Veg Out

by Liz Lewis on April 8, 2009 in Sex

The U.S. is one very carnivorous nation. But what if, just for one day, everyone went vegetarian?

Well, according to a Huffington Post article by Kathy Freston, just one meat free day in the U.S. would save nearly 100 billion gallons of water, 1.5 billion pounds of crops, 70 million gallons of gas, and 33 tons of antibiotics.

Wow. All that just for eating pasta instead of pork chops. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. After all, the Livestock’s Long Shadow report, released recently by the UN, has already concluded that the meat industry is responsible for almost 40% more greenhouse gas emissions than all the world’s transportation systems.

These numbers have definitely given me food for thought (sorry). A regular meat eater – I admit it! - it’s got me convinced that I should try and have at least one meat-free day a week.

Image: Steven Fernandez

DISCUSSION

Elly D
April 8th, 2009 at 5:24 AM

Being of a faith that you were obliged under the pain of sin to not eat meat on Fridays, we were being more spiritual than we ever knew. Maybe there ought to be a new calendar on the market that puts the fish emblem back on Fridays and sin wouldn’t be an issue. That works for me.
Elly D.
Global Patriot
April 8th, 2009 at 2:25 PM

There has been much debate lately as to the sustainability of meat consumption as the world population continues to rise. I recently wrote a blog post on the notion that Vegan may be the answer – http://twurl.nl/5gsfae – due to the toll that raising animals for food takes on the environment.

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