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Go Veggie to save the planet is a popular veggie slogan: does what you eat really matter to our planet?

flag	asked Jan 14 at 23:49 rachel mojave 410●6

Flower · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-22 09:29:47Z UTC

With the industrialization of India and China and the concomitant desire of their respective populations wanting to live what has become to be known globally as The American Dream, our planet just does not have the resources available to support the Western style of living for every person on the planet. It would take four Earths to support such rates of consumption, and we only have this one little blue world!

One of the big changes in diet for those who are climbing up several rungs of the socio-economic ladder is to greatly increase the amount of meat that is consumed. It takes several pounds of grain to make one pound of meat. In other words, that sixteen ounce steak on your plate required the cow to eat several pounds of vegetable matter to make that one steak. Nutrient density differences between meat and grains aside, our planet just cannot continue to support the sustained level of consumption that is growing exponentially.

We either need more Earths to harvest resources from, or we need to go back to simpler ways of living. Start with a vegetable garden of your own, even if it is in a container on a balcony of a high-rise. Switch up the proportions on the dinner plate. Instead of the piece of meat taking up most of the space, make the vegetables be the food that takes up most of the space. It will look a bit odd at first, but your Earth and your body will be the better for it!

Jolly Green Giant · Answer 2 · 2010-01-20 10:07:06Z UTC

Deforestation in Brazil for cattle ranching has been reduced by a great degree since the middle of the last decade. They still contribute the most total area of deforestation every year but they have taken sharp declines in their own rates of deforestation by aggressively pursuing limiting deforestation in an effort to combat environmental issues. These issues include the effects of carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouses effects that are exacerbated by deforestation.

Politics have played a large role in the positive turnaround in Brazil. World leaders as well as local leaders have finally acknowledged the effects of ignoring environmental consequences and are taking significant steps to reduce the increasingly harmful effects humans have had on the environment since the industrial revolution.

Romaine Alisya · Answer 3 · 2010-01-19 09:49:40Z UTC

The difference between eating meat versus eating plant life for our environment is staggering. Just the very process of raising livestock for meat creates stress on the land.

Although land is used in the growing of crops, it does not suffer the degradation that occurs with animals. Animals require grains to feed on, which in turn uses up resources that could have been used for people.

Animals also give off a surprising amount of carbon dioxide, but plants consume carbon dioxide and are a more natural fit into the carbon cycle of the planet.

judith · Answer 4 · 2010-01-19 09:52:21Z UTC

Actually it does. If you eat organic food as much as you can you will reduce the harmful effects to the environment. When you buy commercially produced foods you are buying foods that have been processed and preserved and that have been grown with harmful pesticides and chemicals.

Organic foods are not grown with these chemicals that are harmful to the soil and the processing done to them to make them ready for Consumption is a lot less than the Commercial foods. It saves the environment quite a bit of pollution. If you can grow a few Veggies in your yard. You can even plant things like Pepper and Tomato Plants in large pots in your yard if you don't have a lot of room. You will help the environment.

“Go Veggie” - does what you eat really matter to our planet?

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