When I left for college I made the mistake of reading the Autobiography of Gandhi and then the writings of Schweitzer. I realized at once that I no longer wanted to hurt animals and resolved to be a vegetarian. I have been vegetarian for about thirty years, but I don’t mention this topic often because it makes people feel bad for eating meat and that is not my intent. I read the following article about world food shortages, and how eating less meat might help avoid disaster for other nations, I thought these might be important insights to share.
“Leading water scientists have issued one of the sternest warnings yet about global food supplies, saying that the world’s population may have to switch almost completely to a vegetarian diet over the next 40 years to avoid catastrophic shortages.
Humans derive about 20% of their protein from animal-based products now, but this may need to drop to just 5% to feed the extra 2 billion people expected to be alive by 2050, according to research by some of the world’s leading water scientists.
“There will not be enough water available on current croplands to produce food for the expected 9 billion population in 2050 if we follow current trends and changes towards diets common in western nations,” the report by Malik Falkenmark and colleagues at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) said.”
“There will be just enough water if the proportion of animal-based foods is limited to 5% of total calories and considerable regional water deficits can be met by a … reliable system of food trade.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/aug/26/food-shortages-world-vegetarianism
I struggle with this. And I think I OUGHT to eat vegetarian, and I used to, and so I say I’m a lazy vegetarian. We don’t buy meat for home consumption, but I don’t worry about it when I eat out. Sometimes I have discussions about “humane” meat consumption… which has it’s own logical problems, as you might imagine. But frankly, I don’t see how any compassionate person can opt into the mass-market meat industry, once they see how cruel and horrid the slaughterhouse and big-chicken-farm systems are. It’s only by refusing to see, or sticking fingers in my ears and singing “LALALALALA” that I escape that reality. If you’re brave, do some research on the internet and see the cruelty. I’m sure I’ll return to vegetarianism at some point simply because I won’t be able to stand the cognitive dissonance any more.