There is more than enough food in the world to feed the
entire human population. So why are more than 840 million people
still going hungry?
Our meat-based diet is
partly to blame, as land, water, and other resources that could be
used to grow food for human beings are being used to grow crops for
farmed animals instead. According to a recent report by Compassion
in World Framing, "[c]rops that could be used to feed the hungry are
instead being used to fatten animals raised for food." It takes up
to 16 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of edible animal
flesh.
 |
 |
The average adult human
burns about 2,000 calories per day, just living his or her life. We
use almost all the calories that we consume to move around, breathe,
and do everyday tasks. The same is true of farmed animals. For every
pound of food that they are fed, only a fraction of the calories are
returned in the form of edible flesh. The rest of those calories are
burned away raising the animal to slaughter weight or contributing
to feathers, blood, and other parts of the animal that are not eaten
by humans. This is why animals raised for food have to eat as many
as 16 pounds of grain to create just 1 pound of edible
flesh.
Because the industrial world is exporting
grain to developing countries and importing the meat that is
produced with it, farmers who are trying to feed themselves are
being driven off their land. Their efficient, plant-based
agricultural model is being replaced with intensive livestock
rearing, which also pollutes
the air and water and renders the once-fertile land dead and
barren.
If this trend continues, the developing world
will never be able to produce enough food to feed itself, and global
hunger will continue to plague hundreds of millions of people around
the globe. The Guardian explains that there's only one
solution: "It now seems plain that [a vegan diet] is the only
ethical response to what is arguably the world's most urgent social
justice issue."
