Effects of Meat-Eating on the Environment

"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

 

For every acre of forest land consumed by urban development, seven acres are devoured by the meat industry, for grazing and growing feed.

Percentage of tropical rainforest deforestation directly linked with livestock rising: more than 50%

Amount of forest loss for every hamburger produced from livestock raised on what was Central American forest: 55 square feet

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

Water needed to produce one pound of wheat: 25 gallons

Water needed to produce one pound of beef: 2,500 gallons

Amount of water a person would conserve per year by switching from a meat-based diet to a vegan diet: 1,423,500 gallons

If water used by the meat industry were not subsidized by U.S. taxpayers, a hamburger would cost $35 .

Pounds of food an acre of prime land can produce: potatoes - 40,000; carrots - 30,000; tomatoes - 50,000; beef - 250

Percentage of US topsoil loss directly associated with livestock rising: at least 85%

Percentage of total US land used for raising livestock: 45%

Percentage of water pollution that can be linked to wastes from the livestock industry: more than 50%

Percentage of US imported oil requirements that would be cut if the US switched to a vegetarian diet: 60%. 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.

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.

Percentage of Americans who call themselves environmentalists: 76%

Percentage of Americans who are vegetarian: 2.8%

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.

On the land it takes to feed one meat-eating person, 20 pure vegetarians could be fed. 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