Preach it Pandu!

Pandu das, who works professionally as an Environmental Inspector, shared the following on Pariprashnena.com:

I just composed the following e-mail in response to a "hot dog sale," which I intend to send to my office of about 200 people during lunchtime today:

Considering that we are an agency meant to protect the environment and that meat production causes tremendous environmental degradation and resource consumption, it is very disappointing to see year after year that not only is meat-eating promoted at the DEP but there are not even vegetarian equivalents offered.

Presently there is a substantial interest in biofuels production, but the conflict over land resources has been a significant factor bringing a dramatic rise in food prices, which in conjunction with rising fuel prices, increases the hardship felt by the poor. It has long been known that a vegetarian diet requires only 10% of agricultural land needed to produce food for the average American diet. Instead of growing corn to fatten cows for slaughter, this corn could be used to produce abundant ethanol without added resource conflicts.

Also relevant in regard to energy is the fact that it takes 18 times the petroleum to produce beef compared to producing most food grains. This can be analyzed various ways, but one is to say that if 10% of the American people quit eating meat (currently vegetarians represent about 2% of the American population) the United States would not need to import oil. One can imagine how that might affect world politics.

Climate change has been getting a lot of attention in the past few years. In 2006 the United Nations sponsored a report (Livestocks’ Long Shadow – “LLS”) that identified agriculture as a greater producer of atmospheric greenhouse gases than transportation. In regard to atmospheric impacts, the report also stated that the livestock sector emits 65% of atmospheric nitrous oxide and 64% of anthropogenic ammonia emissions, both significant contributors to acid rain and the acidification of ecosystems.

Although flooding in the Midwest is presently an issue, water shortages are more common and have a much broader impact. To feed a vegetarian for one day requires 1,200 gallons of water, whereas the average American diet requires 4,000 gallons per day. The math shows an annual savings of about 1 million gallons of water for each person who quits eating meat. Water shortages are expected to become more acute as the Ogallala Aquifer, which underlies several states in the Midwest and is not being replenished, is expected to become dry in 25 years at current rates of consumption. Other statements in LLS related to meat production and water include the facts that livestock are responsible for an estimated 55 percent of erosion and sediment, 37 percent of pesticide use, 50 percent of antibiotic use, and a third of the loads of nitrogen and phosphorus into freshwater resources.

I realize that people’s diets are a sensitive topic of discussion and that some may see this as inappropriate for the workplace, but I since I learned of these issues sixteen years ago, my environmental ethics have required that I abstain from eating meat and to help teach these facts to others. I have been surprised to discover that not only have other Department employees been mostly unresponsive to these issues, but also that meat-eating is so prominent here that I have been practically excluded from every Department social function, including the annual awards banquet. Now that these facts have begun to appear in the popular media, perhaps the response will change. I had some recent e-mail exchanges with a SAC representative about this hot dog sale in which it was suggested that I sponsor a vegetarian hot dog alternative, but when I stipulated that my donation should not give profit to support a meat oriented picnic, the discussion stopped. Therefore as an alternative I am offering this brief summary of the environmental impacts of meat production that could be greatly alleviated if we would consistently make vegetarian food choices. The abuse and suffering of farmed animals, 10 billion of which are slaughtered each year in the USA, is also an issue that warrants at least a mention, although it is mostly outside the scope of this e-mail. Please forgive me for any disruption, but also please consider the ways our diets affect all of us. Thank you.