Food expert Francis Moore Lappe, author of Diet for a Small Planet, once said that we should look at a piece of steak like it is a Cadillac. “What I mean,” she explains, “is that we in America are hooked on gas-guzzling automobiles because of the illusion of cheap petroleum. Likewise,we got hooked on a grain-fed, meat-centered diet because of the illusion of cheap grain.”
In reality, the process of using grain to produce meat is incredibly inefficient and wasteful. To produce just one pound of beef requires 161 pounds of grain and 5,214 gallons of water! John Robbins, author & activist, says, “You may save more water by not eating a pound of beef than you would by not showering for six entire months.” But, this is not a post about water (for that, check out this post: Meat’s Not Green: Water). This is a post about hunger.
Over 90% of all grain (corn, wheat, etc) produced in America is used to feed livestock. If this grain were used to feed humans instead, the planet could easily support a human population of 20 billion or more. (PS – We’re at 6 billion now.) Because of this fact, experts often point out that the world hunger problem is illusory. Currently, we are producing enough food for everyone on the planet – we are simply allocating it inefficiently.
The United Nations Food Conference says, “The over-consumption of meat by the rich means hunger for the poor. This wasteful agriculture must be changed – by the suppression of feedlots where beef are fattened on grains, and even a massive reduction of beef cattle.”
Plus, an acre of grain actually produces, on average, five times more protein than an acre of pasture used for meat! An acre of beans or peas produces 10 times more protein, and an acre of spinach produces 28 times more protein than an acre used for meat.
The wasteful process of meat production, which requires far more land & water resources than vegetable agriculture, has been a source of economic conflict in human society for thousands of years, even as far back as ancient Greece. In Plato’s Republic, the Greek philosopher Socrates recommended a vegetarian diet because it was the most efficient use of their land. He warned that if people started eating animals, there would be a need for more pasturing land. “And the country which was enough to support the original inhabitants will be too small now, and not enough… And so we shall go to war.”
In the current era, much of the world’s mass conflict is fueled by food shortages. As far back as 1974, the CIA published a report warning that in the near future, there may not be enough food for the world’s population “unless the affluent nations make a quick and drastic cut in their consumption of grain-fed animals.”
Meat-eating in industrialized nations is certainly linked to world hunger. According to one study, if Americans reduced their meat consumption by just 10% (approximately 1 meatless day per week), 12 million tons of grain would be freed up annually for human consumption – enough to feed each of the 60 million children & adults who starve to death each year.
Awareness of the social consequences of meat consumption creates an ethical imperative to work towards a vegetarian diet. The only reason to consume meat is a selfish one.
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Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Spinach burrito from California Tortilla (no cheese, no sour cream)
Dinner: Veggie pizza made with soy cheese
