
Vegan Eating Isn't as Sustainable as You Think - teslacar
http://qz.com/749443/being-vegan-isnt-as-environmentally-friendly-as-you-think/?ref
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11thEarlOfMar
My daughter went through a vegan period. I treated it as a phase, and fully
supported her, including periodic nutritional testing to ensure that she was
meeting her needs for calcium.

Listening to her rationale for being vegan, I got the impression that there
was more emotion than science in the move. I didn't argue with her, but she'd
throw statistics out like 'It takes 600 gallons of water to make 1 hamburger,
and there is a shortage of water in the world.' [0] The LA Times does report
this in the context of the recent drought, however, the bulk of the water is
used to irrigate the grain the cows eat. They eat a lot of corn, which is
grown in the Midwest (in the US, at least) and that water falls from the sky
on the Midwest and is therefore not a candidate to relieve a drought in
California. Certainly, we grow a lot of beef here, and providing drinking
water for the cattle in California is a factor, about 40,000 gallons in one
cow lifetime. But not the 3,400,000 that is implied by this data (1,800
gallons per pound on a 2,000 pound cow over 3 years).

Anyway, she grew out of it. It's beef stew and sausage pizza again.

[0] [http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-gallons-of-
water...](http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-gallons-of-water-to-
make-a-burger-20140124-story.html)

