Eating Up The World - The environmental consequences of human food choices
Our planet faces serious environmental challenges. Water shortages, global warming, land degradation, deforestation, ocean degradation, food shortages and species extinction are just some of these important issues.
Many Australians understand the fragile nature of our environment and are taking action to reduce their personal impact. We are reducing car usage, using energy efficient light globes, taking shorter showers and implementing other important actions. While these initiatives have some benefits, they fail to address one of the biggest causes of our environmental problems… what we eat.
People
Poverty and malnutrition are widespread. 790 million people in the
world are chronically undernourished. About 27,000 children under 5 die
of poverty and starvation every day.
Most edible grain is used to feed animals for meat, dairy and egg
production. We grow enough edible grain to provide 50% more than is
required for every person in the world.4 Most of this edible grain is
used to feed animals for meat, dairy and egg production. As a result,
the price of grain has risen by hundreds of percent in recent years,
pricing poor people out of the market for basic foods. The world’s
cattle alone consume enough food to feed 8.7 billion people – more than
the entire human population.
Plants + animals
Australia’s animal industries negatively impact bio-diversity through:
• habitat destruction
• climate change
• pollution
• the introduction of non-native species
• increased competition for food and water.
Water
Australia is currently facing significant fresh water shortages, primarily due to waste and misuse. This is compounded by the fact that Australia is the driest inhabited continent on Earth. Raising animals for food requires enormous amounts of water.
It takes between 50,000 and 100,000 litres of water to produce:
- • 1 kilogram of beef compared to only 2,500 litres to produce
- • 1 kilogram of white rice, and much less for most fruit and vegetables.5
Air
The world’s animal industries produce a significant percentage of global greenhouse gas emissions. Over 50% of global human-caused greenhouse gases, or at least 32.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annual emissions can be attributed to livestock and their by-products. This is taking into account their direct emissions as well as their fuel consumption and energy use in production
Land
An enormous proportion of our land is used to produce animal products.Nearly 60% of the Australian continent is grazed by animals raised for human consumption14. This is in addition to the land that is cleared and used for the production of hay and other food for animals.
Ocean
Our oceans are dying. While most people are aware of the widespread devastation of our land, the amount of damage occurring beneath the surface of our oceans may be even greater.
Going Vegetarian is not only an ethical choice, but one that supports our planet earth. For
a full detailed explanation on how each of the above categories are
affected by our food choices, please go to the link below.
Eating Up The World.pdf