Leather from charity shops...

Actually veganism/vegetarianism has MANY MORE environmental benefits...than environmental downfalls...

I can list most, if not all of them, if you want me to.

 

1. Livestock requires over half of the water that is used in the United States, crops use significantly less.

2. 25 gallons of water is required to produce a pound of wheat, while 2,500 gallons is required to produce a pound of beef.

3. If every human ate a meat-centered diet, it is possible, with the world’s known oil reserves, it would only last 13 years, while, if every human no longer ate meat at all, our oil reserves could last up to 260 years.

4. Cow manure is the number one producer of methane which is a greenhouse gas. More cows = more menure = high levels of methane in the atmosphere.

5. 100 million more people could be fed if Americans, alone, decreased their meat intake by 10%.

6. 1.3 billion people could be fed with the grains and soy that is fed to livestock.

7. 90 percent of protein is wasted by cycling grain through livestock.

8. 99 percent of carbohydrate is wasted by cycling grain through livestock.

9. 100 percent of dietary fibre is wasted by cycling grain through livestock.

10. 20,000 pounds of potatoes can be grown on 1 acre of land, while only 165 pounds of beef can be produced on the same amount of land.

11. 4,000,000 acres (size of Connecticut) of U.S. cropland is lost each year due to soil erosion. 85 percent of this topsoil loss is directly associated with livestock raising.

12. 260,000,000 acres of U.S. forest have been cleared to create cropland to produce a meat-centred diet.

13. Amount of trees spared per year by each individual who switches to a pure vegetarian diet: 1 acre.

14. 33 percent of raw materials is consumed in the U.S. for all purposes presently consumed to produce current meat-centred diet, while 2 percent of raw materials is consumed in U.S. for all purposes needed to produce fully vegetarian diet.

NEED MORE?

Can I see some data for that? I'm a numbers kind of girl

 

holy crumbs... all that?

and here I thought it took less time & energy to make a carrot than a cow, and I'd be healthier for it.

WOW!!!
love,
mom

 

That's why sustainable farming is used nowadays. Yes, times they are a changin'...we made mistakes in the past and the agricultural industry is finally getting the clue that if they damage the soil now, they won't make any money in the future. Not only that, but animal grazing is more damaging to the environment because livestock selectively eats grass. Which means, they won't eat any grass taller than a certain height...this means you only get one kind of grass in the area...which means that these grasses will use up certain nutrients.

You disrupt ecosystems when you graze livestock too...

That's what crop rotation is for. Soybeans return nutrients in the soil...and then having the plot of land remain fallow retains those nutrients to then grow corn. What you aren't understanding is that MOST corn is used to feed animals...NOT HUMANS. Cut out the middle man and just feed the corn to us...and not grow so much specifically for cattle.

From an anthopocentric point of view...it is more damaging to our health to get cow manure in our water sources than soil erosion. And how do you expect to feed those livestock? As I said previously, MORE grains are fed to cattle than humans.

I think you're taking this a little too far. So being a vegetarian means you're supporting war? Yeah, not so sure about that.

You still haven't given me any statistics here.

Yeah people are starving to death...that means we need to step up and help them...giving them grains to eat...not meat...you get more nutrition from grains. I said that in my list...

Double talk

You don't know that...most of the reason Africa is the way it is is because of political unrest. Europeans came in...colonized it...separated Africa into countries not paying any mind to the tribes involved. It had nothing to do with agriculture. Look it up.

Learn about what? All I have heard was about opinions. Let me see some facts and figures...then we'll talk.

 

Oh, yeah, and Cowboy...I gave you statistics for most of the arguments that you tried to make...I refuted them in statistics that I posted BEFORE you tried to disregard all of my statistics. Try reading stuff before you post a response.

