A Crash Course on Eating Green
By Bobby Rock
A big part of the green movement is learning how our daily lifestyle choices can play such a critical role in the healing of our earth. Some of these choices involve which consumer goods, clothing, or household products we purchase, how we can most efficiently use water and power, and setting up an at-home system for recycling. But how do our food choices factor into this equation? Is there any connection between our dire environmental issues and last night's dinner? You bet. In this article, we'll talk about how eating low on the food chain by choosing peanut butter over bologna, beans over chicken, or soy milk over cow's milk, can be one of the most significant contributions you can make to the environment.
The Grand Illusion
Many people think that their milk, eggs and meat still come from the traditional "Old McDonald" idea of a farm. They envision dairy and beef cows grazing in open fields, or chickens laying eggs in spacious barns. But such has not been the case for a number of decades now. Instead, the industry has transitioned almost entirely into a numbers game, and now "factory farming" is the norm for over 95% of all animal products purchased from any store or restaurant. The significance? Modern animal agriculture is centered around a model of hyper-efficiency and cost-effectiveness, with little regard for its devastating global ramifications. This model is woefully unsustainable, and the evidence of this has been glaring loud and clear for some time now.
A recent 400-page report from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, entitled Livestock's Long Shadow, identified the world's 1.5 billion cattle as the premier culprits in the threat to our forests, wildlife and climate. They also cited our exploding population of cows for a number of other environmental offenses, including poisoning our rivers and drinking water, creating alien species, acid rain and deserts, and producing dead zones in the ocean while destroying our coral reefs. The results are far-reaching and, unfortunately, extend to all facets of animal agriculture.
What's the Real Cost of Eating High on the Food Chain?
To grasp the magnitude of this environmental connection, you have to understand the enormity of the factory farm world. There are over 12 billion animals housed and fed within the domestic factory farm system each year. These animals are fattened up with the lionshare of the crops that we grow. We're talking 80% of all grain, 80% of all corn and 95% of all oats. Where do these crops come from? Usually from land that has been cleared of its trees for the sole purpose of growing them, and with water that often has to be irrigated into these fields. (The amount of water expended for this is mind-boggling, as I'll illustrate in a moment.)
As a natural result of eating this massive amount of crops, the cows (in particular) leave us with tons of highly-toxic excrement. These mountains of manure (quite literally) are not only a detriment to our drinking water, as the rain washes the nitrates and poisons from the manure into the ground where they infiltrate our water supplies, but they also release tremendous amounts of toxic emissions into the air, much like the exhaust from automobiles. (Gives new meaning to the word "bullshit," doesn't it?)
Frightening Numbers
Now, ecologically speaking, how do these figures translate into, let's say, a quarter-pound hamburger? The groundbreaking work of John Robbins and a few of our other eco-nutrition mavericks reveals the stunning arithmetic that illustrates exactly how wasteful and outrageous this situation really is. Through meticulous research, they've been able to calculate how much of our resources are utilized and/or affected by a feedlot steer in terms of what that steer yields in actual beef. Let's take a peek at a few figures...
One quarter-pound of beef:
A) Utilizes 66 square feet of land (versus, for example, the same amount of land yielding two tons of potatoes).
B) Represents the total amount of water the average person uses around the house (i.e. shower, sink, toilet, kitchen use, etc.) for an entire month, or the total amount of fossil fuel you would use to drive a small car 20 miles down the road.
C) Causes the emission of the same amount of toxins as about 7 1/2 weeks of automobile exhaust.
D) Requires four pounds of grain, which could represent a day's worth of food for four starving people.
On a larger scale, here are a few more stats that further illustrate the destructive effects of animal agriculture on our world:
Land Issues: Over 80% of all agricultural land in the United States is used to raise animals for food.
Pollution Issues: The standard factory farm environment for pigs is responsible for the same amount of raw waste as that of a 50,000-person city. Include cows and the rest of the farmed animals into the equation and you have an industry that causes more water pollution than all other industries combined.
Energy Issues: Over one third of all fossil fuels and raw materials used in the U.S. go toward raising animals in the factory farm environment.
Water Issues: More than half of all the water used in the U.S. is utilized in the process of raising animals for food. Specifically, it takes about 12,000 gallons of water to produce a pound of beef, vs. only 60 gallons of water to produce a pound of potatoes. In fact, the average meat-eating American will utilize about one million gallons of water per year. All in, we're using 14 trillion gallons of irrigated water annually to produce feed for livestock here in the U. S.
Deforestation Issues: To create the space to raise food animals, we are destroying our rain forests to the tune of 125,000 square miles per year. (This represents the combined land mass of all six states of New England!) Here in the U.S., we've cleared over 250 million acres of forest to make room to grow crops for farmed animals. Globally speaking, livestock grazing and feed production utilizes approximately 30% of the land surface of the planet. In general, the meat-based diet requires 20 times more land than the plant-based diet.
Global Warming Issues: Methane is 21 times more potent than carbon monoxide as a greenhouse effect gas, making it one of the primary proponents of global warming in our world today. Animal agriculture is the number one source of methane output, as it produces an astounding 100 million tons per year through various "digestive byproducts." Specifically, the livestock sector is responsible for about 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This is nearly 5% more than the transportation sector!
Of course, with animal agriculture being the multi-billion dollar enterprise that it is, this kind of news seldom finds its way into the mainstream media. Even many of our top environmental experts, like Al Gore, neglect to make this connection. So it really is up to us - the conscientious consumer - to vote with our pocketbooks and embrace a more ecologically sound paradigm of eating. And this means focusing on plant-based foods.
The Nutrition Connection
One of the main questions that arises at the prospect of more plant-based eating is whether we will somehow miss out on key nutrients if we cut back or avoid those old staples like dairy products, eggs, chicken and other types of meat. The retort is often, "But where will I get my protein, calcium and iron?" The answer is, every nutrient you will ever need comes in its purest form, direct from the earth, via a variety of plant-based foods. That's where the animals get them, and when someone eats animal products, they are getting a second-hand version of these nutrients, encased in a "delivery system" (the animal's flesh, milk or eggs) that is devoid of any dietary fiber, live enzymes, or phytonutrients and usually loaded with factory farm-related toxins, artery-clogging saturated fats and protein ratios that make our blood acidic. So to the extent that you can cut out the "middle man,"" you can enjoy a superior way of eating, while also helping the planet.
Now, to what extent or how often you choose to eat plant-based is a personal decision. I've been following an exclusively vegan diet (100% plant-based) since the early-90's and have managed to maintain a very healthy and athletic 200-pound physique with no problem. So naturally, I always encourage those who ask me about it to give it a full-time shot, knowing they'll be blown away by how great they will feel physically. Otherwise, as is the case with any of your green living efforts, every little bit helps. So take things at your own pace and do the best you can.
Getting Started With Eating Green
Here are a few suggestions for eating lower on the food chain:
- Try to eat 100% plant-based one day per week. (Your body will thank you for it!)
- Challenge yourself to order a vegan entrée the next time you go to your favorite restaurant.
- Learn how to prepare three completely plant-based dishes, then integrate them into your weekly meal plan.
- Experiment with various soy substitutes in place of some of your dairy or meat staples.
- Try going to new restaurants that feature more (or all) plant-based entrées. This could include many ethnic places (Indian, Ethiopian, Chinese, etc.) or any of the many veggie restaurants popping up everywhere these days.
- Focus on eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans everyday. This will make your diet more plant-based since you will, by default, be eating fewer animal products.
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