meatmeanzmurder
feeding you the facts
Stop taking food from their mouths.
The facts
- It takes about 10kg of good quality plant protein, such as wheat and soya, to produce 1kg of meat protein.
- It is much more efficient for people to eat plant foods directly rather than feeding them to animals to produce meat. - World Health Organisation.
- The amount of veg protein fed to the US beef herd would feed almost the entire populations of India and China - 2 billion people.
- Amount of grain needed to end world hunger- 40 million tonnes. Amount of grain fed to animals in the West - 540 million tonnes. - United Nations
- 90% of the UK's animal feed protein concentrates come from poor countries - often those where children die from starvation.
- 35% of the world's people can be fed on a meat based diet. A plant diet can feed everyone - plus some.
Facts provided by Viva! (Vegetarians International Voice for Animals)
Meat Means Misery for the World's Hungry
There is more than enough food in the world to feed the entire human
population. So why are more than 840 million people still going hungry?Our meat-based diet is partly to blame, as land, water, and other resources that could be used to grow food for human beings are being used to grow crops for farmed animals instead. According to a recent report by Compassion in World Framing, "crops that could be used to feed the hungry are instead being used to fatten animals raised for food." It takes up to 16 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of edible animal flesh.
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The average adult human burns about 2,000 calories per day, just living his or her life. We use almost all the calories that we consume to move around, breathe, and do everyday tasks. The same is true of farmed animals. For every pound of food that they are fed, only a fraction of the calories are returned in the form of edible flesh. The rest of those calories are burned away raising the animal to slaughter weight or contributing to feathers, blood, and other parts of the animal that are not eaten by humans. This is why animals raised for food have to eat as many as 16 pounds of grain to create just 1 pound of edible flesh.
Because the industrial world is exporting grain to developing countries and importing the meat that is produced with it, farmers who are trying to feed themselves are being driven off their land. Their efficient, plant-based agricultural model is being replaced with intensive livestock rearing, which also pollutes the air and water and renders the once-fertile land dead and barren.
If this trend continues, the developing world will never be able to produce enough food to feed itself, and global hunger will continue to plague hundreds of millions of people around the globe. The Guardian explains that there's only one solution: "It now seems plain that a vegan diet is the only ethical response to what is arguably the world's most urgent social justice issue."
HIPPO and Vegfam
There are many worthwhile initiatives to help people in 'developing' countries that do not involve the exploitation of animals. These range from providing appropriate technology to supplying drought-resistant, sustainable crops.
Two great charities that support such schemes are Vegfam and HIPPO (Help International Plant Protein Organisation).
Vegfam provides relief to victims of drought, flood, war and other emergencies.
The night the devastating tsunami struck South India, Vegfam started distributing vegan food packages. The organisation is now assessing the longer-term needs of people affected by the tsunami in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Vegfam will continue to fund projects for years to come but can only continue to do so through kind donations.
HIPPO is founded on the belief that providing food to the world's poor and hungry does not have to cause suffering to animals. Because of the vast amounts of land, grain and water consumed by the global livestock industries, eating animal products is a major contributing factor to world food shortage. HIPPO is committed to raising awareness of the benefits of a plant-based diet for humans and the environment. It assists our fellow men and women in poorer countries to obtain and, wherever possible, to produce for themselves, wholesome and nutritious plant foods.
HIPPO has helped to develop the sustainable, organic, production of non-GM crops, especially pulses, in Kenya, Malawi and Ethiopia, and has assisted a soya food processing plant in Uganda. It also supports a vegetarian outreach programme in Lagos, Nigeria; and sends high protein, vegetarian foods to orphanages in Romania, Croatia and Kenya, and also to the African Food Bank community project.
Animal Aid took the lead, organising HIPPO's pledge to raise £2000 towards a new irrigation system for a vegetarian orphanage in Kenya. This will enable the orphanage to grow its own food and vegetables.
You too can support the important work of HIPPO and Vegfam in developing countries. To find out more information or make a donation please contact them at the following addresses.
HIPPO, The Old Vicarage, Llangynog, Carmarthen SA33 5BS
Email: hippocharity@aol.com
Vegfam, The Sanctuary, Nr Lydford, Okehampton, Devon, EX20 4AL
Tel: 01822 820 203
Email: vegfam@veganvillage.co.uk
“Those who claim to care about the well-being of human beings and the preservation of our environment should become vegetarians for that reason alone. They would thereby increase the amount of grain available to feed people elsewhere, reduce pollution, save water and energy, and cease contributing to the clearing of forests.…
“When nonvegetarians say that ‘human problems come first’ I cannot help wondering what exactly it is that they are doing for human beings that compels them to continue to support the wasteful, ruthless exploitation of farm animals.”
Peter Singer, Animal Liberation, 1990