While the cause of world hunger is multi-faceted , meat consumption is a contributing factor. This is because much Third World grain and other food is fed to animals (to produce cheaper meat to be eaten in developed countries), not to hungry Third World people. World hunger adds another weighty issue to the vegetarian cause.
Worldwide, 100s of millions of people live with chronic hunger. More than a million people, many of them children, die of hunger-related causes each year. Most hunger-related deaths are due to chronic malnutrition.
Much of the world’s food is fed to animals, so that more affluent people can eat meat. Worldwide, in 2004, about 50 billion land animals were eaten by humans.
About 10 kg of food is fed to cows to produce 1 kg of beef. (The ratio of food to meat for other types of meat is less, but still represents major inefficiency.)
The world’s cattle alone consume a quantity of food more than enough to feed the Earth’s entire human population.
For example, more than 50% of the corn and oats grown in the US is fed to livestock, not to people.
Much plant food grown in third world countries is sold to developed countries to produce cheaper meats.
On the other hand, millions in the developed countries suffer from diseases related to over-consumption, often linked to meat eating, such as heart disease, stroke, hypertension and diabetes.
Although world hunger is a complex, multi-faceted issue, the high demand for meat is a contributing factor.
Meat consumption in much of the world is still on the rise. Modern animal farming is rapidly polluting and depleting our natural resources upon which all life depends.
Greater demand for meat leads to more deforestation, more water pollution, more soil degradation, and, ultimately, more hunger.
We can feed the world, improve our health and help preserve our fragile planet if we all move towards a plant-based diet.
By eating less or no meat at each meal, we all can make a difference in the world.
