevent
animal products from spoiling adds chlorofluorocarbons
to the atmosphere.
When we consider all of these negative
environmental and climate-change effects, and
then add the harmful effects of animal-based diets
on human health and global hunger, it is clear
that animal-centered diets and the livestock agriculture
needed to sustain them pose tremendous threats
to global survival. It is not surprising that
the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) ranks
the consumption of meat and poultry as the second
most harmful consumer activity (surpassed only
by the use of cars and light trucks). It is clear
that a shift toward vegetarianism is imperative
to move our precious but imperiled planet away
from its present catastrophic path.
Jeremy Rifkin summarizes well the
very negative effects of animal-based agriculture:
The aims of vegetarians and environmental
activists are similar: simplify our life styles,
have regard for the earth and all forms of life,
and apply the knowledge that "the earth is
the Lord's." In view of the many negative
effects of animal-based agriculture on the earth's
environment, resources, and climate, it is becoming
increasingly clear that a shift toward vegetarian
diets is a planetary imperative.
