| Don't think eating meat has anything to do with the | | | | So, for 37,000 cows the farmers dump 25 tons of |
| environment? Think again. According to The Union of | | | | corn each hour. The farmers have to use 1.2 gallons |
| Concerned Scientists, the two most important ways | | | | of oil for the fertilizer that is needed for each bushel |
| we can save our environment are to drive fuel | | | | of corn. |
| efficient automobiles and not eat any beef. | | | | Now, if you have ever had a science class that |
| You may be wondering, "What does the lack of beef | | | | teaches you about the food chain, then you know |
| in our diet have to do with saving the environment?" | | | | that the cattle are not merely consuming corn, but |
| Do you drink and use water on a regular basis? Think | | | | they are consuming everything that goes into that |
| about this - 2,500 to 5,000 gallons of water will be | | | | corn. You also know, then, that animals produce |
| saved for every pound of beef that you do not eat. | | | | waste and their waste contains stuff that they have |
| Now you may be thinking "What does that have to | | | | eaten. So, if cattle eat the corn which had oil in the |
| do with me personally?" In some areas, water is | | | | fertilizer, the oil along with other components will be |
| already a scarce resource. The scary part, though, is | | | | excreted by the cattle. The waste from the cattle is |
| that water is not just a scarce resource for the dry | | | | not treated, nor is it sanitary. Nature can not take |
| areas we know about, it is a scarce resource for | | | | care of the waste fast enough, so it ends up in our |
| everyone. We are running out of water. The | | | | rivers killing off our fish. It also ends up in our drinking |
| underground aquifers are being depleted so fast that | | | | water. |
| they cannot possibly be replenished fast enough. This | | | | Water isn't the only real concern in this equation. |
| means problems for everyone. | | | | Preserving our land is also a concern. When cattle are |
| Think back to the 1980s and 1990s when many of us | | | | young, before they get herded onto the feedlots, |
| began to try to conserve water. One of the things | | | | they graze. They graze on public land. The cattle |
| that many of us did was switch to a low-flow | | | | trample the land which compacts the soil. What is |
| shower head. Switching shower heads saved about | | | | wrong with compacted soil? Compacted soil can not |
| 2,500 gallons of water per year, which is good. If you | | | | absorb rain water. Instead the water from the rain |
| give up eating beef, though, you will save at least | | | | washes away the topsoil. Then deep gullies are |
| double that amount of water. If everyone does, the | | | | formed and streambeds are damaged, creating |
| water impact will be immeasurable. | | | | serious environmental issues. The land here, though, |
| Saving water, though, is not the only way going | | | | isn't the only land you can save. Question: what other |
| vegetarian can help. Cleaner water is another way | | | | land can you save? Answer: Tropical Rain Forests. |
| the environment can benefit from your choice not to | | | | We import a lot of meat. In order to make 257 |
| eat beef. Today's cattle do not graze on grass. | | | | hamburgers one football field of tropical rainforest is |
| Instead about 100,000 of them are herded together | | | | destroyed. |
| on feed lots. The cattle are fed corn at the feedlots. | | | | So think before you eat, are you helping to save the |
| Each cow eats about 25 pounds of corn in one day. | | | | environment or helping to destroy it? |