The Union of Concerned Scientists cites food production as second only to transportation in degrading our environment, with meat the major factor, accounting for 25 percent of threats to natural ecosystems. This is how:

Global Warming: Burning fossil fuel creates carbon dioxide (CO2), the main cause of global warming. This is an integral part of meat processing, including transportation and production of fertilizers for grains grown for livestock. Producing one pound of beef generates as much CO2 as burning a half gallon of gasoline. Also, livestock, through their belching and manure, generate huge amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas 21 times more powerful than CO2. Finally, millions of acres of rain forest have been cleared for meat production, devastating one of the world’s great resources for removing CO2 from the atmosphere.

Water Supply: About 18% of the world’s water is used for livestock feed, including enormous amounts for irrigation. To produce one pound of beef requires 2,500 gallons of water, the equivalent of 500 showers. Aquifers and surface water all over the world are in serious jeopardy of depletion, which could turn now-productive farmland into dust bowls. Many scientists believe water will surpass energy in the near future as humanity’s most serious shortage.

Water and Air Pollution: The sheer amount of manure produced by livestock, two billion tons a year, is wreaking havoc on the environment. One gas generated from manure, hydrogen sulfide, causes illness ranging from sore throats to seizures. Manure from factory farms of pigs and chickens contaminates drinking water and has already caused several disease outbreaks and millions of fish deaths.

Marine Ecosystems: In the last 40 years, the number of fisheries fully exploited, over-exploited or collapsed has risen from five percent to 60 percent. Some fish, including Atlantic cod and haddock, have almost disappeared. Like any other species, devastation to one will affect the entire food chain.

One hundred years ago, people ate fruit, vegetables, meat and milk that more often than not were produced just down the road or at least near where they lived. Today most food travels thousand of miles between the farm and the family dining room table. Consumer supported agriculture (CSA) is a nationwide movement to promote the connection between local food for local consumers. An 18-month study of the Southwest Colorado food scene by a partnership of five local organizations shows there is growing consumer interest in CSA, but consumer appetite appears to be far ahead of what is being produced. In Southwest Colorado, as well as the rest of the nation, CSA has fallen off during past decades for reasons to include: pressure to develop cropland; industrialization of food supply; globalization of markets and subsidized energy.

SOS Related Activities:
CSA was the SOS’s theme for the second quarter 2007 environmental programming. The series began on April 27th with an environmental cinema showing of “The Real Dirt About Farmer Brown” (over 30 in attendance). This was followed the next month with a May 18th speaker presentation by local CSA expert, Jim Dyer. The well attended June 22nd work session focused on what we can do locally to encourage CSA. The outcome of the work session included, but was not limited to:

● Community garden work and promotion;
● Development of a local CSA directory;
● Farmers market work and promotion;
● Geothermal heated greenhouse community garden/demonstration project; and
● Work with local schools to get more locally grown food on to the menu.

What you can do...
● Join and support SOS activities with a $10 per year membership fee.
● Join the SOS CSA Subcommittee (see contact information below).
● Commit to going one or more days a week without eating any meat or fish.
● Eat at least five meals a week that include local fruits or vegetables.
● Eat at least five meals a week that include organic food.
● Become a vegetarian.

Related Facts:
● It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef and eight pounds of grain to produce one pound of pork.
● In the U.S., 70 percent of grain is fed to animals.
● Many third-world nations have converted farmland that once grew food for their own citizens to produce feed for livestock exported to Western nations. This is a significant loss of potential food for the world’s hungry.
● Approximately one billion people (one out of six humans on the planet) don’t have enough to eat.
● Every year, 60 million people starve to death or die of nutrition-related diseases.
● The causes of world hunger are complex, but include poverty, distribution, political problems and meat production.

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