Not sure how accurate all this is, I just copied it from another veggie group site...but I'm sure someone will let me know if any of this is wrong. 28 reasons not to eat meat 1. Number of human beings who could be fed annually by the grain and soybeans eaten by U.S. livestock: 1,300,000,000 2. Number of people who will starve to death this year: 60,000,000 3. Number of people would could be adequately fed by the grain saved if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10 percent: 60,000,000 4. Pounds of grain and soybeans needed to produce one pound of feedlot beef: 16 5. Number of pure vegetarians who can be fed on the amount of land needed to feed one meat-eating person: 20 6. Percentage of protein wasted by cycling grain through livestock: 90 7. Percentage of carbohydrate wasted by cycling grain through livestock: 99 8. Percentage of dietary fiber wasted by cycling grain through livestock: 100 9. Pounds of potatoes that can be grown on 1 acre of land: 20,000. Pounds of beef that can be produced on 1 acre of land: 165 10. Reason veal is so tender: calves are never allowed to take a single step 11. Reason veal is whitish pink: calves are force-fed an anemia-producing diet 12.The McDonald’s clown, Ronald McDonald, tells children: “Hamburgers grow in hamburger patches and love to be eaten.” Ronald McDonald doesn’t tell children: “Hamburgers are ground of cows who’ve had their throats slit by machetes or their brains bashed in by sledgehammers.” 13. Number of animals killed for meat per hour in the United States: 50,000 14. Occupation with highest employee-turnover rate in the United States: slaughterhouse worker 15. Occupation with highest employee rate of injury in the United States: slaughterhouse worker. 16. Cost to render an animal unconscious prior to slaughter so that process is done humanely: 1 cent. Reason given by meat industry for not utilizing captive bolt pistol: too expensive 17. Percentage of antibiotics produced in this country used in livestock feeds: 55 18. Production of excrement by total U.S. human population: 12,000 pounds per second. Production of excrement by U.S. livestock: 250,000 pounds per second. 19. Percentage of harmful organic waste-water pollution attributable to U.S. human population: 10. Percentage of harmful organic waste-water pollution attributable to U.S. livestock: 90 20. Enough water goes into the feeding and care of the average cow to: float a destroyer 21. Water needed to produce a pound of wheat: 25 gallons. Water needed to produce a pound of meat: 2,500 gallons 22. Number of acres of U.S. forest that have been cleared to create cropland to produce a meat-centered diet: 260,000,000 23. How often an acre of trees disappears in this country: every 5 seconds 24. At the present rate of deforestation, number of years before not a single tree will remain standing in the United States: 50 25. Amount of trees spared per year by each individual who switches to a pure vegetarian diet: 1 acre 26. Most common cause of death in the United States: heart attack. risk of death from heart attack by average American man: 50 percent. Risk of death from heart attack by an average American man consuming a pure vegetarian diet: 4 percent 27. Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat meat daily compared to women who eat meat less than once a week: four times higher 28. Leading source of pesticide residues in the U.S. diet: meat- 55 percent. Total pesticide residues in the U.S. diet supplied by vegetables: 6 percent. Total pesticide residues in the U.S. diet supplied by fruits: 4 percent. Total pesticide residues in the U.S. diet supplied by grains: 1 percent. WHAT YOU CAN DO: STOP EATING MEAT OR REDUCE YOUR CONSUMPTION. IF AND WHEN YOU DO EAT MEAT, SELECT ORGANICALLY FED, HUMANELY TREATED, RANGE FREE BEEF OR POULTRY. -How To Make The World a Better Place, written by Jeffery A. Hollender
Unless you have a way to distribute the untouched meat to those people, it makes no sense to say that.
You misunderstood. If the US reduced it's meat consumption by 10%, the grain that would have been used to feed those animals could feed 60,000,000 people.
Oh, but that 10% is quite a large number of people. And who's to say that would immediately impact demand and product output.
Wow...that is interesting indeed... Also, bassitreid--I love your Ryan Adams quote! Hoorah...what a great song...
It's certainly interesting, I think i'll pring off abut ten million copies and distribute them around town with some gory pictures...
