Dear Log,
«Governments may have to persuade people to eat less meat because of increasing demands on water supplies, according to agricultural scientists investigating how the world can best feed itself[...]"Western diets, which depend largely on meat, are already putting great pressures on the environment. Meat-eaters consume the equivalent of about 5,000 litres [1,100 gallons] of water a day compared to the 1,000-2,000 litres used by people on vegetarian diets in developing countries. All that water has to come from somewhere." »
--"Meat-eaters soak up the world's water: A change in diets may be necessary to enable developing countries to feed their people, say scientists"
But it'll be easer for people in the rich countries to exercise their Sacred Constitutional right to have thrice-daily lethally chicken-fried baconburgers. Kiss your ass goodbye, poor people! (Sign my guestbook!)
How many are those "Meat-eaters" and how many are those "on vegetarian diets"? Unless I'm missing something here, that sentence sounds like if there's 5 of the "Meaters" for each vegetarian, then everyone's drinking the same... and that relation is surely over the 5 to 1
But anyway, it kind of makes sense... there's probably more water on vegetables then on meat.
Re:Percentages?
waltman on 2004-08-23T12:13:16
How many are those "Meat-eaters" and how many are those "on vegetarian diets"? Unless I'm missing something here, that sentence sounds like if there's 5 of the "Meaters" for each vegetarian, then everyone's drinking the same... and that relation is surely over the 5 to 1:-) But anyway, it kind of makes sense... there's probably more water on vegetables then on meat.
It's not just water that the livestock drinks, it's also water to grow all the food that it eats (which is primarily veggies).
Re:Percentages?
jdporter on 2004-09-07T19:18:38
Huh? Those numbers are per person, and "consumption" means water taken out of the reservoirs, or wherever the water comes from. To sustain one meat-eater, the environment needs to supply 5 kl H2O per day. To sustain one vegetarian, the environment needs to supply 1-2 kl H2O per day. Of course, the environment in any given locale can only supply so much water. There are two things people can do to stay within that limitation: (a) Have fewer humans; (b) keep their per-person water needs down. The prudent approach would do both.Re:Percentages?
cog on 2004-09-07T19:26:53
per person? 5,000 litres a day?:-| Doesn't that sound *way* too much? :-| Re:Percentages?
cog on 2004-09-07T19:27:22
And yes, I do take a bath every day:-) Re:Percentages?
jdporter on 2004-09-07T22:03:01
Yes... But I didn't do any fact-checking. I just re-phrased the factoids from the OP, for the hard-of-grokking.
Re:Nervous
TorgoX on 2004-09-08T00:32:33
How about: The government is working to persuade you to not starve to death.Re:Nervous
chaoticset on 2004-09-08T01:29:55
Well, they're apparently working too hard on that. I've gained a child actor in the last eight months.
