America is experiencing an obesity epidemic. There are also 46.5 million Americans who are without food. Finally, the levels of methane in the atmosphere have increased dramatically since the industrial revolution. What do all of these seemingly unlinked problems have in common? They are all related to the elevated consumption of meat in America, and they can all be improved by instituting “Meatless Mondays."
Daily, Americans eat more than a quarter of their daily recommended calories in meat. Instead of eating meat, they could be consuming meat substitutes that contain significantly less calories. In fact, if a person replaced all the meat they eat with tofu just one day each week, they would reduce their yearly caloric intake by about 22,675 calories. They would also still be consuming the healthy fats and protein needed that is found in meat. This decrease in calories while maintaining intake of the necessary fats and proteins can help push America in a healthier direction.
Meat does not only contribute to the obesity epidemic in America, it also decreases the amount of food available to everyone. There are currently millions of Americans starving, yet America produces enough food to feed everyone in the United States. Where is all this food going? To feed the animals raised for their meat. Approximately 1/3 of the food grown in America is used to feed cattle, pigs, chickens, and other animals. This is not only unsustainable, this is outrageous! According to the biological rule of 10 percent, only 10 percent of an organism's energy is passed on to the organism that eats it. Due to this, a human would have to eat a cow who has eaten 10 ears of corn to receive the same amount of energy they would get from eating one ear of corn. If humans just ate the corn instead of the cow, food prices would be much cheaper and there would be enough for everyone.
The final problem associated with the over consumption of meat in America is that it is a major contributor to global warming. Since 1750, the amount of methane in the atmosphere has increased from 722 parts per billion to 1893 parts per billion. This is partially related to the methane produced by cattle waste. In 1750, only about one pound of meat was consumed per week, and today on average three pounds of meat are consumed each week. The increase in cattle needed to satisfy the elevated demand for meat has also increased methane levels in the atmosphere which contribute to global warming. While cars and factories also release greenhouse gases, the agriculture industry is responsible for 18 percent of the greenhouse gases currently in the atmosphere. This is an absurd amount of gas produced from cattle and is easily reduced by decreasing the demand for meat.
America today suffers from many problems. Obesity, hunger, and global warming are all issues that can be exponentially decreased with minimal sacrifice. If citizens utilize the readily available meat substitutes their carbon footprints will decrease, as well as their weight and their citizens who do not get enough food. Meatless Mondays are not difficult to institute and their impact on America’s problems is substantial. Give up meat once a week and do your part to make America great again!
