Cattle release methane, and lots of it. Methane is a greenhouse gas 23 times more potent than CO2. Plus with a World population over 7 billion and still growing, we are running out of resources to feed our World.
So do we really need to eat beef, chicken and pork to get our protein? Absolutely not!!!! Look at some of the earth's largest animals - Elephants, Hippopotamus, Rhinocerus, they are all vegetarians, but still very big and strong. In the US, 13% of the population is vegetarian or vegan. In India 31%. In OLLI, I am estimating significantly more than 13%. (A more precise survey would be welcome.)
From a global perspective, it boils down to more efficiently using our limited resources, which are fertile land and fresh water. Consuming crops is far more efficient than consuming animals which have been fed crops. This is due to limited ecological efficiency in converting energy from one trophic level to another. A rough approximation is that the conversion is only 10% efficient. See Wikipedia for more details.
So what are your plant-based eating resources. In OLLI there is an excellent class, Plant Based Eating 101 taught by Dorothy Greet. On the internet, there are an almost infinite number of resources, such as Marc Gunther on Reinventing Meat, or John McDougall's web site dedicated to improving your health through plant based eating.
At the very least, take a look at the health benefits You will gain, and the benefits to the World through better utilization of limited resources, and a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Sally and I both both do it.
So do we really need to eat beef, chicken and pork to get our protein? Absolutely not!!!! Look at some of the earth's largest animals - Elephants, Hippopotamus, Rhinocerus, they are all vegetarians, but still very big and strong. In the US, 13% of the population is vegetarian or vegan. In India 31%. In OLLI, I am estimating significantly more than 13%. (A more precise survey would be welcome.)
From a global perspective, it boils down to more efficiently using our limited resources, which are fertile land and fresh water. Consuming crops is far more efficient than consuming animals which have been fed crops. This is due to limited ecological efficiency in converting energy from one trophic level to another. A rough approximation is that the conversion is only 10% efficient. See Wikipedia for more details.
So what are your plant-based eating resources. In OLLI there is an excellent class, Plant Based Eating 101 taught by Dorothy Greet. On the internet, there are an almost infinite number of resources, such as Marc Gunther on Reinventing Meat, or John McDougall's web site dedicated to improving your health through plant based eating.
At the very least, take a look at the health benefits You will gain, and the benefits to the World through better utilization of limited resources, and a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Sally and I both both do it.
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