Environmental, Health and Karmic Reasons to go Vegan!

Food Choices and the Planet

Taken from Glen E. Friedman's Interesting Vegan Facts: http://www.southern.net/BURNINGFLAGS/VEGANVEGAN.html:

1) It takes 2,500 gallons of water, 12 pounds of grain, 35 pounds of topsoil and the energy equivalent of one gallon of gasoline to produce one pound of feedlot beef.

2) 70% of US grain production is fed to livestock.

3) 5 million acres of rainforest are felled every year in South and Central America alone to create cattle pasture.

4) Roughly 20% of all currently threatened and endangered species in the US are harmed by livestock grazing.

5) Animal agriculture is a chief contributor to water pollution.

6) America's farm animals produce 10 times the waste produced by the human population.

7) One half of the Earth's land mass is grazed by livestock.

8) Overgrazing is by far the most pervasive cause of desertification.

9) 35 pounds of topsoil are lost in the production of one pound of grain-frd beef.

10) 64% of US cropland produces livestock feed.

11) Only 2% of US cropland produces fruits and vegetables.