In a world where protein is not distributed in an equitable fashion it is unjust to eat meat at all when the grain used to feed meat animals could directly feed larger numbers of people. Seventy percent of U.S. grain production, says Alan Durning, goes to feed animals raised for food, and 66 percent of U.S. grain exports are consumed by meat animals. According to the L.A. Times, the energy equivalent to produce one pound of grain-fed beef is equivalent to a gallon of gasoline, and almost half of the energy expended in American agriculture is devoted to livestock production. According to a recent report by The Worldwatch Institute, the average U.S. family of four eats enough beef in a year to burn 200 gallons of fossil fuel. These are the Jewish traditions related to consciously affirming a sense of holiness and blessing in life.
Money reveals and conceals the interactions between humans and the earth.
When we think of money as a metaphor for the bounty of our planet, it becomes a spiritual issue. These things that, by his science and technology, man has brought about on this earth, on which he first appeared as a feeble animal organism . . . Putting a value on biodiversity requires an assessment of biological resources and an estimate of changes in biodiversity in economic terms. Charles Hall, a professor at Syracuse, calculated that every American dollar or its equivalent spent anywhere on the planet triggers a series of events that generally consume a half-liter of petroleum. A gallon of oil when burned releases 5 pounds of carbon into the atmosphere.