by Kathleen Keating

DID YOU KNOW?

Pollution

The meat industry causes more water pollution in the US than all other industries combined because the animals raised for food produces 130 times more excrement than the entire human population - 86,600 pounds per second. A typical pig factory farm generates a quantity of raw waste equal to that of a city of 12,000 people.

Land

Of all agricultural land in the US, 87 percent is used to raise animals for food. Twenty times more land is required to feed a meet eater than to feed a pure vegetarian. Human beings who could be fed by the grain and soybeans eaten by U.S. livestock: 1,400,000,000 Ayres, Ed, Time, 11.8.1999

Water

Raising animals for food consumes more than half of all the water used in the US. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat, but only 25 gallons to produce a pound of wheat.

Deforestation

Rain forests are being destroyed at a rate of 125,000 square miles per year to create space to raise animals for food. For every quarter-pound fast-food burger made of rain forest beef, 55 square feet of land are consumed.

Energy

Raising animals for food requires more than one-third of all raw materials and fossil fuels used in the US. Fossil fuels needed to produce a meat-centered diet vs a meat-free diet: 50 times more. Producing a single hamburger patty uses enough fossil fuel to drive a small car 20 miles and enough water for 17 showers.

Animals

Caring about our environment is also caring about our fellow inhabitants, the animals. They have complex social and psychological lives - they are made of flesh and blood and feel pain just as humans do. The 25 billion animals that are killed by the meat industry every year are raised and killed in ways that would horrify any compassionate person.

“A cultural shift toward a plant-based diet would mean far fewer animals in factory farms and feedlots, far less manure produced, and far cleaner water...our water would be healthier and far less likely to harbor dangerous pathogens from animal waste. It would be a major step toward restoring the life-giving waters of our planet.” ~ John Robbins

Calories of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein -
from soybeans: 2

Calories of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein -
from wheat: 3

Calories of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein -
from beef: 54

~ Pimentel, David, and Pimentel, Marcia, Food, Energy and Society

“The contamination of the nations waterways from pork manure run-off is extremely serious. Twenty tons of pork and other livestock manure are produced for every household in the country. We have strict laws governinng the disposal of human waste, but the regulations are lax, or often non-existent, for animal waste.” ~ Union of Concerned Scientists

“There is still time to turn things around if we act now. Every time you choose to eat plant foods rather than meat, it’s as if you were planting and tending a tree, helping to create a greener and healthier future for all generations to come.” ~ John Robbins