Veganist_ Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World - Kathy Freston [86]
Every American who switches from a typical U.S. diet to a vegan one has an extraordinary impact. They reduce their consumption of fossil fuels by more than 80 percent, cutting their carbon emissions by 3,000 pounds annually. According to a University of Chicago study, if Americans reduced their meat consumption by only 20 percent it would be as if everyone in the nation switched from a standard sedan to an ultra-efficient hybrid. By going vegetarian you will save three acres of land, save 2,700 pounds of soil from erosion, and save 95,000 gallons of water every year, year after year.
Even if we Americans reduced our meat consumption by only 5 percent (eating approximately one fewer meat dish a week), that would free up 7.5 million tons of grain, enough to feed the 25 million Americans who go hungry each day. And as we saw in Promise 7, if 10 percent of the world population gave up meat, it would be enough to feed the estimated billion people who go hungry annually. Tipping point or no, how we respond to our cravings for meat will have a global force.
Of course, for the animals who suffer on today’s factory farms we don’t need to calculate complex statistics to imagine how much our dietary choices matter. Even a single individual going vegan saves the lives of about 28 chickens and turkeys and 240 sea animals annually. If over time your influence ripples out to a thousand people and they too go veg, their diet will collectively save an additional 140 cows and 400 pigs every year. According to the Humane Society of the United States, if every American reduced his or her meat consumption by just 10 percent that would be enough to save roughly 1 billion animals from miserable lives annually. If that 10 percent reduction was maintained, in a bit more than a century more animal lives would be saved than the total number of human beings who have ever walked the earth.
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Even if Americans ate just one fewer meat dish a week, that would free up 7.5 million tons of grain, enough to feed the 25 million Americans who go hungry each day. If 10 percent of the world population gave up meat, it would be enough to feed the estimated billion people who go hungry annually.
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When we poll vegetarians and ask why they have chosen their diet, animal welfare concerns are the most commonly given response—about 54 percent of people give this reason (almost the same, 53 percent, cite health). For me animal suffering is one of the most compelling reasons to go vegan, but for others it is the least important. I recently had lunch with a well-known human rights activist. She had heard I was a human rights advocate, too, and I explained that I am, but I’m actually better known as an animal protection advocate. She looked dejected. The expression on her face said silently what she soon asked me. How can I care so much about animals when so many humans are suffering? How can I spend my time advocating vegetarianism when I could be speaking about the great issues of human rights? I understood. But I also wondered: Why do so many smart and caring people seem to think that compassion is a competition? As if caring about suffering anywhere, in any form, weren’t a natural part of being a caring person! As if good deeds didn’t lead to more good deeds! And if we can’t get the little things right, how can we stand a chance at getting the really big things right?
Beyond the obvious—that a vegetarian diet is one of the best ways to help the global poor—it’s worth remembering that calls for conscious eating are also calls for human morality and responsible stewardship. This is why Mahatma Gandhi, probably the single individual most responsible for the birth of a modern state, famously argued that the