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14. How our Diet affects the Environment
14. - How our Diet affects the Environment
We don't think anyone should tell us what to eat - that's too personal. But we do think you should know some facts about how your diet affects the environment.
Excerpts from Environmental News Recycling department of IBM, Raleigh, NC October 20, 1998
Believe it or not, cows may be contributing to the greenhouse effect. According to one estimate, the world's 1.3 billion cows annually produce nearly 100 million tons of methane - a powerful greenhouse gas that, molecule for molecule, traps 25 times as much solar heat as CO2.
Comparing Carbon Foodprints (t CO2e)
Shrink That Footprint
3.3
Meat Lover
2.5
Average
1.9
1.5
No Beef Vegetarian Vegan
Livestock (Cattle, Calves, Hogs, Pigs etc.) production accounts for more than half of all the water consumed (for all purposes) in the USA
A third of the surface of North America is devoted to grazing. Half of American croplands grow livestock feed (mostly for cattle) for meat and dairy products.
220 million acres of land in the USA have been deforested for livestock production.
25 million acres (an area the size of Austria) in Brazil, and half the forests in Central America, have been cleared for beef production.
THE BOOK OF COMPASSION
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