Cruel To Animals, Cruel to People, Cruel to the Earth – II
Section II – World Hunger
Meat is not only detrimental to our own health, but it can also mean that a large amount of people are shorted, and are unable to meet even basic dietary needs. In an age of ipods, hybrid cars, and high speed internet, one would think the earth’s inhabitants would be pretty well off as far as basic needs for survival go. But that is far from the case – 840,000,000 people are going hungry. In third world countries, 10% of babies die before they even reach their first birthday. The appalling thing is – there are people more interested in if there ever was life on Mars than they are about keeping much of the fragile life sustained on our own planet. Meat is a luxury, and there is nothing unethical about luxury. But it has gone too far – the current rate of production and consumption of meat is starving the less fortunate. It spreads the gap between social classes even farther; it robs the poor to feed the rich. 80% of starving children reside in countries with food surpluses. Yes, surpluses. But because food animal farmers use the surplus grain to feed their animals (most of which is exported to wealthier counties like the US and Europe), the children go hungry. The US imports 40 million pounds of meat to the U.S. every year from Guatemala, yet 75% of children there under the age of 5 are malnourished.
There is plenty of food to feed the planet, so why are countries like these still dealing with starving children? The answer shows that we, as a species, simply cannot continue to live the way we do. The average human requires 2,000 calories to live each day. If every person on the planet receive 25% percent of those calories came from meat or other animal products, only about 4 billion people could be nourished. If every person on the planet received 0% of their calories from animal products (veganism), over 6 billion people could be nourished. So, still worried about getting your protein? Not to worry. According to the USDA, one acre of land will produce 20 pounds of usable protein if used raising beef. That same acre would produce 356 pounds of protein if the cows were replaced with soybean crops. Or maybe you are worried about getting that full feeling you get after eating meat. Consider this: one acre yields 165 pounds of beef or 20,000 pounds of potatoes. The comparison is astonishing, but even more so is the effect on the land.
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