The 30-Minute Vegan - Mark Reinfeld [106]
World scientists agree that global warming poses a serious risk to humanity and life as we know it. The key to reducing global warming is to reduce activities that produce the greenhouse gases that cause the earth’s temperature to rise. According to a 2006 UN Report “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” raising livestock for food consumption is responsible for 18 percent of all greenhouse gases emitted. That’s more than the entire world’s transportation industry combined!
In fact, the overall environmental impact of a plant-based diet is a fraction of that of a meat based one. Here are some talking points for your next cocktail party:
• The livestock population of the United States consumes enough grain and soybeans each year to feed over five times the human population of the country. Animals are fed over 80 percent of the corn and 95 percent of the oats that are grown on our soil.
• Less than half of the harvested agricultural acreage goes to feed people.
• According to the USDA, one acre of land can produce 20,000 pounds of vegetables. This same amount of land can only produce 165 pounds of meat.
• It takes sixteen pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat.
• It requires 3½ acres of land per person to support a meat centered diet, 1½ acres of land to support a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, and ⅙ of an acre of land to support a plant-based diet.
• If Americans were to reduce meat consumption by just 10 percent, it would free up 12 million tons of grain annually.
• Half of the water used in the United States goes to irrigate land growing feed and fodder for livestock. It takes approximately 2,500 gallons of water to produce a single pound of meat. Similarly, it takes approximately 4,000 gallons of water to provide a day’s worth of food per person for a meat-centered diet, 1,200 gallons for a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, and 300 gallons for a plant-based diet.
• Developing nations use land to raise beef for wealthier nations instead of utilizing that land for sustainable agriculture practices.
• Topsoil is the dark, rich soil that supplies the nutrients to the food we grow. It takes five hundred years to produce an inch of topsoil. This topsoil is rapidly vanishing due to clear-cutting of forests and cattle-grazing practices.
• For each acre of forestland cleared for human purposes, seven acres of forest is cleared for grazing livestock or growing livestock feed. This includes federal land that is leased for cattle-grazing purposes. This policy greatly accelerates the destruction of our precious forests.
• To support cattle grazing, South and Central America are destroying their rainforests. These rainforests contain close to half of all the species on Earth and many medicinal plants. Over a thousand species a year are becoming extinct and most of these are from rainforest and tropical settings. This practice also causes the displacement of indigenous peoples who have been living in these environments for countless generations.
• The factory farm industry is one of the largest polluters of our groundwater due to the chemicals, pesticides, and run-off waste that is inherent in its practices.
• Over 60 million people die of starvation every year. This means that we are feeding grain to animals while our fellow humans are dying of starvation in mind staggering numbers.
For those concerned about our environment, it all boils down to the question of sustainability. What is the most sustainable way for us to feed and support the growing human population? In the news we hear a lot about food shortages, about protests and riots over the rising cost of food. When you look at the disproportionate amount of land, water, and resources it takes to support a meat-based diet, it makes a lot of sense for us to introduce more plant-based foods into our way of life. Whether by going completely vegan