Every individual who joins us in going meatless on Monday is reaping benefits for her own health and the health of our planet. We tried to put numbers to a few of these benefits in order to showcase the impact of our actions.
Most of our numbers derive from peer-reviewed papers. But some numbers are the result of basic in-house math, performed by marketers, not scientists. We encourage you to study them, along with the sources we cite, in order to arrive at your own conclusions.
There are many ways to estimate the energy and water needed to produce meat. Although there are wide deviations in estimates, there is a growing consensus among researchers that meat mass-production, as currently practiced, is inefficient.
WATER
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To produce 16 oz of soy requires220 gallons of water[1]
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To produce 16 oz of red meat requires2000 gallons of water[2]
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Personal savings of meatless Monday890 gallons of water
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US population305,979,314 people[3]
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national savings272,321,589,460 gallons
36,404,101,490 cubic feet
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Volume of typical bathtub40 gallons[4]
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Personal savings in bathtubs22.25 bathtubs
FOSSIL FUEL
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Fossil fuel to produce 8 oz prime-cut beef24,000 calories[7]
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Fossil fuel to produce 8 oz tofu332 calories[8]
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Individual fossil fuel savings23,668 calories
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National fossil fuel savings7,241,918,403,752 calories
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National annual fossil fuel savings376,579,756,995,104 calories
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Approximate calories in 1 gallon of gasoline31,000 calories[9]
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Approximate national savings in gas233,610,271 gallons
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Approximate annual national savings in gas12,147,734,410 gallons
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Average fuel efficiency of US cars in 200636 kilometer/gallon[10]
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Average distance from earth to moon360,000 kilometers[11]
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Gas necessary to reach the moon10,000 gallons
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Trips to the moon possible with national annual gas savings1,214,773 trips
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Population of Dallas1,210,390 people[12]
Notes
- , M., Water Inputs in California Food Production. 1991, Water Education Foundation: Sacramento, CA.
- estimate based on Kreith, M., Water Inputs in California Food Production. 1991, Water Education Foundation: Sacramento, CA and Hoekstra A. Y. Chapagain, A. K., Water footprints of nations: Water use by people as a function of their consumption pattern. 2006, Water Resource Management.
- http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html [Accessed March 19, 2009]
- http://nycgo.com/?event=view.article&id=78912 [Accessed March 19, 2009]
- http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/lose_wt/fd_exch.htm [Accessed March 19, 2009]
- http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/lose_wt/fd_exch.htm [Accessed March 19, 2009]
- , D. and M. Pimentel, Sustainability of meat-based and plant-based diets and the environment. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2003.
- l, D. and M. Pimentel, Sustainability of meat-based and plant-based diets and the environment. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2003.
- http://www.healthstatus.com/calories_burned.html [Accessed March 19, 2009]
- http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_04_23.html [Accessed March 19, 2009]
- http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/Education/Activities/ExpMoon/DistanceMoon.pdf [Accessed March 19, 2009]
- http://www.dallascityhall.com/info/about.html [Accessed March 19, 2009]
