The Startling Effects of Going Vegetarian for Just One Day

I’ve written extensively on the consequences of eating meat — on our health, our sense of “right living”, and on the environment. It is one of those daily practices that has such a broad and deep effect that I think it merits looking at over and over again, from all the different perspectives. Sometimes, solutions to the world’s biggest problems are right in front of us. The following statistics are eye-opening, to say the least.

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save:

● 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months;

● 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year;

● 70 million gallons of gas — enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare;

● 3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware;

● 33 tons of antibiotics.

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would prevent:

● Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as produced by all of France;

● 3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic damages;

● 4.5 million tons of animal excrement;

● Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant.

My favorite statistic is this: According to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads. See how easy it is to make an impact?

Other points:

Globally, we feed 756 million tons of grain to farmed animals. As Princeton bioethicist Peter Singer notes in his new book, if we fed that grain to the 1.4 billion people who are living in abject poverty, each of them would be provided more than half a ton of grain, or about 3 pounds of grain/day — that’s twice the grain they would need to survive. And that doesn’t even include the 225 million tons of soy that are produced every year, almost all of which is fed to farmed animals. He writes, “The world is not running out of food. The problem is that we — the relatively affluent — have found a way to consume four or five times as much food as would be possible, if we were to eat the crops we grow directly.”

A recent United Nations report titled Livestock’s Long Shadow concluded that the meat industry causes almost 40% more greenhouse gas emissions than all the world’s transportation systems — that’s all the cars, trucks, SUVs, planes and ships in the world combined. The report also concluded that factory farming is one of the biggest contributors to the most serious environmental problems at every level — local and global.

Researchers at the University of Chicago concluded that switching from standard American diet to a vegan diet is more effective in the fight against global warming than switching from a standard American car to a hybrid.

In its report, the U.N. found that the meat industry causes local and global environmental problems even beyond global warming. It said that the meat industry should be a main focus in every discussion of land degradation, climate change and air pollution, water shortages and pollution, and loss of biodiversity.

Unattributed statistics were calculated from scientific reports by Noam Mohr, a physicist with the New York University Polytechnic Institute.

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Act according to the direction of Krishna

excerpt from lecture, Los Angeles, Dec 4, 1968

We recommend not exactly nonvegetarian diet. We [prescribe] vegetarian diet, we restrict from nonvegetarian diet, but we recommend Krishna prasadam. We have no quarrel with the nonvegetarians, because vegetable also has got life. The plants, the grass, the trees, the fruits, the flowers, they have also life. They are not dead. So simply becoming vegetarian is no great qualification. Somebody is taking meat and somebody is taking vegetable; it does not make any difference. But we are taking vegetables not as vegetarian. We are taking as Krishna prasadam, remnants of foodstuff offered to Krishna. Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita that,

patram pushpam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktyä prayacchati
tad aham bhakty-upahritam
ashnami prayatatmanah [Bg. 9.26]

Krishna said that “If somebody offers Me some foodstuff prepared from vegetables and fruits and grains”—grains are also fruits—”so with love and devotion, then I eat.” Therefore we offer these things to Krishna. Just like here, we have offered fruits. Not that because we are vegetarian, but Krishna wants this. Just like if you invite some of your friend, you ask him, “My dear friend, what do you like to eat?” So if he says, “I like this,” so you immediately supply. This is the sign of love. Similarly, because Krishna says, “If somebody offers Me fruits, flowers, grains, milk, with devotion and love, I will eat,” so we are pledged to Krishna, I offer these things to Krishna, and we eat. That is our process. We have no quarrel with nonvegetarian or vegetarian. No. Because vegetable has also got life. And in the Bhagavad-gita it is also stated that yajña-shishtashinah santo muchyante sarva-kilbishaih. You have to eat after offering sacrifice. Sacrifice means to worship the Supreme Lord. That is called sacrifice. So if anyone eats the remnants of sacrificial foodstuff, then he is freed from all kinds of sins. The purport is that those who are vegetarian, they are thinking that “We are better than the nonvegetarian.” But it is not the fact. Either you eat vegetables or nonvegetable, you are liable to be punished because you are accepting something without offering to the supplier. That is the law. We must acknowledge at least that “This foodstuff is supplied by the Supreme Lord, and we are obliged to Him.” In Christian Bible also, they pray, “O God, give us our daily bread.” So one should accept that it is supplied by God. So if one does not even accept this obligation, then he is sinful, certainly. So, yajñarthat karmano ‘nyatra. Yajña-shishtashinah santo muchyante sarva-kilbishaih. One who offers sacrifice and then he takes foodstuff, then he becomes freed from the sinful activities. In the eating there is sinful activity also. But bhuñjate te tv agham papa ye pachanty atma-karanat: [Bg. 3.13] anyone who is simply cooking for himself, he is simply eating sins. These are the statements of Bhagavad-gita. Therefore it is our duty to offer foodstuff to the Lord and then take it: “My Lord, You have supplied so nice foodstuff for my maintaining my life, so You first of all taste it, and then I shall eat it.” It is very nice. This is Krishna consciousness. This is Krishna consciousness. Krishna is not going to take your foodstuff. But simply if you think like that, then you become freed from the implication of sinful activities.

We are in such a position that in every step there is sinful activity, every step. This world is so made. Just like nonviolence. Nonviolence, the Buddhist philosophy, the Jain philosophy, they advocate nonviolence. But how one can be nonviolent? We are walking on the street, there are so many ants and small germs, they are being killed. We are breathing, so many animals are being killed. We are drinking water, so many animals are being killed. How it is possible to become nonviolent? It is not possible. Therefore in every step we have to act in Krishna consciousness, or God consciousness. Then there is indemnity from the sinful activities. That is recommended in the Bhagavad-gita, that yajñarthat karmano ‘nyatra loko ‘yam karma-bandhanah [Bg. 3.9]. Unless you act in Krishna consciousness, or God consciousness, or as ordered by Krishna, or God, then you become bound up by the reaction.

yajñarthat karmano ‘nyatra
loko ‘yam karma-bandhanah
tad-artham karma kaunteya
mukta-sangah samachara [Bg. 3.9]

“Therefore, My dear Arjuna,” Krishna instructing Arjuna, that “you simply act for Krishna, or God,” tad-artham, “not for any other purpose.” Don’t create your action. Simply act according to the direction of the Lord. Mukta-sangah samachara. Then you will be freed from the reaction of your act. There are many examples. Just like a soldier: when he is killing in the battlefield on the higher authorities of government and commander-in-chief, he is not liable for killing. He is, rather, rewarded. The same man, if he kills on his own account somebody, he is hanged. Immediately he becomes liable to the law.

Therefore the whole life should be so modeled that we shall simply act for God, or Krishna. That is Krishna consciousness.