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changing our eating habits, we will do a lot for the environment

"You save more water with less than two steaks in refusing to take a shower for a year."

The premise to make concerns the fact that farm animals are "protein factories down" because animals consume a lot more calories derived from vegetable, than it produces in the form of meat, milk and eggs. The conversion ratio from feed to food plants for humans varies from 1:30 to 1:4, depending on the species of animal used.

Organizations such as the ' WHO, the FAO and the World Bank say: "Animal products use a greater amount of water compared to plants. The demand for water will become a major problem of this century. " [WHO/FAO2002].

The Executive Director of ' Stockholm International Water Institute said "The animals are fed grain, and even those on grazing, need far more water than the direct production of wheat . [Kirby2004]

the immoderate consumption of water must be added the problem of disposing of the enormous amount of manure produced by animals in factory farms. The semi-liquid slurry and cattle contain levels of phosphorus and nitrogen above the norm, so that animals can absorb only a small the amount of these substances in their feed. When bird droppings seep into waterways, the excess nitrogen and phosphorus contained in them ruin water quality and damage aquatic ecosystems and wetlands. Approximately 70-80% of nitrogen supplied to cattle, pigs and laying hens by feeding, and 60% of that given to the chickens "meat" is eliminated in feces and urine into streams and ends' water. [CIWF2004]

The weekly Newsweek has calculated a few years ago that to produce just five pounds of beef is consumed as much water as an average American family in a year, and this amount is not enough to cover the consumption of a week, for the same family! Thus it is clear that the first thing to do, to really save water, both to reduce consumption of animal foods, focusing on the direct consumption of crops (cereals, legumes, vegetables, fruits) as a single action to be taken is the most powerful ever, much more than any other action of saving the individual citizen can make. "

" changing our eating habits, we will do a lot for the environment, and we will make a great gift to our health "say experts the NEIC.

NEIC - International Centre of Ecology of Nutrition
http://www.nutritionecology.org - info@nutritionecology.org

Sources:

[CIWF2004]
CIWF, "The global benefits of eating less meat" , CIWF Trust, 2004

[Kirby2004]
Alex Kirby, "Hungry world 'must eat less meat'", BBC News Online, August 15 2004

[WHO/FAO2002]
WHO / FAO Diet, Nutrition, and the prevention of chronic disease. Report of the Joint WHO / FAO expert consultation, 26 April 2002.