Don't think eating meat has anything to do with the environment? Think again.
According to The Union of Concerned Scientists, the two most important ways we can save our environment are to drive fuel efficient automobiles and not eat any beef.
You may be wondering, "What does the lack of beef in our diet have to do with saving the environment?" Do you drink and use water on a regular basis? Think about this - 2,500 to 5,000 gallons of water will be saved for every pound of beef that you do not eat.
Now you may be thinking "What does that have to do with me personally?" In some areas, water is already a scarce resource.
The scary part, though, is that water is not just a scarce resource for the dry areas we know about, it is a scarce resource for everyone.
We are running out of water.
The underground aquifers are being depleted so fast that they cannot possibly be replenished fast enough.
This means problems for everyone.
Think back to the 1980s and 1990s when many of us began to try to conserve water.
One of the things that many of us did was switch to a low-flow shower head.
Switching shower heads saved about 2,500 gallons of water per year, which is good.
If you give up eating beef, though, you will save at least double that amount of water.
If everyone does, the water impact will be immeasurable.
Saving water, though, is not the only way going vegetarian can help.
Cleaner water is another way the environment can benefit from your choice not to eat beef.
Today's cattle do not graze on grass.
Instead about 100,000 of them are herded together on feed lots.
The cattle are fed corn at the feedlots.
Each cow eats about 25 pounds of corn in one day.
So, for 37,000 cows the farmers dump 25 tons of corn each hour.
The farmers have to use 1.
2 gallons of oil for the fertilizer that is needed for each bushel of corn.
Now, if you have ever had a science class that teaches you about the food chain, then you know that the cattle are not merely consuming corn, but they are consuming everything that goes into that corn.
You also know, then, that animals produce waste and their waste contains stuff that they have eaten.
So, if cattle eat the corn which had oil in the fertilizer, the oil along with other components will be excreted by the cattle.
The waste from the cattle is not treated, nor is it sanitary.
Nature can not take care of the waste fast enough, so it ends up in our rivers killing off our fish.
It also ends up in our drinking water.
Water isn't the only real concern in this equation.
Preserving our land is also a concern.
When cattle are young, before they get herded onto the feedlots, they graze.
They graze on public land.
The cattle trample the land which compacts the soil.
What is wrong with compacted soil? Compacted soil can not absorb rain water.
Instead the water from the rain washes away the topsoil.
Then deep gullies are formed and streambeds are damaged, creating serious environmental issues.
The land here, though, isn't the only land you can save.
Question: what other land can you save? Answer: Tropical Rain Forests.
We import a lot of meat.
In order to make 257 hamburgers one football field of tropical rainforest is destroyed.
So think before you eat, are you helping to save the environment or helping to destroy it?
According to The Union of Concerned Scientists, the two most important ways we can save our environment are to drive fuel efficient automobiles and not eat any beef.
You may be wondering, "What does the lack of beef in our diet have to do with saving the environment?" Do you drink and use water on a regular basis? Think about this - 2,500 to 5,000 gallons of water will be saved for every pound of beef that you do not eat.
Now you may be thinking "What does that have to do with me personally?" In some areas, water is already a scarce resource.
The scary part, though, is that water is not just a scarce resource for the dry areas we know about, it is a scarce resource for everyone.
We are running out of water.
The underground aquifers are being depleted so fast that they cannot possibly be replenished fast enough.
This means problems for everyone.
Think back to the 1980s and 1990s when many of us began to try to conserve water.
One of the things that many of us did was switch to a low-flow shower head.
Switching shower heads saved about 2,500 gallons of water per year, which is good.
If you give up eating beef, though, you will save at least double that amount of water.
If everyone does, the water impact will be immeasurable.
Saving water, though, is not the only way going vegetarian can help.
Cleaner water is another way the environment can benefit from your choice not to eat beef.
Today's cattle do not graze on grass.
Instead about 100,000 of them are herded together on feed lots.
The cattle are fed corn at the feedlots.
Each cow eats about 25 pounds of corn in one day.
So, for 37,000 cows the farmers dump 25 tons of corn each hour.
The farmers have to use 1.
2 gallons of oil for the fertilizer that is needed for each bushel of corn.
Now, if you have ever had a science class that teaches you about the food chain, then you know that the cattle are not merely consuming corn, but they are consuming everything that goes into that corn.
You also know, then, that animals produce waste and their waste contains stuff that they have eaten.
So, if cattle eat the corn which had oil in the fertilizer, the oil along with other components will be excreted by the cattle.
The waste from the cattle is not treated, nor is it sanitary.
Nature can not take care of the waste fast enough, so it ends up in our rivers killing off our fish.
It also ends up in our drinking water.
Water isn't the only real concern in this equation.
Preserving our land is also a concern.
When cattle are young, before they get herded onto the feedlots, they graze.
They graze on public land.
The cattle trample the land which compacts the soil.
What is wrong with compacted soil? Compacted soil can not absorb rain water.
Instead the water from the rain washes away the topsoil.
Then deep gullies are formed and streambeds are damaged, creating serious environmental issues.
The land here, though, isn't the only land you can save.
Question: what other land can you save? Answer: Tropical Rain Forests.
We import a lot of meat.
In order to make 257 hamburgers one football field of tropical rainforest is destroyed.
So think before you eat, are you helping to save the environment or helping to destroy it?