In a fantastic piece for the “New York Times,” Professor James McWilliams exposes some disturbing facts regarding California’s epic water crisis.
Comparing gallons to gallons and tons to tons, McWilliams details how meat production is literally sucking the state dry. Take this for instance: while 11,300 gallons of blue water (water stored in lakes, rivers, and aquifers) are needed to produce a ton of vegetables, 145,000 gallons are needed to produce a ton of beef–12 times as much!
But that’s not even the most disturbing piece of information. Alfalfa, a crop primarily grown as cattle feed that consumes over a million acres of land in California, is now being shipped to China. As China’s diet becomes more and more “Westernized” (read: meat heavy), the Chinese are importing Californian alfalfa, requiring some 100 billion gallons of water, in the form of feed shipped overseas each year.
McWilliams also discusses California-based Rancho Feeding Corporation’s recent catastrophic recall totaling 8.7 million pounds of beef or 631.6 million gallons of water–another wasteful and unnecessary disaster.
The numbers don’t lie. If you want to help conserve water, the best choice is simply to leave meat off your plate. For free meatless recipes and tips on going veg, visit ChooseVeg.com today or order a free Vegetarian Starter Guide.
