ARGUE WITH A MEAT-EATER...AND WIN!
If
you belong to the vegetarian-by-choice species, you must be immune by now to the
varied reactions to your culinary preferences. For those neophytes who are yet
to develop a thick skin to queries ranging from the aggressive to the downright
asinine, here are some tips:
Hunger argument: Eliminating meat
eating will drastically cut livestock pasture and that land can then be used for
growing food. One acre of land can produce 40,000 pounds of potatoes but only
250 pounds of meat. Already, vast quantities of food that can feed humans are
being fed to livestock. For example, of all the corn grown in the USA, the livestock
consumes 80 per cent and humans only 20 per cent.
Environmental argument:
Topsoil erosion, global warming, depleting rainforests and extinction of species
may be halted if the majority of the world's population adopts a vegetarian diet.
For instance, according to research statistics, 300 million pounds of beef is
imported from Central and South America to cater to the USA. The economic incentive
impels these nations to cut their rainforests to make way for more pastureland.
Natural resources argument: Raising livestock is an inefficient
way of generating food. While 25 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound
of wheat, 5,000 gallons are used to produce one pound of beef. Also, it takes
78 calories of fossil fuel to produce one calorie of beef but only 2 calories
for one calorie of soybean.
Antibiotics argument: A large amount
of antibiotics are fed to livestock to control staphylococci. These are only partially
effective, as the bacteria are becoming increasingly immune to them. Both the
antibiotics and the bacteria they were intended to destroy are still in the meat
when it goes to the market.
ARGUE WITH A MEAT-EATER...AND WIN!
If you belong to the vegetarian-by-choice species, you must be immune by now to the varied reactions to your culinary preferences. For those neophytes who are yet to develop a thick skin to queries ranging from the aggressive to the downright asinine, here are some tips:Hunger argument: Eliminating meat eating will drastically cut livestock pasture and that land can then be used for growing food. One acre of land can produce 40,000 pounds of potatoes but only 250 pounds of meat. Already, vast quantities of food that can feed humans are being fed to livestock. For example, of all the corn grown in the USA, the livestock consumes 80 per cent and humans only 20 per cent.
Environmental argument: Topsoil erosion, global warming, depleting rainforests and extinction of species may be halted if the majority of the world's population adopts a vegetarian diet. For instance, according to research statistics, 300 million pounds of beef is imported from Central and South America to cater to the USA. The economic incentive impels these nations to cut their rainforests to make way for more pastureland.
Natural resources argument: Raising livestock is an inefficient way of generating food. While 25 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of wheat, 5,000 gallons are used to produce one pound of beef. Also, it takes 78 calories of fossil fuel to produce one calorie of beef but only 2 calories for one calorie of soybean.
Antibiotics argument: A large amount of antibiotics are fed to livestock to control staphylococci. These are only partially effective, as the bacteria are becoming increasingly immune to them. Both the antibiotics and the bacteria they were intended to destroy are still in the meat when it goes to the market.