How to Allieviate the Water Crisis? Become Vegan!
As a child I was raised as a lacto-ovo vegetarian. Although, I have always been taught eating meat was unhealthy and reduced longevity, I decided to experiment in college. Unlike the common saying, everything does NOT taste like chicken. I have found there are no soy or vegetarian substitutes that even come close to mango habanero chicken wings or freshly grilled salmon. However, I have experienced some consequences of eating meat such as reduced mental clarity, weight gain, and I recently have also discovered it has increased my water footprint on the enviornment.
According to National Geographic's website, it takes 1,799 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, so a quarter pound hamburger uses about 630 gallons to make. At the same time, one pound of wheat takes only 132 gallons, which translates to 11 gallons of water for a slice of bread. Fruits, vegetables, and grains use much less water to produce as compared to meat and dairy products. Hence, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the United Nations intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and other experts have suggested people should reduce their meat and dairy consumption. This will help curb fuel fossil use, reduce water consumption, increase resource sustainability, and help save the environment.
Do you live to eat or do you eat to live? Would you be willing to consider giving up meat and dairy to allieviate the water crisis? I'm not sure if I am willing to give it all up, but would you be willing to consider at least one meat-free day a week to help save the enviornment? Have you recently become vegetarian or vegan? If so, do you have any suggestions or good recipes?
Learn more about how much water it takes for the products and food you use at: http://environment.
References:
While, I have not become vegan, I am vegetarian most days and have reduced meat consumption to once or twice a week at most. I am considering eating meat once a month or less. I like using Food Network and Whole Foods for finding good vegetarian and vegan recipes.
ReplyDeleteI eat to live. Health is something I highly value, so I cherish my own and this planet's health. I have not eaten beef since the mad cow disease occurred a decade ago. I have also recently decided the become vegetarian again after Danny Vierra's (Modern Manna) testimony on avoiding meat and dairy products two weekends ago.
ReplyDeleteBased on the link that is posted above, beef and milk combined used up nearly 2700 gallons of water. If we, Americans, are to refrain from eating beef, the number of cows would be minimized. Then the dairy products would also be reduced. In result, we would be saving 2700 gallons of water.
That is not necessary a bad thing - both beef and milk is known to cause cancer due to hormones injected in cows. Hormones are injected into the cows in order to be able to expand the beef and dairy products to meet the customers' demand. Unfortunately, that also renders the food unsafe to eat.
Granted that meat and dairy products taste so good that we tend to get the habit of savoring the flavor, but is that worth the trouble of ignoring our and earth's health? I'm guilty of savoring meat and ice cream, however I always find a way to replace them with alternative diet choices or appreciate the absence of.
Finding substitute for meat and animal products is not necessary difficult. Appreciating the difference is the key. For instance, rather than starting the morning with turkey bacons and eggs with a toast on the side, one can simply eat a bowl of assorted and colorful fruits.
Ultimately, being vegetarian is not about replacing meat with healthier choices of minerals. It is about appreciating the different way of eating foods for health's sake. So, for the sake of our health and betterment of environment, be a vegetarian!
Sources:
http://modernmanna.org
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/04/news/04iht-beef.2.t.html
http://www.all-creatures.org/health/howmilkanddairy.html
Thank you, Boyd G., for your thoughtful response.
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