I hate the way animals are treated and I buy organic, free-range meat. However, the hunger part I think is rubbish. Farmers here in Western Europe produce far more than we can eat; spare food is often stored or even thrown out. It doesn't get to the poor & hungry people in the third world countries for political and logistical reasons. There are piles of food collected for disaster areas that aren't getting to the places where it's needed because there is a lack of transportation, and there's all kinds of bureaucracy, or because of corruption, or because the roads are too dangerous in areas where there's a war on. If there's more grain left over, I don't see it getting to Darfur or the mountain regions of Pakistan any faster, to name just two areas. Nor would the farmers & store owners stand for it if those who live on a shoestring budget in our own, Western, countries could get the extra grain for free or for a great discount -they'd be afraid to lose money. No, with our high-yield grain and other produce we can easily produce enough food for everybody even if we eat meat; the problem lays in the distribution!
If people stopped eating that much meat, what makes you think that the land would go towards vegetables?
tye point is in the US close to 89 percent of corn/soy production is for animal feed. We know that communities in developing nations will feed animals food that would nutritionally go much farther as grain than as animal feed. We know market demand will entice a farmer to raise animals at the cost of vegetable production for his/her family. If more GRAIN was eaten and less animals, (accepting that some people will be omni) health and wealth would rise. In areas with good food distribution and few people raising their own meat, (US, Western Europe) an overly meat dependent diet is wasteful.
But in those areas we're already wealthy! Or at least, 'we' as in the country, the average people... and as I said, those who are poor aren't going to profit from an even larger production because they won't be able to buy greatly underpriced food anyhow.
http://www.universal-tao.com/article/raw.html Carnivore: Cats, dogs, wolves, bears and other meat-eating animals. They have teeth that are long, sharp, and pointed, for ripping apart tough raw animal flesh. None of their teeth are flat molar teeth. Their jaws move up and down, not side to side. They drink water with their tongue. Their tongues are rough and thin. They have claws as sharp as knives for ripping flesh. Herbivore: Horses, pigs, cows, goats and other grass-eating animals. Their front and canine teeth may be sharp or pointed. Their back teeth are flattened for grinding. Their jaw can move both up and down as well as side to side. They drink water by suction. Their tongue is smooth and thick. Frugivore: Humans and apes. All of their teeth are flat, especially the back molars. They have the dullest canine teeth of all primates. Their jaws move both up and down and side to side. The shape of their face clearly indicates that humans and apes have no ability to rip out entrails with their mouth. They drink water by suction. Their tongue is smooth and thick.
Im pretty sure these stats could be outdated since im pretty sure they only use captive bolt pistols, and ive been led to believe that its relatively humane. Also the point regarding breast cancer and heart attack, also fail to mention the other factors for these like smoking, drinking, stess, genetics, making a general statistic like that is pushing it. But Veg*n is definitly the way to be anyways
but demand in the West creates farming in areas where the people who live there did not traditionally raise livestock. When one gets more goods/cash for raising cattle, or even chickens, one will abandon hunting and gathering and become part of the capital system. When local economies are left intact and not undercut, the economy stays healthier overall.
I hear this quite a bit, but honestly I don't see how any logical person could believe this. Have you ever taken a very good look at your teeth? Could you show me which teeth EXACTLY are the sharp, flesh tearing ones? Look at the teeth of a shark, cat or dog; notice how their teeth are sharp and pointy? Seems like a better design for tearing through flesh, don't you think? If our teeth were actually designed to tear flesh, our mouths would look a bit like this. Likewise, if cats were herbivorous than their jaws would look a bit like this. When I look at human teeth, the first things I notice are our front teeth. Notice how they are flat and seem ideal for cutting the fruit and stalks of plants? I wonder what other kind of animals have teeth like that?
I lovvvve that. That's awesome. Yer my new friend. If we were truly designed for eating meat our molars would also be a bit sharp and jagged as well. I don't know about some of you, but my molars are sure as hell as flat as Mary Kate Olsen's chest is.
Cool, I made a new friend. Glad you liked my little presentation, and there's more where that came from incase anyone else has doubts.
