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VEGETARIANISM IN ENVIRONMENTAL PRESERVATION
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inefficient in terms of energy requirements. In Table 2 the food calories produced per calorie of fossil fuel energy input in several plants and animal foods is given.
Looking at Table 2, it is clear that plant food are more energy efficient than the animal food. Any country following the agriculture based food energy policy will be much more successful than animal food based food energy resource.
Soil Erosion
Soil Erosion is becoming a serious problem day by day because of the intensive artificial fertilizers used which has resulted in the loss of productivity of soil. Soil erosion results from the grazing by the cattles which is a consequence of livestock agriculture. The grazing land is required for the cattle-feeding which leads to desertation. Grazing affects the land both by pulverizing the soil through the trampling of cattle back and forth through the fields and by actually removing the vegetation when the cattle eat the plants. Trampling is much more severe and is in fact a greater problem than plant eating. Trampling compacts and grinds the soil into tiny particles. When the soil becomes granular, it grows more susceptible to both water and wind erosion. Water cannot infiltrate the soil and thus rainfall runs off the surface. The soil underneath, dries out and flood becomes more likely. Once the vegetation is completely removed from the soil, the process of soil erosion becomes more rapid. Thus it is evident that the erosive effect of livestock agriculture is much greater than the plant food agriculture. In the United States almost all the soil erosion has been attributed to livestock agriculture. A pure vegetarian economy even in the
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