Four Reasons Becoming Vegetarian Could Prolong Life On Earth

Yesterday (October 31st, 2011) the world's population hit 7 billion. If we continue to eat the things we do the way we do, the world will not be capable of catering for this many people. Whether you've thought about it or not, our diets take their toll on our planet. Think about this:

- Animals raised for food take up approximately 30% of the earth's land surface, the other 70% of which is largely over-populated. In numeral terms: the earth has about 57,250,950 miles² of land and roughly 17,175,285 miles² of this is taken up by grazing animals. The amount of land required to feed one meat-eater could feed between fifteen and twenty vegetarians; one acre can produce about 75kg of beef or 9000kg of potatoes. There would be 17,175,285 miles² more to plant crops on and build houses on if these animals did not have to be here - it's not like there aren't other options for food!

- 7kg of grain will feed one cow. After it has been through the cow's system and the cow has been converted into meat products, it will provide you with only one third of your daily calorie intake. If you were to take that same 7kg of grain it would provide ten people with their entire caloric intake for a whole day. The world's cattle eat enough grain to feed every human on earth, and most of that is wasted. A cow must eat 7kg of grain to produce 0.45kg of meat - this comes in at 94% food wastage. Keep in mind the waste rate is so high and add it to the fact that 60% of the world's grain is fed to farmed animals.. at the same time as 925,000,000 people do not have enough to eat. Hmm!

- Between half of and three quarters of drinking water in America alone is consumed by farmed animals whilst 884,000,000 people in the world do not have access to safe water. It takes 2400 gallons of water to produce 0.45kg of meat whereas it only takes 5 gallons to produce the same amount of wheat. In 2009, 5 trillion gallons of water were used to make sufficient amounts of vegetarian food where it took 235 trillion gallons to make the same amount of meat products. There would be gallons more water for third world countries and those who are dying for access to it if we reconsidered our food choices.

- Grazing animals is also responsible for soil erosion, clearing of forest land, water pollution and desertification. Say one day in the future we decide that we want to (or more likely need to) use each 7kg of grain for human consumption rather than feeding farm cattle, the longer we go on grazing them now the less land we will have that crops will be able to grow in in the future. Permanent damage and irreversibility are always great options(!).

It may just be me but I find these figures shocking. If you want to make a difference to your own lives and the lives of future generations, you know what to do~