I’m currently taking a class on Environmental Geography from the University of Toledo to fulfill my science requirement .. and it’s turned out to be quite interesting so far! Science usually isn’t my thing, so I was rather surprised to find myself enjoying it. I found this interesting tidbit in my chapter text this weekend:

The United Nations estimated that with food growing and processing technologies of the 1990s, Earth can satisfactorily nourish about 5.5 billion healthy people if they all lived on a vegetarian diet. However, if 15% of the world diet relied on animal products, Earth’s sustainable carrying capacity for a healthy human population would be about 3.7 billion. If people derived 25% of their calories from animals, Earth could support only 2.8 billion people at a healthy level. (p.69-70, Environmental Geography)

That’s amazing! I must admit, I adore my red meat (much to my cholesterol level’s grumpiness), but this makes me think I need to forget about the delicious steaks of my past and start concentrating more on salad. All this worry about overcrowding on the planet, and how to create a more sustainable environment, and we could improve things just by eating more plants and fewer animals .. Definitely food for thought. (Ok, I couldn’t resist the pun. Sorry.)