The inequities of meat production.

Here are some disturbing facts about meat production and farming in general:

• It takes around 450 gallons of water to produce a pound of red meat;
• It takes 26 kilograms of grain to produce a single kilogram of red meat (whereas it takes only 3.4 kilograms of grain to produce a kilogram of chicken);
• Cattle consume half of the world's fresh water;
• Male chicks are often automatically killed after being sorted from female chicks - the preferred way of doing this is via a grinder;
• Farming is responsible for 18 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions (especially methane, which is twenty times more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide);
• Livestock occupy more than 30 per cent of the Earth's entire land surface;
• In Latin America, more than 70 per cent of natural rainforests have been turned over to food production - this causes topsoil erosion and is gradually causing land to dry out irreversibly (this process is known as desertification);
• Because of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), farmers are guaranteed to be paid a certain sum - regardless of whether quotas are reached. Our taxes guarantee farmers this sum;
• If excess food is produced, it's bought by the government and sold - again, we pay for this through taxation;
• If countries like America reduced their meat intake by 10% this year, 60 million people in the third world could be prevented from starving to death;
• Artificial fertilisers such as nitrates and phosphates require huge petroleum inputs and can cause eutrophication (the process of which kills fresh water fish and other fresh water species every year in their thousands);
• A meat-based diet requires seven times as much land as a vegetable-based diet;
• In a given year, a land area of 0.2 hectares can produce 1.5 kilograms of grain, whereas, on the same plot, the yield of root vegetables would be 6.8 kilograms;
• In 1993, US farm animals were fed 192.7 million tonnes of feed concentrates - the bulk of it being corn - in order to produce 31.2 million tonnes of carcass meat – making for a ratio of 6.2 to 1;
• Because energy is lost to cattle and chickens through natural processes, such as excretion, movement, respiration and reproduction, many animals are now farmed in a battery way - i.e. they live in enclosed, small spaces with their movements restricted. Because of the extraordinary amount of weight some cattle carry, cattle regularly experience agonising pain in the form of leg troubles;
• Even though the average bull or cow will excrete 40 kilograms of manure for every kilogram of beef produced, farmers prefer to use chemical fertilisers rather than utilising manure (as a natural fertiliser);
• Farmers are responsible for the deaths of many rare and beautiful predatory species, including different types of wolf (the Red Wolf has almost been hunted to extinction in the lower American states);
• Around 80,000 coyotes are killed each year in the US;
• Organic farming saves energy, uses less land, is less wasteful, prevents erosion and is more humane;
• Unlike meat, some grains require no further treatment and don't need to be refrigerated;
• Roughly a fifth of the world's land area is used for grazing - twice the area required to grow crops;
• Grazing species displace wild species;
• Fish farming in coastal areas can spread disease, and faecal matter can pollute local water systems;
• Sea nets often trap seabirds and such things as turtles, porpoises and cetations;
• In some Pacific countries, sharks are caught, their fins are removed, and then they're thrown back into the ocean to bleed to death - shark fin soup is a delicacy in many Asian countries.

Behind the above points there lingers a deep philosophical question. It regards human nature. On one level, we are animals - the same as all other species. We need food. We are mammals and we are omnivores. We need sustenance. On another level, we are evolved, moral beings with primate brains. On which level we operate is our choice, but it's an interesting one and it says a lot about human nature. We can see what consequences our actions have and we can see the suffering our actions impose indirectly on animals and people all over the planet. What actions should we take?

What are the solutions?

Eating low on the food chain is a powerful way to reduce the amount of land needed to support your existence (your ecological footprint). Less farmland means more natural areas. It also means less soil erosion, fewer dams, less pesticide use and less energy use.

A vegetarian diet is also healthier for the body. Numerous studies show that vegetarian foods greatly help in the prevention of heart disease, cancer and many other diet-related diseases (whereas red meat consumption has been linked with such ailments as heart disease and high blood pressure - due to the high calorific content of red meat).

As the earth's human population continues to expand, two things are critical for our survival: adequate food resources and intact wilderness areas. One sure way to achieve both is a dramatic shift in food choices, away from animal products toward plant-based foods.

The transition to vegetarian and vegan lifestyles from meat-eating lifestyles is ideal, but it isn't essential: all that is necessary is a reduction in meat consumption, coupled with a change in eating habits - more pulses, chicken, salads and root vegetables. An emphasis on organic farming is also needed.

We in the west have to ask ourselves this question: can we continue to live like kings at the expense of millions of other people? It's a moral question, and it's an issue which is going to greatly affect our lives in the future whether we like it or not. Something's gotta give....