Feeding the World with Plants

Considering the vast resources squandered to provide consumers with meat, it’s obvious that it’s an illogical and inefficient way to feed our continually growing population. Vegetarian diets can sustain far more people than diets that revolve around meat. When we eat grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds, we’re eating the food that is fed to the meat animals that are later, in turn, eaten by us. It just doesn’t make sense. Factor in the damage to the earth, the water, and the air … on a global level; our reliance on animal foods is devastating.

There’s some debate as to whether your choosing a vegetarian diet really helps to feed other people. There simply isn’t enough food to feed the world, but that’s an issue combined with far more complicated problems of politics, distribution of food, and geography than just choice of diet. But one thing is certain: Westerners eat way more food than they need. In poorer nations, the average person eats about a pound of grain each day. In the United States, it’s four times that amount, and a large part of that is the grain used to produce the animal proteins we eat. While people are starving all over the globe, the United States feeds 70 percent of its harvested grain to animals—meaning that most of the food we grow goes to produce even more food that much of the rest of the world can’t afford to purchase.

The increase of nonvegetarians around the world is directly contributing to hunger and will continue to do so unless something drastic is done. Worldwide, meat production quadrupled from forty-four million tons in 1950 to 195 million tons in 1996. Countries like China and India—both with a long, rich tradition of vegetable-based diets—are becoming increasingly avid consumers of meat. In China alone, pork consumption has risen astronomically in the last decade; the Chinese now consume more pork per person than an average American. And while India still has the largest vegetarian population in the world, the country is now also the largest exporter of meat in Asia. There just isn’t enough grain to support these industries, much less feed people directly. In 1993, China exported eight million tons of grain, but thanks to its expanding pork industry, the country imported sixteen million tons of grain just two years later in 1995. Eating meat is almost universally seen as a symbol of economic progress, but the more meat humans eat, the more humans there are that go hungry.

If more people embraced vegetarianism, it’s highly likely that far less animals would be fed and killed for meat. A widespread conversion to plant-based diets would reduce food shortage simply by reducing the number of factory-farmed animals and their drain on land and other resources. With fewer animals to feed, it might be possible to rebuild world grain reserves and guarantee that there’s enough food for even the poorest countries. And reducing the amount of worldwide animal agriculture would contribute to biological diversity, climate control, and restoration of the ozone layer.

World hunger is an issue too huge to comprehend. Ultimately, though, your conscience is your guide. Knowing what you now know, do you still feel good about eating a hamburger? Albert Einstein said it best: “Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” By choosing a vegetarian lifestyle, you’re choosing to be a caring citizen of the world.

In addition to the explanations listed above, here are ten good reasons why you should become a vegetarian.

1. Vegetarian diets are healthy and low in fat.
2. Vegetarian diets actually contain a good amount of protein.
3. Vegetarian diets are responsible and compassionate.
4. Meat is unhealthy for you and the earth.
5. Vegetarians care about the environment.
6. Vegetarian diets can help reduce world hunger.
7. Vegetarians help conserve water.
8. Vegetarian diets help preserve land and forests.
9. Vegetarian diets help eliminate the use of fossil fuels.
10. Vegetarian diets can lead to longevity.