Cattle industry....poverty.....?

[Amberly]

Where can I find information regarding the cattle/meat industry's contribution to world poverty and resource depletion? When someone asks me why I don't eat meat I want to have something besides "I don't like to kill animals." In the south people just see that as girly, squeamish, watched-Bambi-too-many-times, rather than a valid concern. To me not killing animals is enough, but I want more.

Thanks guys.

[JennaBoBenna]

have you tried Peta's websites? I think they would have some information on that subject.

[Dancer]

Well, there's the whole "Fast Food Nation" pitch about how cruel animals are treated before they are slaughtered and how they use bleach and other chemicals to clean the feces off the meat during the processing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Food_Nation

OR you can just go with the whole karma thing. ;)

[GlimR]

Yup...and the book Mad Cowboy~

[NoGMO!]

here is the mad cowboy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt6vYpILydk


he was also in the documentary Peaceable Kingdom.. a must see!

[Blazin'Jane]

A few years ago I read The Vegetarian Source Book by Keith Akers. I recommend it. In it is a wonderful section about the cost of grain (and concomitant detriment to the earth) to feed cattle whcih we then slaughter, instead of just planting enough grain to feed people. Also, T. Colin Campbell in The China Study, discusses the issue, along with others, such as the role of big business, and the role of government. Amazing stuff in the face of good solid research supporting a plant-based diet.

[Mueller]

Amberly,

The book I read that opened my eyes to 'this side' of the story is John Robbin's 'The Food Revolution.' In fact, if I could recommend only 1 book to my friends, this would be it.

Visit: http://www.foodrevolution.org/ for more information. I just checked the website and the link below has some great info. I will cut and paste some of the text that can be found here.

http://www.foodrevolution.org/eatingforpeace.htm

'More than half of all the water consumed in the US whole purpose is to raise animals for food. It takes 2500 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat, but only 25 gallons to produce a pound of wheat. A totally vegetarian diet requires 300 gallons of water per day, while a meat-eating diet requires more than 4000 gallons of water per day.

Raising animals for food causes more water pollution than any other industry in the US because animals raised for food produce one hundred thirty times the excrement of the entire human population. It means 87,000 pounds per second. Much of the waste from factory farms and slaughter houses flows into streams and rivers, contaminating water sources.

Each vegetarian can save one acre of trees per year. More than 260 million acres of US forests have been cleared to grow crops to feed animals raised for meat. And another acre of trees disappears every eight seconds. The tropical rain forests are also being destroyed to create grazing land for cattle.

In the US, animals raised for food are fed more than eighty percent of the corn we grow and more than ninety-five percent of the oats. We are eating our country, we are eating our earth, we are eating our children. And I have learned that more than half the people in this country overeat.

Mindful eating can help maintain compassion within our heart. A person without compassion cannot be happy, cannot relate to other human beings and to other living beings. And eating the flesh of our own son is what is going on in the world, because we do not practice mindful eating. '

[Mueller]

Oh and for those who haven't heard of John Robbins, the last name does hold significance. He was to inherit part of the Baskin Robbins empire but he found a higher calling. Well that and he didn't feel like dying of a heart attack at 55 like his relatives. :)