Not Eating Meat is Neat

Not Eating Meat is Neat

The Great American Meat Out (www.meatout.org) fell this year as always on March 20^th. Coincidentally, the 2004 vernal equinox also marked the one-year anniversary of George Dubya’s escalation of the war on Iraq. Because the day is already full with events planned to remember those the world has lost in the past year due to America’s imperialism, no major events were planned to celebrate the Meat Out here in Pittsburgh. However, one does not need a specific day with a special name to be socially just, so I write today to implore the members of

the Thomas Merton Center to consider taking a day once a year/once a month/once a week (!!) to have their own Meat Out Celebration.

Vegetarians (do not eat meat, fish, or poultry) and vegans (do not eat meat, dairy, fish, poultry, or honey and who do not consume or use any animal-derived products) choose not to eat meat for a variety of reasons: i.e., health, animal rights, environmental, economic. In terms of social awareness, it is both interesting and important to consider the impact the consumption of meat and animal products by the United States has on the rest of the world.

Diet and World Hunger:
(http://www.meatout.org/facts.html#hunger)

8.8 million people (24,000 per day) die from hunger and hunger-related causes every year, 75% of those are children less than 5 years old. Nearly a billion people across the globe suffer from chronic hunger, which can cause stunted growth, poor vision, listlessness, and poor immune defenses. Globally, malnutrition largely results from the disproportionate distribution and waste of food resources. A major reason hunger is such a problem worldwide is the practice of non-sustainable animal agriculture – the farming and consumption of meat.

Role of Animal Agriculture
A meat-based diet (not uncommon in the US, especially with the increasing popularity of the high protein/low carb Atkins diet craze that appears to have convinced many Americans that a pound of bacon for breakfast every day is a healthy way to lose weight) requires 10-20 times as much land as a plant-based diet. Nearly half the world’s grain and soy beans go towards feeding animals raised for human consumption. As reported on the Action for Animals website (http://www.afa-online.org) by Dr. M.E. Ensminger, PhD, approximately 2000 pounds of grain are necessary to feed livestock in order to produce enough meat and other animal by-products to sustain one person for one year. Direct human consumption of the same amount of grain would allow 5 people to be fed for the same amount of time (400 pounds/person/year). A further demonstration of the waste of available resources on the rearing of livestock for human consumption, is a comparison of the amount of water it takes to cultivate non-meat food products versus beef (see Table). On top of that, land that is no longer useful farming of livestock, is no longer fit for cultivation crops. Vegetation, when removed by livestock, removes the most effective barrier to erosion. Erosion further reduces the ability to grow agricultural products.

Industrial Livestock Production Creates Rural Poverty
Industrial farming of livestock for human consumption requires capital investment. Thus "meat factories" often are owned by large corporations but maintained by farmers and laborers who get paid very little for their land and labor, allowing further extraction of wealth from developing countries to fill the pockets of foreign (typically European and American!) corporations.

There Is Hope
According to professors Henry Kendall and David Pimentel, "with the world population at 5.5 billion, food production is adequate to feed 7 billion people a vegetarian diet, with ideal distribution and no grain fed to livestock." (http://www.globalhunger.net/back.html) Thus, given the amount of waste that accompanies livestock agriculture, it is heartening to note that even a 10% drop in US meat consumption would make sufficient food available to feed the world's starving millions.

As summarized on the homepage of the Global Hunger website (http://www.globalhunger.net/), "the solutions to hunger and malnutrition are shockingly simple yet have been difficult to implement because of politics, economics, and habit. The vested interests of transnational agribusiness corporations, combined with habitual over-consumption by the people of affluent nations, maintain an obscene global food system in which some people starve while others die of diseases related to over-consumption."

The majority of the world’s population already consumes a traditional diet that is primarily or even entirely vegetarian-based. Plant-based diets are healthier for both the consumer and the planet, are sustainable and cost-effective (fruits, grain, legumes, and veggies all can be grown in comparatively higher quantities using drastically less acreage; see inset), and require less water and energy to grow. According to Vegfam (http://www.veganvillage.co.uk/vegfam/feed.htm), a 10-acre farm can support 60 people growing soybeans, 24 people growing wheat, 10 people growing corn and only two producing cattle.

Cultivation of soy yields 356 lbs of protein/acre, rice yields 265 lbs of protein/acre, corn yields 211 lbs of protein/acre, and legumes yield 192 lbs of protein/acre. In contrast, milk production yields only 82 lbs of protein/acre, egg production yields only 78 lbs of protein/acre, and meat production yields only 45 lbs of protein/acre with beef being the most wasteful at only 20 lbs of protein/acre.

(http://www.globalhunger.net/back.html)

What Can You Do?
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO; http://www.fao.org) supports many of the changes that can help to end world hunger and protect our global environmental health. However, the influence of the World Bank and the UN’s recent "corporation friendly" attitude has resulted in the FAO not acting as forcefully as it ought in support of the only solutions that will bring an end to global hunger and malnutrition. One course of action is to encourage the active pursuit of solutions by the FAO to end the hunger crisis that will ultimately feed the people and not big corporations. The pressures on the FAO from supporters of corporate agribusiness are very strong – our voices need to be stronger.

But where was I to start? The world is so vast, I shall start with the country I knew best, my own. But my country is so very large. I had better start with my town. But my town, too, is large. I had best start with my street. No, my home. No, my family. Never mind, I shall start with myself. Elie Wiesel

So much of what we do within and the through Merton Center revolves around writing letters, or attending protests, or calling local and/or national officials, that is comforting to know that singular, individual actions can be powerful as well. I encourage you, friends, to consider a less meat-centric diet – even if only for 10% of your meals. Vegans and vegetarians around Pittsburgh know all the local eats (http://www.vegeats.com/cache.cgi?www.pitt.edu/~animals/guide/loc.htm) that support less meat-oriented meals. Thai, Chinese (try replacing the beef, pork, or chicken in your favorite dish with "fried bean curd"), Indian, Vietnamese, Italian, and Mexican restaurants all frequently have vegan or vegetarian options. The East End Co-op, Whole Foods, and most local Giant Eagles carry a wide variety of vegan and vegetarian meals, prepared foods, and even meat- and cheese-replacement options that can be quite delicious! Also, the menus of Zen Garden (Squirrel Hill), the Zenith Tea Room (South Side), and Mad Mex (Oakland, Robinson, and Greentree) have menus that either are almost entirely or can almost entirely be made vegan. Though we may not have celebrated the Great American Meat Out this year, with all the options available in Pittsburgh, there are plenty of opportunities to have your very own Meat Out.

- Bridget Colvin