Making the environment a little better one steak at a time

Let me preface this blog by saying that I am not a vegetarian, and don't think I could/would give up meat entirely by choice...

Now, today I decided to write about the role agriculture is having on society and our future...I'll start with a couple of quotes from Wikipedia:

According to a 2006 United Nations initiative, the livestock industry is one of the largest contributors to environmental degradation worldwide, and modern practices of raising animals for food contributes on a "massive scale" to deforestation^[2], air and water pollution, land degradation, loss of topsoil, climate change^[3], the overuse of resources including oil and water, and loss of biodiversity. The initiative concluded that "the livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global."

and:

Some argue that the adoption of a lacto-ovo vegetarian or entirely plant-based vegan diet is best, but may not be totally necessary, because even modest reductions in meat consumption in industrialised societies would substantially reduce the burden on our natural resources. "One personal act that can have a profound impact on these issues is reducing meat consumption. To produce 1 pound of feedlot beef requires about 2,400 gallons of water and 7 pounds of grain (42). Considering that the average American consumes 97 pounds of beef (and 273 pounds of meat in all) each year, even modest reductions in meat consumption in such a culture would substantially reduce the burden on our natural resources."

Basically, the gist of these quotes is that we as a society consume WAY too much meat and that the US alone could feed 800 million people with the grain eaten by the livestock they produce...we have become overly dependent on meat, and as a result have put ourselves in a bit of a quandary...according to Dennis Avery, Director of the Centre for Global Food Issues, "The world must create five billion vegans in the next several decades, or triple its total farm output without using more land." Simply put, we as a society are using 2-3 times the resources we need to just to quench our thirst for tasty meat...

According to goveg.com, eating one pound of meat is the equivalent of driving an SUV 40 miles...also, "A 2006 United Nations report found that the meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all the SUVs, cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined." and "Raising animals for their flesh, eggs, and milk is one of the world’s leading emitters of carbon dioxide (CO₂). But global warming is caused by more than just CO₂. Animal agriculture is the leading source of methane and nitrous oxide emissions, which—combined with carbon dioxide—causes the vast majority of global warming" which is increasingly alarming given that CO2 is less dangerous for the environment than nitrous oxide and methane...

Now, what is it that I'm suggesting? Am I saying that 5 billion of us need to go vegan or we'll all die? No, the fact of the matter is that if you want to have a steak, you should have a steak...but at the same time, you should know the impact that that one steak has on the environment and consider changing a meal that would otherwise be meat-included away from meat... We can argue and bicker as a society about how much action has to happen, but until people start doing something, they are putting my future and yours in jeopardy...we can make the environment better by simply knowing the implications of our actions and adjusting accordingly (it is like a diet...if you cheat on your diet, normally cutting back a slight bit the next meal will help offset the cheating...only in this case, you aren't cheating, simply enjoying the foods you love)