Interestingly, consuming too many animal products is the primary cause of cancer and heart disease according to The China Study and Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Dr. Esselstyn.
Jared Diamond makes sure to look at cultures that avoided collapse by taking care of and protecting their environment. In the book one culture lives on a really small island and there are no islands near by. This is how life is on Earth for us. We are here by ourselves and if we don't take care of Mother Earth then there are no inhabitable rocks left for us to go live on. This island culture turned their island into a garden of eden to help save themselves environmentally. Every single plant on the island produced some type of food or something to make clothers or other useful items.
Imagine walking through a city surrounded by trees producing every type of edible fruit imaginable. That would be a city where everyone would always have nutritious food and those trees would produce oxygen for the environment. Every time you eat fruit that is a message to the world to plant more fruit trees. The same is not true for a hamburger, because according to Jeremy Rifkin an acre of forest is destroyed every five seconds for cattle grazing or growing crops for livestock. In the book, Diet For New America, John Robbins points out how over 80% of crops are used to feed livestock instead of people.
Food For Life is an organization that is aware of how producing animal products is the primary cause of world hunger. They have been feeding 100% plant-based meals to hungry people around the world for over 30 years.
We have a choice about our own future and the future of this planet. Humans can evolve and so can societies.
Dr. Will Tuttle wrote the book The World Peace Diet. His message is basically the same as Collapse. Our society needs to stop eating so many animal products if we want to save ourselves and this world. My favorite song in the world is called, "If You Could Save Yourself, You'd Save Us All" by Ween. It is so true.My favorite part of The World Peace Diet is when Dr. Will Tuttle explains that the World Cancer Research Fund looked at 4,500 different studies and then concluded that animal products cause cancer. There recommendation was to avoid animal products and eat fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts. That is the same diet that Dr. Fuhrman and Dr. Esselstyn are using to reverse disease in their patients.
The ultimate message here is if we want a better world we need to start working on ourselves. We can't point fingers and blame someone else or just pretend that things are fine. We also can't avoid the truth because it is too depressing. We need to face the facts and start learning how we can help save this planet.According to the book, Ecological Integrity by professor David Pimentel it takes 12,000 gallons to produce one pound of beef and 60 gallons to produce a pound of potatoes. Every time I eat a pound of potatoes instead of a pound of a beef I am saving up to 11,940 gallons of water for future generations. The same goes for when I choose beans over meat. One cup of beans provides 30% of my protein for the day and 30% of my iron.
Eating this way has gotten my total cholesterol to 116 so far.
Check out http://www.earthsavetv.org/ for some videos on the problem and the solutions. Eating more meals that are 100% plant-based is definitely the solution.
