How a Vegetarian diet can reduce Global Warming!
1. It takes up to 8 kgs of grain to produce one edible kg of meat (especially beef). The same quantity of grain (rice, pulses, cereals, etc.) can keep a small family of 4 fed for a week.
2. An acre of land can produce 1250 kgs of meat or 20,000 kgs of potatoes. Hence, a shift to vegetarian diets would free much valuable land, which could be used to grow nutritious food for people, at a time when an estimated 20 million of the world's people, over half of whom are children, die annually due to hunger and its effects. Remember A non-vegetarian diet requires over 3 acres per person, whereas a total vegetarian diet requires only about a sixth of an acre.
3. While it takes about 200 liters of water to produce a kg of potatoes, it takes on an average 15,000 liters to produce a kg of meat (for animals' drinking water, irrigation of crops, processing, washing, cooking, etc.). This amount of water is equal to typical household water consumption in a month.
4. A non-vegetarian diet also wastes much energy as an average of 5 times more calories of Fuel energy is required for every calorie of food energy obtained. Whereas a vegetarian can gain up to 20 calories of food energy per calorie of fuel energy. Vegetarian diet helps reducing global warming.
5. The tremendous quantity of grains grown to feed animals requires extensive use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides. Much air and water pollution is caused by the production and use of these products.
6. The concentration of pesticides in the body fat of animals due to "biological magnification" contributes to human health problems and costs. Over half of the pesticide residues in the U.S. diet are contributed by meat, compared to only about 10 percent contributed by vegetables, fruits, and grains. Ninety-nine percent of U.S. non-vegetarian mother's milk contains significant levels of DDT, compared to only 8 percent of U.S. vegetarian mother's milk.
7. Large areas of land throughout the world have been destroyed by grazing animals. Overgrazing has been a prime cause of erosion in various parts of the world throughout history. We are losing billions of tons of soil every year.
8. By curtailing our meat consumption we could free up millions of acres of agricultural land that could be returned to forest and wild prairie, absorbing tons of CO2 in the process.
9.Non veg foods are slow to digest (any where from 36 to 48 hrs.) and this diverts blood from the brain and reduce mental sharpness.
Hence, in order to reduce the many ecological threats that increasingly threaten our nation and the world, it is essential that people move toward vegetarian diets. Such a change would have many other benefits, including improved human health, a reduction in health-care costs, and a reduction in the horrible conditions faced by the 9 billion animals that are currently slaughtered in one year in the United States alone, world over its any bodys guess.
What makes Human beings different from other species is the ability to think and adapt to situations. Of course, Non veg food is delicious and We all have our temptations, but thankfully we have been gifted with a brain that enables us to make right choices too.
People for Animals
No comments:
Post a Comment