These days, most Americans consider themselves to be red, white, and blue and green. According to polls, three-quarters of us are environmentalists. We recycle our garbage, hang our wash on the line to dry, and even compost our supper scraps to make the world a better place. But if we really want to soothe Mother Earth's ills, we can't do it on a diet of chicken, fish, pork, and beef. Try as you might, you simply aren't an environmentalist until you start eating green.
Environmental groups, including the National Audubon Society and the Union of Concerned Scientists, have recognized that raising animals for food has a worse effect on the planet than just about anything else we can do.
America's meat addiction is steadily poisoning and depleting our clean water, arable land, and fresh air. In fact, raising animals for food requires more water than all other uses of water combined, causes more water pollution than any other activity, is responsible for 85 percent of U.S. soil erosion, and requires one-third of all raw materials used in this country (with the air pollution that entails). According to the Environmental Protection Agency, hog, chicken, and cattle waste has polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated groundwater in 17 states.
"We don't inherit the land from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."
-Pennsylvania Dutch saying
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