“OUR LIVING ENVIRONMENT”
We are forcing our world out of balance and continuing the decline of our Earth’s Ecosystem:• 450 BILLION meals are consumed every month on our globe
• 4.3 billion four footed livestock currently live on the planet
• 1.4 billion tons of animal-poop generated annually and not treated (think ‘down stream’)
• 600 Million Tons of waste is created annually on factory farms in the US from livestock
• 950 Million Pigs live on the planet ( as compared to 120,000 Bald Eagles, etc…)
• 17.8 billion food birds (chicken) currently on the planet give or take one or two
• Global meat production has increased 5 times since the 1950’s
• Today, we will lose 116 square miles of rain forest. (86,000 acres)
• Today, we will lose another 72 square miles to encroaching deserts
• Today, we will lose up to 100 species
• Today we will add 2,700 tons of chlorofluorocarbons
• Today we will add 15 million tons of carbon to the atmosphere
• #1 Leading cause of Global Climate Change; Farming of Cattle,Pigs, Chickens (methane, untreated waste, deforestation)
• 5 million acres of rainforest are felled every year in South and Central America alone to create cattle pasture. (Mostly for the good old hamburger) Trillions of them!
MORE FACTS-
• Best source of nutrition to Humans… is not farm animals
• 70% of US grain production is fed to livestock; an outdated philosophy, inefficient and outlandish waste of food that could easily feed our world's people.
• 80% of worlds soybeans are used for animal feed; could be consumed directly by People
• Livestock grazing harms approximately 20% of endangered species in the US
• Animal agriculture is an enormous contributor to water pollution
• Livestock are responsible for 28% of worldwide methane emissions
• USA Mega-farm animals produce 130 x more waste than the entire U.S. Human population
• Putting plant matter through a cow results in the following losses: 90% Protein, 99% of the Carbohydrates, and 100% of the Fiber.
(An incredibly inefficient way to get nutrition)
• US/Canada (with 5% of the world's population) use 33% of the Earth's natural resources
• Livestock cover 1/3 of the entire planet’s lands and uses 2/3 of the agricultural land
• It takes 28 calories of fossil fuel energy to produce 1 calorie of animal protein and about 10% of that to produce 1 calorie of vegetable protein
Without all the US Government Subsidies most of this would not exist. A new farm bill now in debate- meat and dairy farming receives most of the government support (78%) with veggies and fruits combined receiving less than 1%. Did you say Lobbyists!? We need to change our ways. Change our World.
• US/Canada (with 5% of the world's population) use 33% of the Earth's natural resources
• Livestock cover 1/3 of the entire planet’s lands and uses 2/3 of the agricultural land
• It takes 28 calories of fossil fuel energy to produce 1 calorie of animal protein and about 10% of that to produce 1 calorie of vegetable protein
Without all the US Government Subsidies most of this would not exist. A new farm bill now in debate- meat and dairy farming receives most of the government support (78%) with veggies and fruits combined receiving less than 1%. Did you say Lobbyists!? We need to change our ways. Change our World.