love your planet, eat your beans

We’ve all heard of “win-win” situations, but here’s a triple-win to improve your own health, public health and global health! The factory-and-feedlot production of animals has dire consequences for water, forests, the climate, and our own personal health (high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease and various cancers are strongly linked to meat consumption.) If the thought of all-out vegetarianism is more than you can stomach, consider taking just two steps – reduce your meat consumption by 20%, and make an effort to purchase only locally-grown meat. How much could you help?

Here are some stats to consider in making your decision:

1) If all Americans reduced meat consumption by only 20%, we would reduce the amount of greenhouse gases equivalent to all of us switching to hybrid vehicles.

2) The production of beef in this country consumes more water than our entire fruit & vegetable crop. Want to reduce your use of water? Either don’t shower for a YEAR, or eat just one less pound of hamburger, because it takes over 2,000 pounds of water to produce one pound of hamburger!

3) 30 percent of the ice-free land on this planet is being used for animal production; 30% of Brazil’s deforestation is for cattle ranching.

4) The Exxon Valdez got a lot of press for dumping 12 million gallons of crude oil. But how many of us heard about the spill of hog waste in North Carolina (not an unusual accident in the animal industry) that released TWICE that amount of feces and urine, and caused 364,000 acres to be closed to shellfishing?

5) And for your personal health, fear not the lack of meat – ALL nutrients, including the 8 essential amino acids, vitamins, iron, magnesium, etc. – can be found in a VARIED plant-based diet. To learn more about how to reduce your meat consumption in a healthy manner, check out the North American Vegetarian Society (http://www.navs-online.org/)  or the Vegetarian Resource Group (http://www.vrg.org/) , or read “The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World” (John Robbins).