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Universal Message of Lord Mahāvīra
Meat and the Environment
Killing animals for food, fur, leather, ivory, cosmetics and other industrial uses is one of the most environmentally destructive practices taking place on the earth today. The meat industry is linked to deforestation, desertification, water pollution, water shortages, air pollution and soil erosion. Neal D. Barnard, President of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (U.S.A.) says, “If you are a meat eater, you are contributing to the destruction of the environment, whether you know it or not.”' Jeremy Rifkin rightly warned in 1992, “Today, millions of Americans, Europeans, and Japanese are consuming countless hamburgers, steaks and roasts, oblivious to the impact their dietary habits are having on the biosphere and the very survivability of life on earth. Every pound of grain-fed flesh is secured at the expense of a burned forest, a barren field, a driedup river, and the release of millions of tons of carbon-dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane into the skies," * About 40 percent of the land in the western United States is used for grazing beef cattle. About half of the world's grain is consumed by animals that are later slaughtered for meat. It takes sixteen pounds of grain and soybeans to produce one pound of beef. About 20 vegetarians can be fed on the land that it takes to feed one meat eater.
Reducing or eliminating meat consumption would have substantial positive effects on environment. Fewer trees would be cut, less soil would be eroded, and desertification would be substantially reduced. Further, eliminating meat eating would release a vast quantity of food grain for human consumption, thus helping solve the world food problem. And on an ethical level,
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