Earth Day is right around the corner, and many of us will be
thinking about what we can do to curb our environmental impact. Taking shorter showers,
installing compact fluorescent light bulbs, reusing and recycling are all great
ways to take individual action. But there's another way we can all do our part
and it starts with a knife and a fork -- reduce our meat consumption.
Last month, the United Nations celebrated World Water Day
with the goal of recognizing global water and food scarcity issues and
educating people about ways we can take personal responsibility. According to
the U.N., it takes 10 times more water to produce beef than wheat.
"Producing feed crops for livestock, slaughtering and
the processing of meat, milk and other dairy products ... require large
quantities of water," it said. "This makes the water footprint of
animal products particularly important."
The U.N.'s advice? Eat less or no meat.
An estimated 10 billion land animals are factory farmed and
slaughtered every year for food in the U.S. In addition to being a huge water
user, animal agriculture is also one of the largest contributors to climate
change.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations, animal agriculture is responsible for nearly one-fifth of all
human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.
Of course, industrial animal agribusiness has huge
implications on the animals themselves.
By and large, the meat, eggs and dairy produced in the U.S.
come from stock packed inside concentrated animal feeding operations, where
they're often crammed in cages to so tightly they're unable to move.
Tens of millions of mother pigs, for example, are confined
in individual cages barely larger than their own bodies, preventing them from
turning around for months on end.
Factory farmed animals' lives are wrought with suffering and
bear no resemblance to the way most of us envision life on Old MacDonald's
farm.
Our meat-centric diet has had dire consequences for our
health, too. Study after study shows that eating meat, eggs and dairy is
consistently linked to heart disease, cancer, stroke and a host of other
chronic illnesses that are plaguing our society.
To the contrary, a diet rich in fruits and vegetables,
legumes, nuts and whole grains leads to lower rates of obesity, blood pressure
and cholesterol levels.
For further proof, look no further than former President
Bill Clinton, who went on a mostly vegan diet after undergoing quadruple bypass
surgery.
"I lost 24 pounds and I got back to basically what I
weighed in high school. ... I didn't dream this would happen," he told
CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
By choosing meat-, egg- and dairy-free options, even by just
a few meals a week, we can improve our health, decrease our environmental
footprint and help prevent a tremendous amount of animal suffering.
For these reasons, a group of Oakland residents -- including
Mayor Jean Quan, Councilwoman Nancy Nadel, Alameda County Supervisors Keith
Carson and Wilma Chan, and Rep. Barbara Lee are all pledging to be vegetarian
for Oakland Veg Week, April 15-21.
As a community, we can make a difference for our health,
animals and the environment every time we sit down to eat.
Kristie Middleton lives
in Adam's Point and is a coordinator of Oakland Veg Week. For more information,
visit www.OaklandVeg.com
By Kristie Middleton
My Word, Oakland Tribune
Copyright 2011, Bay Area News Group
My Word, Oakland Tribune
Copyright 2011, Bay Area News Group
Posted: 04/02/2012 04:00:00 PM PDT
