Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

Think Globally: Pass the Pasta Please!

Food production has a pervasive impact on the environment. About 60% of our country’s land is used for crops or livestock grazing. Water quality is affected by erosion, fertilizers, pesticides, and animal waste. And air pollution is caused by energy use. All of these factors combine to make food second only perhaps to transportation as a source of environmental problems. The Union of Concerned Scientists (http://www.ucsusa.org/) has tons of information on this topic as well as many others.

Act Locally: Consider Some Changes in Your Eating Habits

Eat less meat and more grains. Compared with pasta, red meat requires 20 times the land use (because of cattle grazing), 17 times the water pollution (because of animal waste), and three times the greenhouse gas emissions (from greater energy use). It also adds more toxins to water from chemicals used for feed grain for cattle.