Our Food Our Planet

(an excerpt from the Healthy School Lunch Action Guide)

How the Foods You Eat Impact the Rest of the World

Many serious environmental issues-desertification, fresh water availability, ocean pollution, biological diversity, rainforest destruction, topsoil erosion and climate change are directly and severely impacted by the Western world's current animal-based diet with its intensive agriculture. The following information is excerpted from the EarthSave publication Our Food, Our World.

In the last ten years, extensive medical studies have reported that Westerners are eating a diet containing excessive amounts of protein, saturated fat, cholesterol, pesticides and not enough fiber. This diet is creating spiraling medical costs, killing people and destroying the environment. And it is largely responsible for the disappearance of small family farms and the growth of corporate agribusiness.

Environmentally, the export of Western eating habits is similar to the export of toxic chemicals and toxic wastes. With reference to health and medical costs, the effects of this diet are more serious than the effects of cigarettes.

If developed nations were to move towards a more sustainable plant-based diet, and if developing nations recognized the resource they have in their predominantly plant-based diets, this would further development of ecologically-sound agriculture. All nations and regions must look to growing their food locally, honoring the knowledge and value of the men and women who farm. These measures will provide food security, environmentally- sound agriculture, healthy food and rural development.

Livestock -- cattle, poultry, goats, sheep-totaling 15
billion worldwide now out number people 3 to
l.(1)Livestock graze on half of the world's landmass.2

To feed the world's current population, the
American-style diet would require 2-1/2 times as much
grain as the world's farmers produce for all purposes.3

33% of the world's grain and 70% of the United States'
grain are fed to livestock.4

Cattle production is the primary contributing factor in all
causes of desertification.5

Cattle ranching has destroyed more rainforest than any
other activity in Central America.6

Every steak has the same global warning effect as a
25-mile drive in a typical American car.7

Livestock production uses excessive quantities of water,
accounting for more than half of all the water consumed
for all purposes in the U.S.A. 8

Livestock production is the largest polluter of water in
the United States, topping all other industries that
produce toxic wastes.9

I 85% of U.S. topsoil is lost from cropland, pasture,
rangeland and forest land due to raising livestock. 10

The majority of chemical herbicides in the United States
are used on livestock feed grains.11

Meat, poultry and dairy products are the major source of
pesticide residues in the Western diet.12

90% of protein, 99% of carbohydrates and 100% of fiber
are wasted by cycling grain through livestock. 13

Most Americans eat 4 to 6 times the amount of protein
required for good health. This extra protein is wasted
and can cause disease.

Resource Consumption

Societies observing plant-based diets require far less resources to feed their populations. With few exceptions, land that is growing grain for livestock can be growing grain for humans.

The prevailing diet among Chinese people is high in plant foods and low in meat, poultry and dairy products. Studies of the Chinese population show a remarkably low incidence of the diet-related diseases prevalent among Western cultures. However, when these people migrate to Western nations and adopt the high-fat, high-protein, low-fiber diet of Westerners, they incur the same incidence of diet-related diseases of affluence as Westerners: heart attacks, strokes, arthritis, breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, asthma, gallstones, impotence and obesity.

Annual per Person Grain Use and Consumption of Livestock Products in Selected Countries, 1990

Country Grain Beef Pork Poultry Mutton Milks Cheese Eggs

Use (lbs) (lbs) (lbs)

U.S. 1,780 93 62 97 2 597 26 35

Italy 880 35 44 42 2 401 26 26

China 660 2 2 46 7 2 9 15

India 440 ---- .04 0.4 02 68 ----- 29

Data is rounded to nearest 10 pounds, as the purpose here is to contrast the wide variation in consumption of livestock products associated with different levels of grain use.

Total consumption including that used to produce, cheese, yogurt and ice cream.

Source: U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. FAO Production Yearbook 1990 (Rome: 1991). Information compiled and presented in kilograms in State of the World, A Wordwatch Institute Report on Progress Toward a Sustainable Society., Lester Brown et 11., (New York and London: W.W. Notion & Company, 1994), 191. Reprinted with permission from Worldwatch Institute.

Your Actions Make a Difference

Reduce the amount of animal products you eat.

Buy organically grown food.

Educate others.

Ask your state and federal government to:
- Provide subsidies to low-input sustainable agriculture.
- Require that all food be grown with healthy and
environmentally-sound methods.
- Require that all animals that are bred for consumption be raised
and slaughtered in healthy5 humane, sanitary and
environmentally-sound ways.

Support nutritional education that reflects current nutritional
Knowledge and promotes health through a predominantly
plant-based diet.

Be persistent. The cumulative effects of your actions will make a
difference.

"When cattle ranchers clear rain forests to raise beef to sell to fast-food chains that make hamburgers to sell to Americans who have the highest rate of heart disease in the world...We can say easily that business is no longer developing the World. We have become its predator."

Paul Hawken, author. The Ecology of Commerce

More From Our Action Guide
[ Family Size Recipies ] [ Institutional Recipies ] [ Nutritional Facts ] [ Heroes for Health ] [ Now What Do I Eat ] [ 10 Reasons ] [ Our Food Our Planet ] [ Learning Begins ]

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