In the Sunday Papers: Meat and Water
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01.27.08
Gary Kazanjian
Mark Bittman writes in the New York Times about the relationship among meat,fuel and food crops, and how we will probably be eating less of it. "Grain, meat and even energy are roped together in a way that could have dire results. More meat means a corresponding increase in demand for feed, especially corn and soy, which some experts say will contribute to higher prices....Though some 800 million people on the planet now suffer from hunger or malnutrition, the majority of corn and soy grown in the world feeds cattle, pigs and chickens. This despite the inherent inefficiencies: about two to five times more grain is required to produce the same amount of calories through livestock as through direct grain consumption." ::New York Times
Further north, Canadian writer Silver Donald Cameron does an excellent job of summarizing the problem of bottled water, calling it " a scam, a triumph of brilliant marketing and knavish politics." ::The Nova Scotian
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
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The U. of Colorado showed that grass fed beef that is not finished on grain has the same lipid profile as salmon. Maybe if we close the feedlot industry we can save water, feed the grain to hungry humans, improve our cholesterol readings and still enjoy our natural diet.
Cut meat out all together. Go vegan!
Other than there not being nearly enough room on the planet to free rage the world's appetite; grass fed beef = encroachment = round up and slaughter of wild horses, ranchers killing wolves and other natural predators on federal lands, etc. Still needing resources for round up, transport, slaughter, processing, refrigerated transport, etc.
MEAT IS NOT GREEN and you've got to reach pretty far to convince the most adamant omnivore otherwise.
MEAT IS NOT NECESSARY any honest person with a basic knowledge of human physiology will tell you so.
Humans are OMNIVORES. Yes, we can live on all meat or all plants, but neither of those choices is the best, or right or good, one.
If you don't like, or want, to eat meat that's all well and good, but don't make ridiculous claims about human physiology.
As is the case for pretty much every environmental problem in America (and to a lesser extent, the world in that American's tend to outsource the 'dirty work' to poor third world countries), the problem here is rooted in overconsumption. You can eat meat. But you shouldn't have it for every meal, every day of the week.
Americans are used to bacon with breakfast, turkey at lunch and beef at dinner. That isn't healthy and it certainly isn't sustainable.
Humans may be omnivores, but just because we can do something does not mean there is a moral, genetic, and/or a socio-economic impetus and justification to do that hting.
Did you read the article, "someone versed in human physiology?" Show me where it or this TreeHugger posting that it makes "ridiculous claims of human physiology." I could easily agree with you but further qualify that agreement by saying that yes, we are omnivores, BUT we were not meant to eat over-processed meat, factory farmed meat, and meat that's been subjected to genetic and environmental polution.
Too many lazy bastards are happy to shell out their hard-earned money for crappy fast food, and wallow in value meal excess, that they don't realize that they've become walking embarassments to their own genetic history. Make your own bread. Cook your own food. and if you're going to eat meat, hunt, clean and pay respects to the animal your sustenance comes from.
There are so many reasons to seriously think about going vegan. Any one of them makes more sense than the kind of cowardice and insulting marketing that has indoctrinated generations to have a burger.
Yet another wonderful reason to go vegan!
:)
If those 800 million people want to pay the farmers in the US to grow food for them I am shure they would be happy to. However the US farm industry is not a charity.
Where are the aliens from "V" when you need them?
Isn't this an overpopulation issue? Was there a land/meat/grain shortage 50 years ago? No, yet we have the same planet. If the world gives up meat, what will you argue about when there isn't enough grain? Or before that, water?