It is not news that there is a mounting food crisis in the world. In the U.S. what makes the biggest headlines is that corn has been diverted to ethanol production, raising the price of corn as food. But the problem goes well beyond corn. The World Bank reports that in the past year the price of grains has risen 42%, corn has doubled in price since 2006, and rice, the staple the world relies on most, is up a horrific 147%. Just when the world’s poor had been reduced to a billion – a staggering number, to be sure – the U.N.’s world food program believes that 100 million have been thrown back into the poverty pit.
       The problem also goes well beyond ethanol, and that’s where all of us can help. Some 80% of U.S. grain is fed to livestock. A 1050-lb steer eats 2700-lbs of feed during the 3 years preceding its slaughter. Instead of feeding humans with grain that is needed around the planet, we are feeding on average four to five pounds to animals so as to put one pound of meat on our family’s plates.
The message? Let's eat less meat        Wasted grain is not the only reason to cut back on meat. Worldwide, the meat industry contributes about 18% of greenhouse-gas emission, said a report from the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization. That’s even more than transportation generates. The emissions take the form of methane, which — we’ll let the New York Times choose the words for us — is "the natural result of bovine digestion”. As a greenhouse gas, methane is 23 times as potent as carbon dioxide. Then there is the manure and its nitrous oxide — with a greenhouse effect almost 300 times greater than CO2. Once used to fertilize the fields when family farms raised both livestock and crops, manure today has nowhere to go other than the giant “poop lagoons” that are asphyxiating states like North Carolina.
       As for CO2 itself, doubly-emitting refrigerated trucks bring the meat from feedlots and slaughterhouses that may be half the country away from you, contributing to the statistic that we have probably all seen: that our average mouthful has traveled 1,500 miles.
       It’s easy to cut down on meat, and in today’s economy, you will certainly save money. You can cut meat consumption in half by combining it with other ingredients — with a big boost in flavor variation in the bargain. Instead of throwing steaks on the grill, buy half as much, skewer it with mushrooms, peppers and onions and make shish-kebab; instead of pork chops, buy half as many, dice them and combine with peas, scallions, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil to make pork fried rice. There is no end of possibilities, and the Internet with its uncountable recipes will think of them for you. Just enter ingredient pairs, such as “beans+steak” into a search engine .
       And, of course, every meal does not need to have meat. It is high in calories, adding to America’s waistlines, potentially leading to diabetes and — red meat in particular — cardiovascular diseases. So you would be cutting back for health reasons as well.
        Michael Pollan, author "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and more recently, "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto"", sums it up as follows: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants”.
      - Stephen Wilson