26 Jun Homework assignment 2 is to consider the 2 discussion
Question
Homework 2 Food discussion
Homework assignment 2 is to consider the 2 discussion proposals that appear
below. Read the 2 proposals and rationales for them.
DISCUSSION PROPOSAL 1.
We (the U.S government) should give away surplus grain to those
countries that can’t afford to buy it from us.
DISCUSSION PROPOSAL 2.
We should all become vegetarians to help feed the hungry people
in the world and reduce the environmental effects of livestock
production.
Rationale for Proposal 2: If everyone in the U.S. became a vegetarian,
an additional 250 million people in the world could be fed. This is
based on the following logic. In general, a unit of grain will feed 10
people if eaten directly but only 1 if eaten indirectly by first feeding it
to animals and then eating the animals. If our diet was completely
meat, then becoming vegetarian would mean that of the 10 units of
grain that would have gone to feeding animals, we take 1 for
ourselves leaving 9 units that could feed 9 other vegetarian people. In
actuality, only 25% of the calories in the American diet come from
meat. Therefore every individual who eliminates meat from his or her
diet would free up enough grain to feed about 2 other vegetarian
people (9 x 0.25). This argument presumes that all the food that
animals eat is also food we could eat, namely grain. Actually, for
animals such as cows, only about 50% of their food comes from
grains that are used in feedlots. The rest comes from rangeland and
pastures whose soils and precipitation are too poor to grow crops.
This means that becoming vegetarian would free up only the grain
used in feedlots. So we should reduce by about half our estimate of
how many other people could be fed by our becoming vegetarian.
This means we could feed 1 other person in the world by becoming
vegetarian. Since there are 260 million people in the U.S this means
that if we all became vegetarians about 250 million extra people
could be fed. Actually, we could accomplish this and still eat some
meat as long as it only came from free-ranging animals.
Food Facts
Consumption:
Food Facts
Consumption:
1) 1 billion people in the world suffer from chronic hunger
2) 40,000 children under 5 die each day from malnutrition and
infection
3) Worldwide, since 1950, per capita meat consumption has more
than doubled (100% increase)
4) In the U.S., since 1950, meat consumption has increased 65%
5) In the U.S 20% of daily calories come from protein, primarily from
meat, although good health can be maintained on only 5-6% of
calories from protein
6) By 2050 the world population will have increased from 7 billion at
present to 9 or 10 billion. Although this is not a doubling of the world
population, feeding this many people will require a doubling of
agricultural production because individuals are eating more food,
especially meat.
Production:
1) In the U.S. every week 2 million pigs are slaughtered, 200,000
cattle and 170 million chickens or turkeys
2) It takes 30 pounds of grain fed to cattle to get 1 pound of beef
3) 5% of cattle feed is converted to protein; the conversion rate is
higher for other animals: 13% for pigs, 25% for poultry and 30% for
fish
4) Making one hamburger uses 1.75 pounds of grain, 210 gallons of
water, and produces 12 pounds of organic waste (such as manure); if
the hamburger came from tropical beef, then 55 square feet of
rainforest was destroyed
5) Livestock production contributes 18% of the gases that cause
global warming.
6) 25% of world’s cropland (70% of U.S cropland) goes to feeding
animals
7) 42% of corn grown in the U.S. goes to feeding animals; only 7% is
used as human food (35% goes to ethanol and 17% is exported)
8) U.S corn accounts for 40% of world’s harvest; soybeans account
for 50%
9) The amount of land in agricultural production per person is
declining
10) 1/3 of world’s cropland has been abandoned because of overuse
11) 73% of world’s grazing lands have become desertified (i.e. have
less than 25% of their original livestock grazing capacity)
12) Land added to production has been the result of deforestation
13) Cropland yields are leveling off
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