Prince Charles tells America to cut down on steaks
Interesting article I found and wanted to share…
Tsem Rinpoche
Prince Charles tells America to cut down on steaks… for the sake of the world
- America’s appetite for beef is jeopardising the world’s water supply, the Prince of Wales said during a visit to the US.
By Jon Swaine, in Washington | 7:32AM BST 05 May 2011
In a speech in Washington, the Prince said that the need for vast amounts of irrigation in industrialised food production was threatening to deplete reserves of the “magical substance we have taken for granted for so long”.
“For every pound of beef produced in the industrial system, it takes two thousand gallons of water,” he told the Future of Food conference at Georgetown University.
“That is a lot of water and there is plenty of evidence that the Earth cannot keep up with the demand.”
Americans eat more than 41kg of beef a year on average, according to the UN, almost twice that consumed by Britons and four times the international average.
The Prince called for an overhaul of food production, championing organic and sustainable techniques, and also criticised the US for allowing the destruction of vast regions of its rural land.
“Here in the United States I am told one acre is lost to development every minute of every day, which means that since 1982 an area the size of Indiana has been built over,” he told the 700–strong audience. “Again, in the US, soil is being washed away 10 times faster than the Earth can replenish it.”
Five days after the marriage of Prince William, the Prince said his address made “a change from making embarrassing speeches about my eldest son”.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/8494171/Prince-Charles-tells-America-to-cut-down-on-steaks-…-for-the-sake-of-the-world.html
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Prince Charles speaks wonderfully of an advice to cut down on steaks during a visit to the US. American consumes more meat than nearly any other citizen of the world. Now, an increasing number of Americans are choosing to go vegetarian to help the planet. That’s right choice . A vegetarian diet has a much smaller eco-footprint than meat and more healthy. They have been cutting trees, clearing lands to make pasture land for cows which is bad for the environment. Reducing meat and dairy consumption is an urgent and necessary steps toward achieving a better future. Changing diets , changing farming practices and policies will definitely help to save land , water, killing of animals for meat and so forth.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
It’s true that we destroy our earth just to satisfy our taste bud and killing so many animals. So glad that Prince Charles warned and educate the public openly that the whole ecosystem is affected now and that the earth can’t afford to cater to the fast changing demand. All of us have responsibility to the environment and should do something about it. Stop eating meat and it will directly help the world to save water, land, weather and importantly reduce killing and suffering on animals.
Some people in America may think that, what is it gonna do with Prince Charles anyways? Well he’s not an American. But this is not just about America, it involves the whole world. It may cause the imbalance of ecosystems and later will become a serious problem. If the people cut down on steaks per day, it will help to save a lot of lives!
Thank You for sharing Rinpoche.
It is sad to see how people ruin their land and planet just for the sake of their unnecessary eating pleasure. According to Dr. David Brubaker, PhD, at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for a Livable Future, “The way that we breed animals for food is a threat to the planet. It pollutes our environment while consuming huge amounts of water, grain, petroleum, pesticides and drugs. The results are disastrous.”
Vegetarian meals are delicious too and it brings no harm to environment too! Most importantly, it doesn’t need to kill animals just for our eating pleasure. Pleasure comes from many ways, not necessarily from killing animals and eat their flesh.
http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/category/food-recipes Here’s the recipes for various yummy vegetarian meals. Try them! 😀
I lime what Prince Charles is doing here, he is helping the world and its animals. And as a plus, he is also helping the people, by eating less steak or eating no steak at all, your health will increase. And i can’t imagine the amount of lives that would save if the people in America eat less steak, that would save thousands and thousands of lives. Thank you for sharing this with us Rinpoche.
Prince Charles is certainly a pragmatist about this and rightly so, the amount of resources required for the production of meat surpasses the amount of resources to produce vegetables.
The fact that demand for steak and other meat items are still massively produced was because of the high demand (sad to say) for the said items. Unknowingly, these are silent killers, eating meat creates health problems for us and now affecting mother earth. What’s next? So we should stop eating meat or at least eat lesser for a start.
Meat production is one of the biggest culprit for damaging the earth’s environment. Prince Charles has rightly pointed out that a lot of water are consumed for the production of meat. Eating less steaks will certainly reduce the demand for more beef and hence reduce the consumption of water.
We must wake up, meat production has caused too much damage to our environment . We must educate the public about the danger of continuing our current lifetsyle.
We have a responsibility to preserve the earth for our future generation.
Stop eating meat !
Wow… That is lots of resources being used just because of the human needs…! It is a shock to know about this truth. It’s is very harmful to our mother earth. Thank you for the post Rinpoche. Now I know what to do 🙂
It is really amazing how much meat the Americans are eating on a daily basis. I know people who must eat meat everyday and I find it rather odd. What is one or two days without meat for a healthier body? Who said that the body must have meat to sustain? There are so much beans and vegetables that can be healthy and give the amount of protein that our body needs.
We can assume a global responsibility by participating in greening Mother Earth by going vegetarian. At the same time we are making a smarter choice to become healthier. Prince Charles has the foresight by urging people to reduce meat consumption and to go on sustainable organic farming This is the way to go, it greens our Planet Earth.
It’s refreshing that the Prince is promoting the decrease of beef consumption due to environmental issues. We need more prominent figures to promote this. It will also decrease the number of cattle from suffering and dying just to feed our stomachs.
If we still continue to be in denial and ignore this appeal, we will experience more environmental problems.
There is so much resources spent on maintaining, feeding and growing livestock. From when they are grazing on the greens, the water, feed, corn, are excessively depleted. After that, the transportation of the livestock from the farm to the slaughterhouse causes environmental pollution, alot of usage with diesel, and most importantly, discomfort for the livestock – all that just for the satisfaction of our tastebuds.
The taste that lingers on our tastebuds are temporary – it doesn’t last, after the meal, we go to the toilet, and then it’s forgotten. BUT what lingers is the karma created. What lingers is that a life was lost for your meal. What lingers is that the environment got a little bit more polluted because of your meal. What lingers is the depletion of our resources. Is all of this worth it just for one meal?
It is not like we cannot survive without meat, or one less steak. I thought I couldn’t but I have. Nothing is impossible. It is just mind over matter.
In the 80s, most of the people who become vegetarian because of religion. In the 90s, the main reason for people to become vegetarian is because of health. Now, driving force behind the vegetarianism is for the environment.
It is very hard to believe that how much resource has been spent just to produce a piece of steak. With the same resources, I felt we can almost eradicate famine in Africa.
If it is difficult for you to go 100% vegetarian, at least cut down meat. I felt that’s the least one can do for our mother earth.
Dear Lew,
I like your comparison of the habits of the different decades. I wonder if it should be considered progress – where we move from self centered reasons for becoming vegetarian (health) to something that affects more than just ourselves (environment).
I am glad the reason for becoming vegetarian is less focused on religion — why? because it makes vegetarianism more open to everyone else and less focused on a particular religious group. The best reason to be vegetarian is because we do not want to cause pain and suffering on another living being. Why? Its fact based, its kind, its harmless and it is logical. I hope more people adopt this.
Good article.