According to the United Nations, global human population has reached seven billion. One billion are chronically hungry. By the end of the year, more than five million children under age five will die of hunger-related illness.
While these statistics are heart-breaking, they should not leave you feeling hopeless. Instead, they should be a source of inspiration and empowerment because we can all do something about this. What we choose to eat has a profound impact on the existence of human hunger. We CAN choose to eat in a way that harms or helps other human beings.
“Land availability is one of the main constraints on food production. The Earth has only a limited area of viable agricultural land, so how this land is used is central to our ability to feed the world. Western diets play a large part in depriving the world’s poor of much needed food. This is because livestock consume much more protein, water and calories than they produce. Most of the protein from vegetable feeds is used for the animal’s bodily functions and not converted to meat, eggs or milk.
Studies indicate that a varied vegan diet requires about a third of the land needed for conventional Western diets.
Quite simply, we do not have enough land to feed everyone on an animal-based diet. So while one billion* people do not have enough food, we continue to waste valuable agricultural land by obtaining only a small fraction of its potential calorific value.
The world’s population is increasing and viable agricultural lands are diminishing. If we are to avoid future global food scarcity we must find sustainable ways of utilising our natural resource base. Industrial livestock production is unsustainable and unjustifiable.”
Sources: Help protect…the hungry
More Articles from: The Guardian, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, FAO, Audubon Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, World Watch
