some Interesting facts and inconvenient truth a) Humans use nearly one-third of the ice free land area of the planet just for livestock production b) Half the land area in US is used for livestock production c) The world’s 1.2 billion heads of cattle consume the equivalent of 8.7 billion human beings d) It requires 60 gallons of water to grow one pound of potatoes. It requires 12,000 gallons of water to grow one pound of beef. And, it requires 24,000 gallons of water to grow on pound of grass-fed beef. e) Humans kill around 60 billion land animals for food each year (Holocaust of unimaginable proportions each year) f) Humans consume over 150 million tons of seafood each year g) Just over one fourth of humanity is responsible for most of the consumption of animal foods. h) It requires 100 Joules of embedded plant based energy to produce less than 4 j=Joules worth of animal foods such as eggs, dairy and meat, for human consumption. i) The average human being is consuming more energy in food than in fuel and shelter combined, when we take into account the embedded plant-based energy input to the animal agriculture systems. j) The energy required for a vegan diet is one-fourth the energy required for average world diet and one-seventh the energy required for the affluent diet. Sri Aurobindo (20th Century Indian Philosopher): “humanity’s true moral test, its fundamental test , consist of its attitude those who are at its mercy – animals. And in this respect, humankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it.” Even Mr. Al Gore, for US Vice president and Nobel Laureate, champion of environmental causes, who is keenly aware of the above facts, nevertheless, in an interview with Larry King on CNN, Mr. Gore went on to publicly that he continues to eat meat because he “likes the taste.” Such advocacy of vegan diet invites some very vocal detractors. Dr. Rajenda Pachauri, the head of UN IPCC was also lambasted in the press for similar reasons, for promoting a vegetarian diet, as being willing to crash the economy by his ideals. This very same argument, that change will take away job and crash the economy, is used to fight the conservation of energy infrastructure from coal, oil, gas and nuclear to solar and wind as well. It is like excessive GHG emitter claiming that they are doing good by promoting sale of gas masks and creating many healthcare related jobs. Prof Colin Campbell of Cornell university says that if everyone in America switched to whole foods, plant based vegan diet, the health care costsin America would reduce by 70-80% as incidences of chronic disease such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer diminish. But, since health care is a $2.5 trillion a year industry in America today, think of how many health-related jobs that would be eliminated. So the inconvenient truth is that while all efforts to grow GDP will be encouraged, efforts for social justice and environmental sustainability are being (and will be resisted) by economic and ideological vested interests (I include such forces in all of us and not some third person); this may perhaps continue till we face extinction or the providence is compassionate towards and offers us some realistic and acceptable solutions. As somebody once said the Nazi’s tried to terminate “lesser humans” we human are systematically decimating “lesser species.” ---
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 03:38:01 +0000
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