 

"lies, damn lies and statistics." Leonardo da Vinci

i don't have the statistics but i do know that aquifers accross the great plain of north america are being dried up both by cattle raising and farming agriculture.

what needs to happen is the great plains needs to be restored to its natural habitat and plant life which means letting it go wild and reintroducing the bison herds

bison or american buffalo has many unique qualities which make it most suitable and symbiotic for existence on the plains

1. a bison has camel-like needs for water and is able to satisfy its water needs from the grasses it eats. if you have ever seen cattle, they congregate along water as they have excessive needs

2. bison because they don't have excessive needs for water, are more prone to roam and don't chew to the ground as do cattle which results in non-destructive grazing

4. the bison's hoofprint is not flat like cattle but chisel-like and therefore makes indentations in the earth so that when it rains, the rain is absorbed into the earth... cattle hoofprints flatten and create run-off and hence erosion

5. in the process know as rutting, a contest between males for breeding rights, the losing male is often left with crippling injuries and it is these injured males that most often go to market to satisfy consumption for bison meat

we as vegans/vegetarians/fruit eating vegetarians (i just found out that its ok for vegetarians to eat fruit) should encourage the introduction of bison herds into the great plains. while it may not be our choice to eat bison flesh, encouraging others to eat bison is a healthy environmental choice that we should encourage for those who do eat meat.

 

Of course, killing an animal is okay if it's because of an oil spill, coal mining, etc. I've foudn that 99.9% of vegetarians are vegetarians as far as convienence will let them be.

 

Lol. Clearly you've never starved. YOU NEED FAT and other high calorie components. While grain dose have some, it doesn't have nearly as much as say, meat or nuts. Nuts aren't efficient/cost-effective to farm, so it's meat. You need a balanced diet, and the most cost effective way is to eat both meet and veggies. Sorry to burst your high-and-mighty bubble.

 

Call it a hunch, but I seriously doubt you know or have met EVERY single vegetarian on this planet to which you could have derived that "99.9%" statistic.

 

Thanks, captain obvious.
What's your point? I bet most of you depend on plastic items (that means PETROL). Actually, all of you. Because you've posted on an internet board.

 

RE: a) The animal is already dead, and refusing to wear it won't bring the animal back to life.

That's why I eat meat and wear leather.

 

My point is that you shouldn't pull statistics out of thin air in order to make your point.

Another fine example of making up information as you go along. Exactly how much fat do you think the human body requires? What gave you the idea that plants don't contain enough fat to meet our requirements? Further, why would you think that people need the excessive fat content of meat?

 

Actually I've found most vegetarians are vegetarians as far as their circumstance will let them be. Believe it or not, vegetarians actually do care about the cause with a sincere passion. And they do the best they can, which is the real point here. For every vegetarian out there, less animals are being consumed (or at least there is less demand for meat)- and that is a good thing. Period.

~Layla

 

i hope everyone knows that computers up to 10% are made from the carcasses of dead animals

 

Exactly. THey are vegetarians as long as it's convenient.

 

In order to make plastic, you need petroleum. Two byproducts of petroleum are oil spills (affects marine life) and air pollution (commom sense). If you really cared about animals, you'd live wearing only natural fibers (that you grew and refined yourself, I might add) and not drive a car.

 

Yes, we need fat, but have you looked around lately? Most people are TOO FAT! I don't know one vegetarian that is obese...

Not only that, but Americans consume way too much protein 45% too much, in fact. This is because MOST Americans depend on meat for too much of their diets.

High and mighty? What is that supposed to be? A slap in the face? Vegetarianism is much lighter on Mother Nature than eating meat...check your facts...

 

What?

I don't know any vegetarians that are vegetarians because it's convenient...LOL you're being totally illogical.

 

I hope everyone knows that 89% of the cows in the US are infected with Bovine Leukemia Virus (BLV), and studies have shown the BLV can infect the cells of other animals (including humans). It's also been shown in a study conducted by researchers at UC Berkeley that 74% of their test subjects had already been exposed to the BLV. It should also be noted that dairy states with high leukemia herds have statistically higher incidences of human leukemia cases than the national average.

Yup, this I hope EVERYONE knows.