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Veg Mondays Good for the World
Eating ‘veg’ has tremendous benefits for our land, water and air. By reducing or eliminating our consumption of animal products we not only conserve vast quantities of fresh water (needed to slaughter and “process” animals), but we also protect our land, water and air from a major source of pollution.
Your Can Help Protect the Environment
If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save:
Veg Mondays Good for the World
Eating ‘veg’ has tremendous benefits for our land, water and air. By reducing or eliminating our consumption of animal products we not only conserve vast quantities of fresh water (needed to slaughter and “process” animals), but we also protect our land, water and air from a major source of pollution.
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On
average it takes 11 times more fossil fuel to make one calorie of
animal protein as it does to make one calorie of plant protein.
(American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 78, No. 3, Pimentel &
Pimentel, Sept. 2003)
- Livestock are responsible for 68% of ammonia emissions, which contribute significantly to acid rain and the acidification of ecosystems. (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, 2006, p. 272)
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In the U.S., livestock production is responsible for 55% of all soil erosion on cropped land and pastureland, 40% of which ends up in water resources. (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, 2006, p. 73, Box 2.5)
- It takes 5 times more water to yield 1000 kcal of meat as it does to yield 1000 kcal of fruits, vegetables or grains. (Malin Falkenmark & Johan Rockstrom, “Balancing Water for Humans and Nature”, 2004, p. 50)
- You could save more water by not eating one pound of California beef than you would save by not showering for an entire year. (Based on 1 shower/day, 7 minutes/shower, using 2 gallons water/minute). (John Robbins, The Food Revolution, 2001, p. 237)
- More water is taken from the Ogallala aquifer (western U.S.) each year for beef production than is used to grow all the fruits and vegetables in the entire country. (Dr. Candace Chase, The Journal of Ecologically Sustainable Medicine, “Healthy Earth, Healthy Eating”, Dec. 2005)
- Learn more about the environmental impacts
Your Can Help Protect the Environment
If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save:
- 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months;
- 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year;
- 70 million gallons of gas--enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare;
- 3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware;
- 33 tons of antibiotics.
- Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as produced by all of France;
- 3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic damage;
- 4.5 million tons of animal excrement;
- Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant.
Resource Depletion
Approximately half the population of Africa and Asia will be facing water scarcity in 2025 and are also the regions that will face the most serious challenges in terms of poverty, population growth and food requirements. (Malin Falkenmark & Johan Rockstrom, “Balancing Water For Humans and Nature”, 2004, p. 135)
Approximately half the population of Africa and Asia will be facing water scarcity in 2025 and are also the regions that will face the most serious challenges in terms of poverty, population growth and food requirements. (Malin Falkenmark & Johan Rockstrom, “Balancing Water For Humans and Nature”, 2004, p. 135)
- Livestock production accounts for 23% of global water usage, including drinking, servicing, processing and feed crop irrigation. (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, 2006, p. 271, Table 7.1)
- Livestock grazing and feed crop cultivation account for 59% of global land use. (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, 2006, p. 271, Table 7.1)
- More than 71,300 mi2 (an area twice the size of Portugal) of the Amazon rainforest has been cleared to graze livestock. (Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), “Hamburger Connection Fuels Amazon Destruction; Cattle Ranching and Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon”, April 2004)
- As of 2004 more than 10,000 miles of the Amazon rainforest had been cleared to grow soybeans to feed livestock. Kristal, Arnold, “Globalization: It’s a Small World After All”, Food Systems Insider, May 1st, 2005)
- In just five months in 2007 Brazil lost more than 1236 mi2 of Amazon rainforest to illegal farming and ranching, as high prices for cattle, soybeans and corn led farmers and ranchers to plant more crops and raise more animals. (BBC News, 2008. “Brazil Amazon Deforestation Soars” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7206165.stm., See also: Sibaja M. 2008. “Brazil to Increase Monitors in Rain Forest as Illegal Clearing Spreads”, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012401059.html
- Livestock production is responsible for more than 50% of all GHG. (Robert Goodland & Jeff Anhang, World Watch Institute, “Livestock and Climate Change”, Vol.22 No. 6, Nov/Dec 2009)
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It is much more efficient to grow food directly for human consumption than to cycle it through animals.
