'Ecology and Meat'
by Wes Nickerson
"It is hard to overestimate the degree to which our meat addiction is contributing to what may become the greatest ecological catastrophe in world history." - John Robbins
A popular saying these days is, "Every Day is Earth Day." Although 76 percent of Americans consider themselves environmentalists, only 2.8 percent are vegetarian. But the environmental effects of the meat industry are devastating: world hunger, pollution, and resource depletion are all exacerbated by meat production. The book Diet for a New America by John Robbins covers all these issues in greater detail.
What is the leading cause of deforestation in this country? No, it's not urban sprawl. It's meat production. For every acre of forest land consumed by urban development, seven acres are devoured by the meat industry, for grazing and growing feed. Three times as much meat is derived from formerly forested land as is derived from range land. At the present rate of deforestation, there will be no forests left in this country in 50 years. For every person who switches to a pure vegetarian diet an acre of trees is spared every year.
Another effect of livestock production is water pollution: massive amounts of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, manure, and topsoil all wash into water supplies resulting in more water pollution than all other human activities combined. The U.S Soil Conservation Service reports that over 4 million acres of cropland are lost to soil erosion every year. Pure vegetarian food choices make less than 5% of the demand on the soil as meat-oriented choices. Livestock production accounts for 85% of all lost topsoil. The U.S. has already lost 75% of its topsoil. The livestock in this country produce twenty times as much excrement as does the human population. Over half of this is not recycled.
Livestock production uses over half the water used in the U.S. It takes 2500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, but only 25 gallons of water to produce one pound of wheat. A day's food for a meat eater takes over 4000 gallons of water to produce, but it only takes 300 gallons of water to produce food for a pure vegetarian for a day. If water used by the meat industry were not subsidized by U.S. taxpayers, a hamburger would cost $35 .
The livestock industries also consume massive amounts of energy. If the U.S. switched to a vegetarian diet, 60% of all imported oil could be cut. A family of four that cuts back on meat consumption by 2 pounds per week saves the equivalent energy of 104 gallons of gasoline in one year. The production of meats, dairy, and eggs account for one third of the total of all raw materials used for all purposes in the U.S. Growing plants for food uses less than 5% of the raw materials as does meat production.
Fishing may at first seem like a benign industry but it also is ruining the earth. The total fish catch has been declining for years due to overfishing, making it increasingly expensive and damaging to fish. It is extremely energy intensive, requiring as much as 20 calories of fossil fuel for every calorie of food energy, ten times as energy-intensive as plant food production. The plastic gill nets commonly used in fishing today also wreck havoc by getting lost at sea while catching everything in their path. They never decompose.
It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef. Ninety percent of the protein in grain is wasted by cycling it through livestock. On the land it takes to feed one meat-eating person, 20 pure vegetarians could be fed. Hunger is not caused by a scarcity of food, but by a scarcity of justice. Each day 40,000 children starve to death, even though enough grain is consumed by American livestock every day for every human on earth to have two loaves of bread. If Americans cut their meat consumption by only 10% it would free enough grain to feed everyone on the planet who is presently starving to death.
"If people ate grains directly instead of cycling them through livestock, the benefits to the ecosystem would be staggering. There is not a single aspect of the ecological crisis that would not be immediately and profoundly improved by such a transformation. In fact, a shift to a more vegetarian diet is probably the most potent single act most individuals can take." - John Robbins
Every day is earth day.