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Need Motivation to Eat Less Meat and More Plants? Part 10 of 12


Robyn Openshaw - Sep 10, 2008 - This Post May Contain Affiliate Links


Today, stats about hunger in the world, and how this is related to a plant-based diet:

  • Number of UNDERFED and malnourished people in the world: 1.2 billion
  • Number of OVERFED and malnourished people in the world: 1.2 billion
  • Both groups have high levels of sickness and disability and shortened life expectancies
  • Weight of the world’s cattle compared to weight of the world’s people: nearly double
  • Area of Earth’s total land mass used as pasture for cattle/livestock: 50%
  • Grassland needed to support one cow under optimal conditions: 2.5 acres
  • Grassland needed to support one cow under much more common marginal conditions: 50 acres
  • Pounds of grain needed to produce 1 lb. of beef: 17
  • U.S. corn eaten by people: 2 percent
  • U.S. corn eaten by livestock: 77 percent
  • U.S. farmland producing vegetables: 4 million acres
  • U.S. farmland producing hay for livestock: 56 million acres
  • U.S. grain and cereals fed to livestock: 70 percent
  • Human beings who could be fed by the grain and soybeans eaten by U.S. livestock: 1,400,000,000
  • World’s population living in the U.S.:   4 percent
  • World’s beef eaten in the U.S.: 23 percent

Posted in: Eco Friendly Living, Lifestyle, Whole Food

13 thoughts on “Need Motivation to Eat Less Meat and More Plants? Part 10 of 12”

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  1. Wow these numbers are revelatory. I was just wondering where you found them. (Not that I doubt them, I’m just curious)

  2. http:// says:

    All of these stats can be found in John Robbins’ The Food Revolution (he draws on many sources, all cited).

  3. Can you answer an unrelated question? We’re having a debate on my mom’s board about whether or not raw or cooked spinach is better for you. This is the conclusion they came to, listed from what’s best for you to what’s not as good:

    cooked greens with leafs intact

    lightly chopped cooked greens

    chopped fine in food

    pureed in blenders cooked

    raw, pureed in blenders

    That just doesn’t seem right to me. Do you have any insight? I’d be happy to link you to the thread, as it’s a public discussion.

  4. This has nothing to do with the posts! Although I have been loving the statistics! I read about this today and have looked at their adds. I keep remembering and have heard you say it “look at the source” hummm 😉 If you had not already heard about it just thought you all might like to know. It’s amazing how much money is spent trying to keep us buying stuff we know really isn’t helping us be healthy. I hope though with GSG and others out there now people are armed with more accurate info and won’t buy into the marketing!

    http://www.sweetsurprise.com/index.php

  5. http:// says:

    Read about OXALATES in Ch. 1 of 12 Steps for my more detailed answer about why raw spinach (ditto other greens) is the best food and 99.9% of us do not need to worry about oxalates. When you apply heat to raw foods, the enzymes die. Enzymes are the most important deficit in the Western diet currently (followed by close seconds fiber, and minerals–both of which spinach supply very well, especially in their raw forms).

    The whole oxalate issue is, I believe, a tempest in a teapot, unless someone has already (through malnutrition and organ burnout) acquired a one of just a few very rare maladies for which oxalates are a problem.

    (You’re welcome to quote Ch. 1 from me on that discussion board, to give more detail.)

    Robyn

  6. Anonymous says:

    1/2 the world is being used for livestock??? Did I read that correctly??? Am I understanding??? Or sickingly shocked!

  7. I have to confess I’ve been holding off on subscribing to the 12-steps until it comes out in printed form. I thought I heard you mention that you’re releasing them as a book?

  8. http:// says:

    Funny you should bring that up. I have an offer this week from a publisher to write a book for them on green smoothies. It would be the only mass marketed book on green smoothies (Boutenko’s being self-published and therefore not in book stores). However, to sign the contract with them, I am prevented from shopping 12 Steps to Whole Foods to another publisher (since a small part of 12 Steps competes with the other book). That leaves me with self-publishing, or continuing to provide it only as an e-book, or waiting for that same publisher to buy 12 Steps in a year (or longer). So I’ve been debating the issue in my head this week before signing a contract. Bottom line–I don’t know when it will be published, my earlier projection of early ’09 being very ambitious.

    I have changed the delivery method, however, to sending EVERYTHING we’ve done so far, in the first email. So people subscribing now get everything through Ch. 9, and then a chapter a month until it’s complete.

    Robyn

  9. Anonymous says:

    Hi Robyn: I met Victoria Boutenko last weekend at the Simplyraw Festival here in Ottawa. She mentioned that many publishers have approached her re her book. However, in spite of doing it on her own and with no publicity, she has still managed to sell around 105,000 copies. Pretty amazing number. I guess if you go with a publisher, will you be able to be on Amazon too? I am not sure how it actually works if you sign a contract. Depends what your goal is too … to make a lot of money, to help as many people as possible, etc. Coming from a marketing background many moons ago, I know that one needs to have a clear picture and to be really focused on the outcome. One suggestion, pray about it … you being an LDSer, and me hanging around with them.

    And talking about praying, if I can request a prayer for me. I have just had surgery where I had to fast. No problem!!! Thank goodness for green smoothies. I thoroughly enjoyed my litre jar an hour after recovery. And they wanted me to have a muffin and orange juice. Yuk, the thought of that.

  10. http:// says:

    Happy to oblige on the prayer request, Hal–I hope you are feeling well and continue to recover with the help of GS!

    Yes, I just saw some photos of V. Boutenko with the raw divas at SimplyRaw Festival.

    Yes, the advantage of a publisher is the mass distribution channels (in bookstores everywhere). I’m thinking I will probably compare how I like writing the green smoothie book for the publisher next spring, while self-publishing 12 Steps about the same time or earlier.

  11. Anonymous says:

    I’m just curious, how long has the 12 steps been out? Are we the first ones using the plan?

  12. http:// says:

    I started 12 Steps shortly before the beginning of ’08, released the first chapter Jan. 1 ’08, and have been researching, writing, and developing recipes all year. So everyone subscribing this year I consider “beta testers”–and I love getting your feedback via email or blog.

    Robyn

  13. Thanks for the info on the book. Maybe I’ll subscribe for Christmas 🙂

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