While nations experience riots over global food shortages, I recall some adamently blaming crops grown for biofuels as one of the leading agents. In addition, as the world experiences global warming and its effects on the planet, many blame our choice of automobile as a leading cause. But what about our choice of diet? Does what we ingest have any influence on these matters?
Over 70% of the U.S. corn, soy, and wheat is fed to livestock, yet the protein input to energy output ratio ranges from 4:1 to as high as 54:1; this feed for livestock could be used to feed up to 800 million people. ( This is assuming, of course, that the feed would be suitable for humans. I did see
King Corn, though, and was surprised to find that much of the corn grown in the U.S. is unsuitable, as is, for human consumption. Thus, I think this number might be inflated).
Moreover, the growing of crops for livestock requires the use of roughly half of our nations water supply and 80% of its agricultural land.
Also, the treatment of animals in factory farming is appalling and ignoble. Pigs' ears and tails are clipped with metal cutters to prevent one from eating anothers in a densely populated enclosure. Cows, prior to slaughter, are knocked unconscious with a 300 volt, 2 amp stun gun. If this doesn't work, they will resort to a captive bolt pistol to the front of the head. Then, hung upside down, their necks are slit and the animal dies of exsanguination. This disturbs me, greatly. Singer calls this speciesism, and I feel compelled to agree with him.
Shifting to global warming, a 2006 UN initiative cited the livestock industry as one of the leading causes of environmental degradation,
including air and water pollution, land degradation, global warming, and loss of biodiversity. Animal agriculture is responsible for roughly 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, compared to 13.5% from the transportation sector. Nearly 70% of human-related nitrous oxides and 37% of human induced methane are from animal agriculture.
Furthermore, the tons of excrement that are produced from cows pollute lakes, rivers, and groundwater. The overfertilization of crops used for feed is a leading producer of the massive 22,126 square km. Gulf of Mexico dead zone. Countless ecosystems are suffering from eutrophication. The massive monoculture of animal meat is environmentally unsustainable.
It's interesting, as a side note, to visualize just how many hamburger-based fast food restaurants there are in this city: McDonald's, Carl's Jr. Wendy's, Sonic, Fat Burger, Mega Burger, Burger King, and so on. I visualized how many there were, then I thought about other restaurants, such as Chinese food and Mexican food, and sandwich shops, with Subway and Port of Subs, Togo's and Jersey Mike's subs, and sit-down restaurants, like Ruby Tuesdays, TGI Friday's, Coco's, Denny's, and so on; then thought about grocery stores: Albertson's, CostCo, Sam's Club, Food 4 Less, Ralphs, Smith's, etc.
I started with the conceptualization of the number in one city, then, by degrees, expanded to the county, then the state, then the region, then the country, continent, hemisphere, and finally the world. It's easier to imagine, though far more disturbing, how roughly 10 billion animals are slaughtered every year when seen through this lense.
We can reproach biofuels and transportation for global food shortages and global warming, and this would, in part, be justified, but I don't recall, with the exception of the U.N. any world leaders mentioning the greater instigator, the elephant in the room ...
Vegetarianism - Wikipedia
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