Diet for a Wealthier, More-Crowded Planet
This article from the Christian Science Monitor points out how growing affluence in other areas of the world is raising the demand for meat in people's diets. This diverts more grain for livestock, raising prices and leaving less for the poor. If everyone ate meat as much as Americans do, well...everyone can't. Our average diet is simply unsustainable.
A couple of years ago I made it a personal goal to eat meat only a few days of the week. I haven't succeeded yet, but I'm definitely going to try harder!
Some snippets from the article:
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One-third of the world’s arable land grows food for livestock, and about 36 percent of world grain becomes animal feed. The problem, say experts, is the inefficiency of converting grain to meat. A pound of beef takes 7 pounds of feed to produce. For pork, the ratio is 1 to 3; and for chicken, 1 to 2. (Cold-blooded fish, which don’t need energy to maintain body temperature, are farmed more efficiently.)
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The average American eats about 275 pounds of meat per year, says the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Each American, in effect, consumes 1,765 pounds of grain yearly, says Lester Brown, author of “Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization.” Only 220 pounds of that is consumed directly in foodstuffs like bread, pasta, and breakfast cereal. The rest is through animal products.
If everyone consumed grain at this rate, says Mr. Brown, today’s 2 billion-ton world grain harvest would feed only 2.5 billion people – two-fifths of the world population. If the world ate the way Italians do – 882 pounds of grain per person yearly – we’d feed 5 billion people. And if we all ate the way largely vegetarian India does (11-1/2 pounds of meat per person yearly, or 440 pounds of grain), our grain supply could feed 10 billion.
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“There’s no need for hunger in the world,” says Polly Walker, MD, associate director of the Center for a Livable Future at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Md. “There’s an equity issue here that should give us pause.”Labels: Discipleship
While Cavanaugh did me good to read him, a few thoughts on India. If they would eat their cows instead of worship them, they could begin to solve the hunger problem.
Posted by
Jacob |
Sunday, July 20, 2008 9:09:00 PM
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