In a Dec. 27 letter, Steven Hedlund writes, “The world’s problems (disease, climate change, etc.) cannot simply be solved by eating more vegetables and less meat and seafood.” Current scientific studies refute this opinion.
The majority of grains grown in the U.S. go to feeding livestock animals, not people. Globally, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, nearly 80 percent of usable farmland is used to raise animals. Fewer people would go hungry if we reduced our meat and dairy consumption and instead used the land to grow protein-rich food for humans.
It should also be noted that global viral pandemics (like COVID-19) do not originate in plants. These zoonotic viruses originate in wildlife and domesticated animals and are then transmitted to humans. Growing and eating plants does not cause viral pandemics.
Animal agriculture (the industrial meat and dairy industries) is one of the largest drivers of global warming and climate change. Deforestation to grow crops for animal consumption causes a rise in global temperatures. Methane is a greenhouse gas with an immense ability to trap heat in the atmosphere. Livestock feeding practices and manure are responsible for 40 percent of total human-caused methane emissions.
For more factual information, check out the ChasingCoral.com; the documentaries “Dominion” and “Earthlings,” available on YouTube; and National Geographic’s “Greenhouse Effect.”
Reducing demand for animal agriculture and adopting a plant-based diet is necessary not only in reducing climate change, global pandemics and food shortages, but will also reduce health care costs. Diet-related diseases are a leading cause of death in America.
Stephen Simpson
Portland
Send questions/comments to the editors.
