Meat costs

To the editor:

Contrary to the Wulfkuhles’ letter of 4/14/09, the environmental message about the meat industry is anything but “misinformation.” Here are a few reasons why:

• According to a report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization on 11/29/06, the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions than all types of transportation in the world combined. The senior author of the report says “Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems.”

• According to scientists at the Smithsonian Institute, seven football fields’ worth of land is bulldozed every minute to create more room for farmed animals and the crops that feed them.

• It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat, whereas it takes 180 gallons of water to make a pound of wheat flour.

• Nearly half the world’s grains and soybeans are fed to animals to produce meat, instead of going directly to human consumption.

As our world’s population and appetite for meat spiral out of control, and we continue to kill land animals by the billions, the small local farmer simply cannot keep up with the demand. This in turn keeps environmentally destructive CAFO’s (confined animal feeding operations) on the rise.

Maybe ranching back in the “old days” didn’t have much of an environmental impact, but we’re not living in those times anymore. The most effective action a “true” environmentalist can take right now is to pass on the meat and eat lower on the food chain.