Imagine taking your very first bite into that big, juicy quarter pounder with extra bacon on it and gooey, melty cheddar cheese. Now please consider that the burger you just bit into cost the planet 55 square feet of rainforest, and no, I am not kidding. Do you feel guilty yet? I know I do.
After reading the beginning of
Comfortably Unaware by Dr. Richard Oppenlander my eyes were opened wide. I had already been educated on the effects of livestock production, but because in our world today our food industry is so tied into economics, politics and culture that I completely forgot just how devastating the effects are and that's exactly what these people want to happen. That's why no one knows that livestock production produces more emissions than all car, train, bus, and plane emissions combined. It's why no one knows that we raise, feed, water, kill and eat over 70 billion animals a year; that's more than 10 times the amount of people we have on this planet!!! It's why no one knows that it takes over 5,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat, which by the way is starting to become a non-renewable resource due to the over consumption of water and climate change causing droughts all across the globe. These facts and statistics are only a mere glimpse at what this book contains factually.
I am only a quarter of the way into the book and want to become vegetarian. Becoming vegetarian is one way a single person can make a HUGE difference in our planet's current climate crisis. You think there's nothing you can do alone to change this situation? WRONG. Stop consuming animals. Save 5,000 gallons of water. Prevent that 55 square foot plot of rainforest from being slashed and burned. Stop depleting our world's resources because soon enough there won't be any left for humans. I found one quote from the book that explains the importance of reducing livestock production: "On any given acre of land we can grow twelve to twenty times the amount in pounds of edible vegetables, fruit, and grain as in pounds of edible animal products. We are essentially using twenty times the amount of land and crops and hundreds of times the water, as well as polluting our waterways and air and destroying rain forests, to produce animals to kill and eat." (Oppenlander, 24)I don't know about you but just hearing how much damage one person can do to our planet through the consumption of animals and animal products is enough for me to highly consider being vegetarian.
After reading the beginning of Comfortably Unaware by Dr. Richard Oppenlander my eyes were opened wide. I had already been educated on the effects of livestock production, but because in our world today our food industry is so tied into economics, politics and culture that I completely forgot just how devastating the effects are and that's exactly what these people want to happen. That's why no one knows that livestock production produces more emissions than all car, train, bus, and plane emissions combined. It's why no one knows that we raise, feed, water, kill and eat over 70 billion animals a year; that's more than 10 times the amount of people we have on this planet!!! It's why no one knows that it takes over 5,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat, which by the way is starting to become a non-renewable resource due to the over consumption of water and climate change causing droughts all across the globe. These facts and statistics are only a mere glimpse at what this book contains factually. 
I am only a quarter of the way into the book and want to become vegetarian. Becoming vegetarian is one way a single person can make a HUGE difference in our planet's current climate crisis. You think there's nothing you can do alone to change this situation? WRONG. Stop consuming animals. Save 5,000 gallons of water. Prevent that 55 square foot plot of rainforest from being slashed and burned. Stop depleting our world's resources because soon enough there won't be any left for humans. I found one quote from the book that explains the importance of reducing livestock production: "On any given acre of land we can grow twelve to twenty times the amount in pounds of edible vegetables, fruit, and grain as in pounds of edible animal products. We are essentially using twenty times the amount of land and crops and hundreds of times the water, as well as polluting our waterways and air and destroying rain forests, to produce animals to kill and eat." (Oppenlander, 24)I don't know about you but just hearing how much damage one person can do to our planet through the consumption of animals and animal products is enough for me to highly consider being vegetarian.
It's scary as we become more and more aware of the impact that things we mindlessly do multiple times a day such as eating has on the environment and climate change. The crazy thing is that the statistics you provide are for one bacon cheeseburger. I cannot imagine the total affect the meat that I eat has on the environment, and I don't eat that much meat. I've been thinking about becoming a vegetarian for a long time (if only bacon didn't taste so good...), and now I'm even more convinced based on your blog post. I'm very interested as to how the rest of your book plays out, and I'm interested in reading it myself.
ReplyDeleteCeCe, I loved this post. I really wanna read this book now. I've never been one to become a vegetarian because of the morals behind it. I believe everyone has to eat, but the way we are doing it is SO unsustainable. We are an economy OBSESSED with over consumption. There is this term called "climatarian," look it up!
ReplyDeleteClimatarian! I love it! I actually might consider myself one when I'm at home, but when I'm here at school I get careless. I agree with you about the morals behind eating meat: We're natural carnivores as are thousands of other wild animals on our planet, but we are pursuing our natural instincts in the most unnatural way possible.
DeleteI also read this novel, and I completely agree with becoming a vegetarian. I was so shocked to find out the dramatic difference a person can make by simply cutting out meat from their diet! I honestly have loved this novel so far, it has truly opened my eyes and made me think about my diet in relation to the environment.
ReplyDeleteI like your introduction a lot and how it grabbed my attention instantly. It seems like livestock is the last thing that we think of when it comes to the possible causes of climate change. However, I don't think I could ever give up meat. It's part of what makes a balanced diet, but we should probably look at ways to get the meat more efficiently.
ReplyDelete