It is possible, believe it or not. And it does not require new-fangled inventions, trillions in donations, or major quality-of-life dislocations. All it involves, seemingly miraculously, is allocating our grains and vegetables directly to the hungry and to ourselves rather than to feed factory-farmed animals.
A little known but harsh reality is this – we feed the vast majority of our (immense) production of grains and legumes, as well as a good portion of our fish catch, directly to livestock, while hundreds of millions of people around the world go hungry.
The sad facts are simple, undeniable and generally ignored:
-Most cropland, agricultural land, and piped water in the USA are allocated to the production of animal products.
-Much of our wild life has been compromised due to (human) competition for land and to trapping and poisoning.
- Pollution of our water and land – exacerbated by packaging and processing facilities – abounds.
- Meats cost far more than equivalent grain and vegetable proteins, inflating the cost of living.
-A sizable portion of the world’s irreplaceable tropical rainforests – which contain a majority of our plant and animal life – have been destroyed in their clearing for use in cattle production, especially in Brazil.
-The production of animal foods, the reduction of rainforests and the extensive release of methane gas by cattle all contribute mightily to global warming.
-Biologically, we as human beings are better designed to eat, digest and profit from grains and vegetable products (as well as fish) than we are from meat products.
The earth, it seems, is not terminally ill; our food policies and preferences are.
The clarion calls from our medical and dietary experts have been going out for decades: eat more grains and vegetables, high in vitamins A, C and E – the anti-cancerous, anti-heart disease, anti-obesity, antioxidants. And avoid meat.
Lowering beef consumption and moving towards a diet centered on whole grains and organic vegetables are the synergistically efficient ways to ensure not just personal, but in fact planetary, health.
