Vegetarianism is Good for the Environment
How Reducing Meat, Fish, and Poultry Consumption Helps the Planet
Jul 26, 2009
One of the single best things we can do for our planet is reduce our consumption of meat, poultry, fish, and dairy. The "factory farms" necessary to sustain America's current meat-and-dairy based diet are a direct cause of pollution, deforestation, and depletion of our natural resources. People serious about saving the planet should consider reducing or eliminating animal products from their diet.
Reducing Meat Consumption Conserves Natural Resources
Over thirty years ago, Frances Moore Lappe wrote the groundbreaking Diet for a Small Planet, which exposed the fact that America's current meat-based diet is unsustainable. It takes approximately sixteen pounds of grain, over two thousand gallons of water, and at least a gallon of gasoline to produce a single pound of meat. In the U.S., over 70 percent of the grain grown is fed to livestock. Changing livestock farming to agricultural crops would free up enough arable land, edible grain, and potable water to effectively end world hunger.
Reducing Meat Consumption Reduces Deforestation
The United States imports roughly 200 million pounds of beef from Central America every year. To meet the growing demand for meat in the U.S., farmers in the Amazon Basin are cutting down a land area equivalent to seven football fields daily-- for cattle-grazing. For every hamburger from animals raised in Central America, approximately 55 square feet of forest have been destroyed. This deforestation for livestock is happening in the U.S. as well: more than 260 million acres of forest have been clear-cut for animal agriculture.
Reducing Fish Consumption Helps the Ocean
The April 2007 issue of National Geographic Magazine presented the alarming fact that the world’s oceans are being depleted by commercial overfishing and environmentally damaging fishing practices such as trawling, which destroys the ocean floor, and longlining,which kills numerous untargeted species, euphemistically called "bycatch" in the industry. Some scientists tout fish farms as the answer to a growing demand for seafood. However, these farms pollute the oceans, and farm-raised fish often escape and contaminate wild populations. Besides, it takes three pounds of wild fish to provide enough food to grow one pound of farmed salmon or other carnivorous fish. To top it off, there is a rising demand for fishmeal as feed for livestock., especially in Asia.
Reducing Meat Consumption Reduces Pollution
"Factory Farms," animal feeding operations which confine thousands of animals in facilities, produce 500 million tons of animal waste per year. This waste leaks into rivers and streams, contaminating water and spreading disease. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, hog, chicken and cattle waste has polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated groundwater in 17 states. These farms affect air quality as well: one study found that hog factories in North Carolina pour more ammonia nitrogen into the air than all other industrial sources combined.
Reducing Meat Consumption Helps Wildlife
Loss of habitat due to deforestation and water pollution from livestock farms are major dangers to wildlife. Plus, it is not uncommon for wild animals considered "nuisances" or "dangers" to livestock to be systematically destroyed, despite the fact that these animals belong in the environment whereas chickens, pigs, and cattle do not. Countless wolves and big cats have been killed to protect livestock, as well as less obviously dangerous animals such as prairie dogs (for digging up cattle-grazing land) and Yellowstone bison (for fear of transmission of brucellosis to cattle.)
"Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances of survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."
- Albert Einstein
Suggested Reading: Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe , Diet for a New America by John Robbins.
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