- Livestock consume more edible protein (77 million tons) than they produce (58 million tons). (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, 2006, p. 270)
- 70% of all corn and grain grown in the U.S. is fed to livestock (Durning and Brough, “Taking Stock”, p. 14. See also, Ayres, Ed, “Will We Still Eat Meat?” Time Magazine, Nov. 8th, 1999. See also The Food Revolution by John Robbins, 2001 p.292)
- 1,400,000,000,000 (1.4 Trillion) people could be fed by the grain eaten by U.S. livestock alone (John Robbins, The Food Revolution, 2001, p.292)
- Worldwide, 80% of all soybeans grown are used for animal feed (Mark Ash, Economic Research Service, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, email to Danielle Nierenberg, Worldwatch Institute, May 2005)
- 26% of the world’s surface is used for livestock grazing, 33% of all arable land is used for feed crop cultivation (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, 2006, p.271 Table 7.1)
- 25,000 people (adults and children) die every day from hunger and related causes (FAO & The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2006. (World Food Programme: www.wfp.org/hunger/stats))
- 1,200,000,000 (1.2 Billion) people worldwide are underfed and/or malnourished (Gardner and Halweil, “Underfed and Overfed” Worldwatch Institute paper #150, March 2000)
- The livestock sector is the largest source of water pollution, contributing to eutrophication, ‘dead’ zones in coastal areas, degradation of coral reefs, human health problems, emergence of antibiotic resistance and many other problems. (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, 2006, p xxiii)
- The amount of water pollution generated in producing a pound of ‘meat’ is 17 times greater than that generated producing a pound of pasta. (Brower & Leon, “The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists”, March 1999)
- The main water pollutants in the U.S. are sediments and nutrients. Animal agriculture is responsible for 55% of the erosion that causes sedimentation, and for 33% of nutrient pollutants, nitrogen and phosphorous. (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, 2006, p 162)
- Animal agriculture is responsible for 33% of the United States’ water pollution from pesticides, and 50% of its water pollution from antibiotics. (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, 2006)
- Bursting, leaking and overflowing manure lagoons have spawned environmental disasters around the country, sending animal waste gushing into rivers, groundwater and coastal wetlands. Each year thousands of lagoon leaks are reported and it is estimated that thousands more go unreported. (National Resources Defense Council, “America’s Animal Factories: How States Fail to Prevent Pollution From Livestock Waste” by Robbin Marks and Rebecca Knuffke, Dec. 1998)
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that confined farm animals generate 3 times more raw waste each year (more than 450 million tons) than is generated by Americans. (Environmental Protection Agency, National pollutant discharge elimination system permit regulation and effluent limitation guidelines and standards for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs); Final Rule, 68 Fed. Reg. 7176, 7180 (Feb. 12th, 2003.))
- The amount of waste produced by North Carolina’s 7 million factory-raised hogs is 4 times greater than the amount of waste produced by the entire human population of that state (6.5 Million) (Facts and Data, Waste Pollution and the Environment, GRACE Factory Farm Project, www.gracelinks.org/factoryfarm/facts, 2000)
- Compare: 12 million gallons of oil spilled by Exxon-Valdez in 1989 vs. 25 million gallons of putrefying hog urine and feces spilled into the New River in North Carolina, June 21st, 1995, when a lagoon holding 8 acres of excrement burst. 10 - 14 million fish were killed as an immediate result. (Williams, Ted, “Assembly Line Swine”, Audubon, March/April 1998, p.27. See also, “Environmental and Health Consequences of Animal Factories”, Natural Resources Defense Council report, 1998., see also “Feedstuffs”, July 3rd, 1995)
- On factory dairy farms one cow produces 115 lbs. of manure each day. (Citizens’ Environmental Coalition & Sierra Club, “The Wasting of Rural New York State”, 2005)
- Livestock are responsible for 68% of ammonia emissions, which contribute significantly to acid rain and the acidification of ecosystems. (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, 2006, p. 272)
- In the U.S. livestock production is responsible for 55% of all soil erosion on cropped land and pastureland, 40% of which ends up in water resources. (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, 2006, p. 73, Box 2.5)
Methane from World Preservation Foundation on Vimeo.
It's Easy to Make an Impact!
According to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads.
According to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads.
