Prevent World Hunger with a Plant-based Diet

World hunger is a huge issue today, but there IS something we can do about it. Though some land used for animal agriculture is not suitable for growing crops, most of it could be reclaimed for growing vegetables, fruits, grains, beans, nuts, and seeds.

Hunger is partly a distribution problem, but that is no excuse for wasting precious resources. We don’t need animal products to stay healthy. In fact, we are healthier without them, so it is simply indulgent and wasteful to consume them.

Imagine how much food we could share if we were not feeding so much of it to farm animals.

According to a recent Los Angeles Times article headline, “By going vegan, America could feed an additional 390 million people, study suggests:”

“Imagine an area of land that can produce 100 grams of edible protein from plants. If you take that same amount of land and use it to produce eggs instead, you would end up with only 60 grams of edible protein — an “opportunity food loss” of 40%, the study authors found.

And that was the best-case scenario.

“If that land were used to raise chickens, it would produce 50 grams of protein in the form of poultry. If it were devoted to dairy cows, it would provide 25 grams of protein in the form of milk products. If that land became a home for pigs, they would provide 10 grams of protein in the form of pork. And if you put cattle there, you’d get just 4 grams of protein in the form of beef.”

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-more-food-vegan-20180326-story.html

Water Waste

Availability of water is also a big issue. Are you willing to be personally responsible for wasting 4,000 gallons of water per day, just so you can eat animal products? Think of how many gardens that much water could support.

Look at these statistics from OneGreenPlanet.org

• We use 56 million acres of land for animal agriculture while dedicating only four million acres of land to growing produce – You can be sure that a lot of that 56 million acres could be used for growing crops.
• 70 percent of grain in the U.S. is fed to farmed animals rather than to people. (The world’s cattle alone consume a quantity of food equal to the caloric needs of 8.7 billion people — more than the entire human population on Earth).
• It takes 4,200 gallons of water PER DAY to produce a meat-eater’s diet. A plant-based diet uses only 300 gallons of water per day.
• Additionally, a whopping 70 percent of our domestic freshwater goes directly to animal agriculture.
• One acre of land can produce 250 pounds of beef, but the same acre of land can produce 50,000 pounds of tomatoes or 53,000 pounds of potatoes.

Healthier for You – More Food for Everyone

Isn’t it wonderful to know that eating a healthier diet can help provide plenty of food and water for everyone?

The next issue we need to tackle is distribution. Rather than spending our tax dollars on wars and farm subsidies for animal feeds, we could spend it to create a worldwide food distribution system. Most farm subsidies go toward wheat, corn, soybeans, rice, and cotton. They mainly benefit junk food producers, animal factory farms, and destructive companies like Monsanto. Instead, why not subsidize organic fruit and vegetable farmers around the world?

Look at What Vegans Eat for tips on staying healthy on a plant-based diet.

What about Vegan Pets?