We are living in a finite world with a finite amount of natural resources. This statement will not surprise anyone on a logical level, although we certainly live as though the world has infinite natural resources. By “we” I mostly mean Americans, for while we only make up 5% of the world’s population, we use 25% of the world’s resources on a yearly basis. Most of us root for Third-World countries to pull themselves out of poverty, but we had better be careful what we wish for. The only reason the world can survive is that there is only one United States of America! If too many Third-World countries start getting rich, watch out – they will start using natural resources in the way that we are, and this will have disastrous consequences. This is already being seen as a problem with the emergence of China and India.
Living the sort of life that we have to restrict only to ourselves is obviously unethical. But even if other countries stayed in poverty, there is still a major problem looming on many natural resource fronts, not the least of which is water. Some analysts say that fresh drinking water is on pace to replace oil as the most coveted natural resource in the latter half of the 21st century. We can bring the subject back to eating meat now, because the costs of meat-eating in terms of natural resources are immense. There are a few concerns, but I will focus on the greatest one – water. The average First-Worlder drinks 4 liters of liquid per day directly. But the average First-Worlder also eats 200 liters worth of water per day if you factor in the vast amounts of water needed to raise livestock. Or consider this: it takes 100 times as many gallons to produce a pound of beef as it does to produce a pound of wheat (2,500 gallons to 25 gallons). But even if we compare apples to apples and speak of similar protein sources, the numbers are still staggering: in terms of fossil fuels, it takes 40 times as much fossil fuel to produce one unit of protein from livestock sources as it does to produce one unit of protein from bean sources.
Fresh water is not an unlimited resource, as exemplified by the all-time lows of the main American aquifers of the Great Plains states. Some Republicans (although the number is rapidly shrinking) still believe that global warming is nothing but a left-wing scare tactic meant to turn popular opinion against big business. If you want to believe that, fine. But there can be no speculation that Americans will have to change our habits if we want a sustainable lifestyle in terms of natural resources. The world is on a collision course. If we’re not careful, people are going to start wars for the sake of access to drinking water rather than just for oil.
Finally, I want to be sure to mention that I am quite a hypocrite when it comes to using natural resources. I live in America and I live like an American. I do not wish to say that vegetarians are saints and meat-eaters are sinners. But I do wish to do what I can to push the Evangelical church to recognize that we should be the leaders on the issue of environmental stewardship, and not eating meat is one remarkably easy way to start. Weaning ourselves off of oil – now that will be difficult, and it will take a lot of time and sacrifice. But the vegetarian lifestyle requires virtually no sacrifice – this is one of those rare times when the healthier and cheaper option is the best environmental option. We should take advantage of this rare confluence of positive factors. Try not eating meat for a week. You can at least find satisfaction in the fact that you are consuming 4 liters of water per day, while the guy next door is consuming 204!
