Meat Based Diet Issue Essay

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Question 1 Humans are starving all over the world, while some are enjoying life with a meat based diet. A meat based diet leads to the depletion of food resources that can be used to feed starving families calling for a more quasi-vegan based diet. The quasi-vegan diet provides the same nutritional value as a meat based diet does. On September 11, 2001 over 18,000 children under the age of five lost their lives. They lost their lives not to the tragic events that took place due to terrorists’ attacks, but from malnutrition (Engel, 2012). How can this happen one asks? Engel argues that a meat based diet is one the causes. In order to produce one pound of beef it takes 12.9 pounds of grain. The grains value is lost when it is cycled through the cow by losing 100% of its carbohydrates, 96% of its calories, 90% of its protein, and 100% of its fiber. The thing to think about is that the 12.9 pounds of grain used to feed the cow to make the one pound of beef can be turned into 12.9 loaves of bread. Think about this, in 1991 there were 12 million pounds of grain produced in the United States alone. 10 million pounds of that was fed to livestock, while only 2 million left for human consumption. (Engel, 2012) When doing the math it leaves just over 930,000 pounds of meat for human consumption compared to what could have been 12 million loafs of bread. Engel states that humans should move to more of a quasi-vegan based diet that takes out much of the meat that is grain fed. The inclusion of some meat into the vegan diet, which makes it the quasi-vegan diet, is necessary to provide consistency with one’s own belief. (Engel, 2012) One might make the argument that the nutritional value from a quasi-vegan diet will not be enough to support their bodies. The scientific evidence refutes this notion. According to Fox eating a vegan only diet, which has not meat in it, provides all the nutrients needed to survives and is healthier than that of diets that include meats. Meat carries many health risks with it due to the fact that parasite and diseases that can be found within the feed. (Fox, 2012) Eating meat can affect the earth at the same time. The amount of meat that humans consume has direct impact on the earth from fossil fuels to water to land to forests. In order to produce the meat that is needed for a meat based diet more of these resources have to be committed to the production than that of a vegan diet (Fox, 2012). Environmental pollution also has to be taken into account for meat based diets. For every two pounds of beef produced one pound of methane is released. This accounts for 20% of the world’s total methane. Pesticides that are used in the industry have caused numerous environmental issues around the globe. (Coffin, 2012) As Fox states “the more animal products we consume, the more our well-being will suffer” (Fox, 2012) . The facts speak for themselves in making the argument for humans to turn to a more quasi-vegan …show more content…
Propaganda has permeated the lives of the American public to come to the realization that there is an overpopulation problem in the world. The public has seen large numbers of the world’s population suffering from serious hunger, but only 2% suffer from serious hunger. The fact is that food production around the world has increased faster than that of the population, with some of the biggest increases coming in the poorest countries on earth. In 1983, rice production in India had increase 3 and half times than that of the production in 1950. The fact is that population increase during that same time was just over one and half times. At the current rate of growth the population will reach it capacity in more than 125 years according the estimates made by Revelle and almost 200 years according to the estimates made by Clark. Kasun states that the limits are far beyond present uses of natural resources and as new knowledge is being developed the amount use of these natural resources is being reduced. (Kasun,

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