Media Coverage of California Water Shortage Omits Biggest Culprit — Animal Agriculture
The News
In its extensive coverage of the California drought, the New York Times has consistently focused on the cultivation of crops without so much as mentioning animal agriculture, which is far more water intensive.
Cattle during California drought (photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)
The glaring omission has sent readers the message that fruits, vegetables and nuts – not beef and dairy – are responsible for the state’s grave water shortage. Following are excerpts from the NY Times over the past three days.
April 6th: “Even as the worst drought in decades ravages California, . . . millions of pounds of thirsty crops like oranges, tomatoes and almonds continue to stream out of the state and onto the nation’s grocery shelves.”
April 5th: “The expansion of almonds, walnuts and other water-guzzling tree and vine crops has come under sharp criticism from some urban Californians.”
April 4th: ”There is likely to be increased pressure on the farms to move away from certain water-intensive crops — like almonds.”
Cultivating crops might be be water intensive, but it uses a fraction of the water consumed in animal agriculture. On California’s factory farms, which house tens of millions of chickens, pigs and cows, water is used not only to hydrate these animals but also to grow their feed and clean the facilities and slaughterhouses where they are raised and killed.
Cows in a California feedlot
Eliminating animal agriculture, which inefficiently uses of a scarce resource and is altogether unnecessary, would undoubtedly help to curb California’s water shortage.
2014 Climate March participants highlighted impact of animal agriculture on water supply
Following are just a few statistics that demonstrate the impact of animal agriculture on the water supply:
- 2,500 gallons of water are used to produce one pound of beef compared to 100 gallons for a pound of wheat.
- Vegetables use about 11,300 gallons of blue* water per ton. Pork, beef and butter use 121,000, 145,000 and 122,800 gallons per ton respectively. (*Blue water is water stored in lakes, rivers and aquifers.)
- Each day, cows consume 23 gallons of water; humans drink less than one.
- The amount of water needed to produce a gallon of milk is equivalent to one month of showers.
- 132 gallons of water are used every time an animal is slaughtered.
One year ago (March, 2014), the NY Times published an op-ed, Meat Makes the Planet Thirsty, that included statistics comparing the amount of water used for crops and animals. So why is it omitting this vital information in its current coverage of the drought? Could it be a mere oversight? Or is it something more sinister?
2014 Climate March participants highlighted impact of animal agriculture on water supply
2 opmerkingen:
'One in every seven people in the world does not have adequate access to food. We are a long way from realizing the internationally recognized right to quantitatively and qualitatively sufficient food. On the contrary, almost a billion people in the world go hungry, largely because the middle classes’ craving for meat creates large-scale, intensive livestock and food industries.'
Uit: The Meatatlas a friends-of-the-earth publication.
En Louise Fresco maar roepen dat GMO's het antwoord zijn op de hongerproblematiek. GMO's van bedrijven met de grootste financiële belangen, de grootste lobby binnen het bio-industrieel-complex, de fabrieksmatige dierhouderij. En de biologische dierhouderij heeft aanmerkelijk meer grond nodig en is daarmee eveneens gediskwalificeerd. De meest simpele oplossing waaraan iedereen kan bijdragen is op z'n minst de eigen vlees- en zuivelconsumptie te beperken. Daarnaast de politiek verantwoordelijken te dwingen de ecologische footprint te verdisconteren in de prijs waar nu sprake is van een mega gesubsidieerde industrie.
Zal de directeur van de LH in Wageningen allemaal een worst zijn. Een hele dure worst, dat dan weer wel, waarvan het water in haar mond loopt. Honger vluchtelingen liggen in het verschiet, meekomend op boten met de stijgende zeespiegel wanneer het hen daarvoor niet aan kracht zal ontbreken de wijk te kunnen nemen. Ergens ver, ver, ver weg.
Off topic
Een spinnetje ziet zichzelf in de spiegel. Niet zo fraai als de Peacock Spider maar dan ook niet in de laatste plaats vanwege de betoverende compositie eronder die aan Debussy en Satie doet denken en dat mij, als de homo melancholicus die ik ook ben, telkens bij het beluisteren diep weet te raken.
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