Why is there Hunger on the Planet?

Animal farming uses 30 per cent of the Earth's entire
land surface for grazing and to grow crops as feed
(FAO 2006). In Britain, 70 per cent of all agricultural
land is used as pasture and to grow crops to feed
animals (FAO, 2004). Research has shown that if
Britain went vegan, less than a quarter of the
current farmland would be needed. (Spedding
1990).
Livestock farming also causes wide-scale land
degradation, with about 20 per cent of global
pasture land considered degraded through
overgrazing, compaction and erosion (FAO 2006).
This figure is even higher in the drylands where
inappropriate policies and inadequate livestock
management contribute to advancing desertification
(FAO 2006). Animal farming also plays a destructive
role in deforestation. In Latin America, some 70 per
cent of former forests in the Amazon have been
turned over to grazing (FAO 2006).
Soya production for animal feed is another major
cause of deforestation. Around 75 per cent of global
production is fed to farmed animals (Worldwatch
Institute 2006). It is the demand for meat that drives
the production of soya and, therefore, the
destruction of the rainforest. Going vegan saves
one acre of forest every year (Robbins 1992).

'Those who consume livestock products and fish
are competing directly with those who need grain
for food.'
Lester Brown, past president of the Worldwatch
Institute, USA.
Almost half of the world's food harvest is fed to
farmed animals and almost all of those calories go
into simply keeping the animals alive. Only a small
fraction of the calories consumed by farmed animals
are actually converted into meat. An acre of cereal
can produce five times more protein than an acre
devoted to meat production; and legumes (beans,
lentils and peas) can produce ten times as much
(Seager 1995). Rather than adding to our capacity to
feed the world's human population, putting animal
products at the centre of food policy diminishes the
possibility of doing so.
If we are to feed a growing human population,
the only choice is to rely upon a plant-based diet.

Source: http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/AA/HOME/

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• hunger
• food
• shortage
• livestock
• farming
• amazon
• forest
• grain
• cereal
• harvest
• crops
• vegan
• population
• calories
• plant
• based

[subz4155]

Drinking Red wine can decrease the bad effects of eating meat. That is why the French and Italians are so healthy.

[tranquilocito]

Most of the antioxidant benefits of wine come from the grape itself, not the fact that it's fermented (alcohol). Maybe red wine can reduce your risk of heart attacks, but then you are more likely to die of other diseases.The health costs of alcohol far outweigh the benefits, with around 33,000 people dying of alcohol related diseases in the UK every year.

[randy95023]

Maybe in about a year when hamburger costs 12 to 14 U.S. Dollars per pound some people will "figure it out" that meat is terribly wasteful. If a 50 year old "meat eater" cut their meat intake by 85% their blood pressure and Cholesterol levels will return to that of a man in his early 20's. I know, I cut my meat intake by 85% following intestinal surgery in my late 40's. I've never felt better! btw; I'm a political conservative who has NO political agenda regarding our animal friends...

[adembasou]

this is about mercy and love

[SibelCatana]

@subz4155 The French and Italians are healthier than Americans because they eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, etc.

[saharra22469]

I love this video. People are so brainwashed to eat animals, to abuse animals, that they refuse to even open their minds to newer ideas, to reality. It's much like believing the earth was flat and laughing when told it wasn't...their mentality is centuries old. It's the mentality of burning the witches, the innocent women and girls because they had black cats or burned candles and didn't go to church. This is how much mankind has not evolved.

[krsnakris]

@uwejuwe God given right? "He that killeth an ox is as if he killeth a man"

'Igive you all green plants as food" "He shall eat milk and honey that he may know good." "THOU SHALL NOT KILL" That also means guilt in paying for the killing. A mobster who pays a hitman often gets the heavier penalty.

Ancient people were meat-eaters and we became veggies? No, we were mostly foragers of leaves fruits and berries, they were amply abundant. In severe hardship meat had to be sought.

[Bolst]

True.. said by many will be said by even more many, be humane to be human, don't bury this title.. PEACE & LOVE.., not through war, hatred and blood!

[m33lad]

If I tell someone the 100000 billion reasons to stop eating mean they right away say: " YOU NEED MEAT!!" "you need protein" (as nothing has protein in it but meat) :s Or they say "they love the taste" ppl are so brain washed caz of media, is impossible to get their mind to open up!!

[Cheekyuk0]

Preaching to people doesn't work. So stop it.

[tooober123]

it is because of the banking cartels they loath us peasants want to starve us to death so they can have it all oh yea by the way freedom and liberty are gonna come back to AMERICA soon as tod to me by a very powerful spirit many many moons ago

[anotheraka]

Yes people are important, that is why vegan do not contribute the the largest cause of global starvation -meat eating. It takes 10,00o gallons of water and almost an acre of land for a lb of meat.

[leSoulNoir]

...so we all become vegans. Next we have less animals, because they're too uneconomical. Then in 100 yrs we tell people to produce less people.

Face it, this STILL places humans above animals. You're already not planning to support the current amount of animals!

Why prolong the inevitable? Have no children now! Become barren by choice, not just vegan. Save animals, save crops, save the environment, save the time & destruction the earth will suffer before we "naturally" get to this stage.

[randomlaughingman]

Look at some of the scumbags commenting here - it's the same anyplace that tells the truth. What are we meant to do about the actual problem, which is that those kinds of people exist and they are the ones making the world run on those lack of principals. Showing them facts makes no difference because they are already well aware of them - they choose to abuse, that needs to be recognised. Newagers claim this isn't real - so they can eat fast food etc and nothing really got harmed.