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meat eaters

The Kindest Cut on Slate is filled with mind-boggling statistics about food production, for example:

35 pounds of manure incurred per pound of saleable beef.

and

The poultry-broiler industry consumed some 240 billion megajoules of energy in 2005, or the equivalent of 42 million barrels of crude oil. That’s more than the entire country of Sri Lanka consumed the same year—all to keep us well-stocked with wings and drumsticks.

and

The livestock industry as a whole consumes a whopping share of the world’s crops—at least 80 percent of all soybeans and more than half of all corn.

and

food writer Michael Pollan recently suggested that if Americans went meatless one night a week, it would be equivalent to taking “30 to 40 million cars off the road for a year.”

I do like eating meat, but we’ve tried to cut back a bit. Maybe we should look in to raising some chickens in the back 40.

{ 2 } Comments

  1. Jean | 5/3/2009 at 6:49 pm | Permalink

    The vegetarian lifestyle is awesome! Come to the dark side…the tofu beckons. Besides, you don’t REALLY like bacon anyway.

  2. em | 5/11/2009 at 10:52 pm | Permalink

    Might be a lot easier (and more fun and rewarding) than you might think! “Raising Chickens in the City” has been one of Southwest Community Education’s most popular classes for several sessions running now — cheap and convenient — you should check it out to find out more! (Takes place at Southwest High School.)

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