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Meat and World Hunger
Selling Out Their Future
In addition to wasting resources, producing meat and other animal products adds to the problem of world hunger in another more insidious way. Because raising animals creates a growing demand for crops that will be fed to farmed animals, animal agriculture is responsible for soil erosion, topsoil loss, and deforestation. If we reduce our reliance on meat, we will reduce the demands on our arable land and protect our soil from overexploitation.
Vast tracts of land are needed to grow crops to feed the billions of animals we raise for food each year. Of all the agricultural land in the U.S., nearly 80 percent is used, in some way, to raise animals—that's roughly half of the total land mass of the U.S.13 This land is used to grow crops to feed animals and to provide room for them to graze. Raising billions of animals for food puts a huge strain on the land. Areas used for meat production quickly change from fertile soil to lifeless dirt, and rainforests are mowed down to replace the lost land. As more and more land in the U.S. and around the world is irreparably damaged by the meat industry, what little arable land remains is less and less able to produce enough crops to feed the burgeoning world population.
A comprehensive study of the world's land resources, conducted by Professor David Pimentel from Cornell University and Professor Henry Kendall from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, demonstrates that much of the land currently being used for crop production is on the verge of infertility as a result of topsoil loss.14 According to them, a quarter of all arable land must lay fallow to prevent continued loss. Because the production of plant-based foods requires a fraction of the arable land that producing meat, eggs, and dairy products requires, a move towards a vegan diet will greatly reduce the strain we are putting on our vulnerable topsoil. Although the human population is increasing by a mind-boggling 250,000 people each day, the amount of arable land is shrinking.15 At present, dividing the arable land in the world equally among the population gives each person 2/3 of an acre on which to subsist. In 40 years, this number is expected to drop to 1/3 of an acre.16 According to a recent article in The Guardian, "[t]he consensus emerging among scientists is that it will be almost impossible to feed future generations the typical western diet eaten without destroying the environment."17 Animal agriculture also causes substantially more air and water pollution than plant-based agriculture. Much of the developing world does not have enough clean water to meet its agricultural needs. The world's hungry cannot afford to lose any more clean water, either by wasting it on meat or polluting it. Eating meat, dairy products, and eggs contributes to the loss of our already-diminishing supply of arable land and the pollution of clean water. Eating a vegan diet ensures that these valuable resources will be preserved for future generations. Read more. 13 Marlow Vesterby and Kenneth Krupa, "Major Uses of Land in the United States, 1997," U.S. Department of Agriculture Statistical Bulletin, Aug. 2001. 14 Erik Marcus, Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating, McBooks Press: Ithica, N.Y., 1998, p. 158. 15 United Nations Environment Programme, New York Office, "Key Facts on Population and Consumption," 1996. 16 David Pimentel, C Harvey, P Resosudarmo, et al. 17 John Vidal, "Meat-Eaters Soak Up the World's Water," Guardian Unlimited, 23 Aug. 2004. |
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