VEGETARIANISM ,THE ENVIRONMENT, AND WORLD HUNGER

The following are some quotes from an article found at www.robinrobertson.com/environment.htm , the website of Robin Robertson, the author of 14 vegan and vegetarian cookbooks, a 25-year veteran restaurant chef, caterer, columnist, cooking teacher, and food writer. She writes "The Global Vegan" column for VegNews Magazine. This is a good web site for some great recipes including Spicy Spinach-Peanut Crostini and Three-Nut Butter Cookies.

GO VEGETARIAN TO SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT

"The rain forests are actually being destroyed to create grazing land for beef cattle so a continuous supply of inexpensive meat will flow into the country for our fast-food restaurants. It is estimated that at the present rate, many of the rain forests will be gone in 30 years , a natural resource on which we rely for everything from life-saving medicines to the very air we breathe."

".....farming for meat production creates a huge amount of pollution and waste, while inefficiently consuming an inordinate amount of energy and resources for only a small return.
Livestock produces 7 trillion tons of manure every year, and it all finds its way into our water systems."

Of toxic chemical residues found in food consumed by Americans, less than 10% comes from fruit, vegetables, and grain. Over 90% comes from animal products.

"60 million pounds of antibiotics per year are fed to livestock; the feed given to livestock is sprayed with extra pesticides."

"When you eat meat, you take in the livestock antibiotics, which diminishes the effectiveness of the antibiotics used to treat human illness."

"When you eat meat, you take in growth hormones. Statistics show that prior to the turn of the century, American girls reached puberty on the average of age 17; today, menarche is appearing in girls as young as 8........................."

"It takes 16 pounds of grain and 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat, yet 16 people could be fed on the grain it takes to feed one person that pound of meat."

"The livestock population of the U.S. consumes enough grain and soybeans to feed over five times its human population."

"Every two seconds a human child starves to death."

"90% of all corn grown in the U.S. goes to livestock; 80% of all grains and beans go to feed these animals."

"Food grown directly for human consumption utilizes 60 million acres;1.2 billion acres are used to grow what is fed to livestock."