Preventing heart disease and lowering blood pressure. Preventing and reversing diabetes. Preventing and alleviating gallstones, kidney stones and osteoporosis. Preventing and alleviating asthma. That same 5,000 gallons of water can produce 200 pounds of wheat.
Starvation is the most avoidable tragedy of our planet.
Ranching has a nasty way of contributing to large-scale topsoil erosion, and without the topsoil, it's tough to have a productive farm. Furthermore, the ranching and animal-farming industries have grown to such a scale that in areas that have strong industries, the ground water and earth in the areas are choked with the waste of these animals. Remember, too, that to have a ranch that can efficiently slaughter so many cattle, pork, and poultry, the grain to feed these animals must be shipped by truck and rail great distances from where it was grown. Once the animals are slaughtered, their carcasses are shipped all over the country. It's easier on our already diminishing fuel resources and ozone layer simply to buy locally grown produce and eat it ourselves.