You may not associate vegetarianism with environmentalism, but studies prove there is a correlation. The Sierra Club reports that compared with a burger, having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich saves as much as 2.5 pounds of carbon dioxide, 280 gallons of water and 50 square feet of land. It should be a no-brainer that eating from the bottom of the food chain is more environmentally efficient than eating from the top. Unfortunately, even some of the most outspoken environmental advocates don’t seem to grasp this concept. As much as I respect Al Gore for his documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth”, I find the hypocrisy of his meat-eating habits to be totally inconsistent with his eco-philosophy.
Even if you don’t agree with the message, you can’t argue with the facts. The United Nations has even published a report stating: “The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.” Countless studies show that raising animals for food contributes to global warming, causes air pollution, water pollution and land degradation.
Global Warming