I don't have time to look for the book right now, but I have a very small volume titled "Food for the Future." In the book, it very clearly goes into the environmental impact of raising meat, compared to the environmental impact of raising vegetables/grains/fruits.
There is no denying that livestock produce more greenhouse gas emissions in a year than the cars on the road in the United States. That says a lot.
But one thing to consider is that we often raise livestock and other animals on land that is not arable for crops. But we don't do it enough, and even when we are raising livestock on waste ground we are still creating pollutants via the cow itself--ie the methane gas it releases, and the fecal coliform that gets into streams because of field runoff. Fecal coliform is a nasty, nasty pollutant, and the majority of fecal coliform in watersheds can largely be attributed to cows and runoff, not humans. Fecal coliform leads to less dissolved oxygen in streams, which in turn leads to algae blooms, and dead fish. Yuck.
At any rate, the politics of food are very interesting and complex. Generally, when I eat meat, I attempt to eat meat outside of the industrial meat complex. But I really don't eat that much any more. And on Christmas, we're carpooling. We're also not going far. And most of the meal will be vegetarian--except for the prime rib, which I only eat once a year...on Christmas.
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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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