Is That Burger Really Worth It?

Miami Beach – CityDebate.Com – June 15, 2009 - America's meat-based diet is the perpetrator of all sorts of environmental ills.  Yet, it is often difficult to imagine how much impact switching to a vegetarian/vegan diet can have in alleviating some of that stress on the planet.

       The environmental diet of a meat economy translates into some startling statistics.  Yes, statistics can lie and dramatize - there is still plenty of cause for alarm when you look at the toll animal husbandry takes on water, soil, energy, rainforests and economies.

The statistics prove that following a vegetarian - or better still, a vegan diet - is an effective means to make a difference for the Earth.

VEGANISM     =   ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM

Estimated rate of worldwide tropical rainforest deforestation per minute:  150 acres.  Per day:  216,000 acres (roughly the size of Rocky Mountain National Park).

Percentage of tropical  rainforest deforestation directly linked with livestock raising:  more than 50 percent.

Amount of forest lost for every hamburger produced from livestock raised on what was Central American forest:  55 square feet (size of a small kitchen).

Estimated weight of trees, saplings, seedlings, insects, birds, reptiles, mammals, mosses, fungi and microorganisms killed or displaced for every hamburger produced from Central American forest:  1/2 ton.

Current rate of species extinction due to destruction of tropical rainforests and related habitats:  1,000 per year.

Estimated number of species that will become extinct in Central and South America by the year 2000

if present rate of deforestation continues:  150,000 to 500,000.

Year in which Central and South America will be stripped of tropical rainforest if present rate of deforestation continues:  2010.

How often an acre of U.S. trees disappears:  every 8 seconds. 

Number of acres of U.S. forest converted into land for grazing livestock and/or growing livestock feed for every acre cleared for urban development:  7 acres.

Amount of trees spared per year by each individual who switches to a vegan diet:  1 acre.

Percentage of U.S. water used for some phase of livestock production:  more than 50 percent.

Water needed to produce 1 pound of wheat:  25 gallons.

Water needed to produce 1 pound of meat:  2,500 gallons.

Main source of water for High Plains region of the United States:  Ogallala Aquifer.  Percentage of water drawn from Ogallala that is used to produce beef:  75 percent.

Estimated cost of subsidizing the meat industry in California with water per year:  $24 billion.

1991 budget for child welfare services in California:  $425 million.

Average amount of water required daily to feed a person following the standard U.S. meat-based diet:  4,200 gallons.

Average amount of water required daily to feed a person following an ovo-lacto-vegetarian diet:  1,200 gallons.

Average amount of water required daily to feed a person following a vegan diet:  300 gallons.

Amount of water a person would conserve per year by switching from a meat-based diet to an ovo-lacto-vegetarian diet:  1,095,000 gallons (enough to fill 1 1/2 Olympic-sized pools).

Amount conserved by switching to a vegan diet:  1,423,500 gallons (enough to fill 2 Olympic-sized pools).

Amount of U.S. topsoil lost to date:  about 2/3.

Percentage of U.S. topsoil loss directly associated with livestock raising:  at least 85 percent.

Percentage of total U.S.  land area used for any type of agriculture:  52 percent.

Percentage of U.S. agricultural land used for livestock production (including pasture, rangeland and cropland):  87 percent.

Percentage of total U.S. land used for livestock:  45 percent.

Amount of irrigated land used in the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon and Idaho) to grow feed and fodder for livestock:  4.6 million acres.

Amount of land used to supply America with Idaho potatoes, Washington apples and Oregon pears:  0.8 million acres.

Average amount of meat eaten by each American annually:  190 pounds.

Number of people who could be adequately fed by the grain saved if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10 percent:  60 million people.

Amount of waste produced every second by animals raised for human consumption:  125 tons (the weight of 15 African elephants).

Amount of waste produced by animals in the livestock industry that is not recycled:  more than half.

Percentage of water pollution that can be linked to wastes from the livestock industry (including manure, eroded soil and synthetic pesticides and fertilizers):  more than 50 percent. 

Percentage of all raw materials (base products of farming, forestry and mining, including fossil fuels) consumed by the United States that are devoted to the production of livestock:  33 percent.

Calories of fossil fuel expended to get 1 calorie of protein from beef:  78 percent.  From milk:  36 calories.  From chicken:  22 calories.  From soybeans:  2 calories.

Percentage our imported oil requirements would be cut if the United States switched to a vegetarian diet:  60 percent.

Energy equivalent that a family of four would conserve in one year by cutting back meat consumption by 2 pounds each week:  104 gallons of gasoline.

Percentage of Americans who call themselves environmentalists:  76 percent. 

Percentage of Americans who are vegetarian:  2.8 percent.

Why is veganism/vegetarianism right smack in the middle of  environmental issues?

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, IT TAKES 2,500 GALLONS OF WATER TO PRODUCE ONE POUND OF MEAT.

The best hope is that one of these days, when the animals look to us for a lasting kindness, most of us will have awakened from our sleep.

(PLEASE NOTE THE STATISTICS CITED ABOVE ARE FROM 1990)

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