Water and Your Diet
It wouldn’t be completely correct to say that there is a limited amount of water, but there is the problem that water is one universal need and it must be shared between all living organisms on this planet. Humans are—so to speak—hogging a lot of the water that there is. An average American uses about 100 gallons of water a day. Just that is quite a lot. Then you must factor in everything we consume and exactly how much water was used in production. For breakfast, today, I only had an orange. Something as simple as an Orange on average takes 13 gallons of water to be produced. This number is surprisingly large, but oranges aren’t the only foods that use up so much water in their production. In fact, many things we eat on a day-to-day basis use a surprisingly large amount. For example, one pound of rice uses roughly 350 gallons of water, while on cup of coffee takes around 36 gallons and for every one-fifth gallon of milk there are 264 gallons used in its production. If I added up all my consumptions today, I would have easily used over 300 gallons of water, even if the only water I remembered consuming was two glasses during the day and a splash to brush my teeth.
The point is, everything you eat uses up water, whether it’s hundreds of gallons or just a teaspoon: but nothing requires more water to produce than meat. To simply produce the amount of beef in one hamburger, it takes 634 gallons of water. To compare, the average hot tub holds around 450 gallons of water. Now to produce a single pound of beef it has been estimated around 2500 gallons of water. That’s quite a lot. But you have to track that beef. Before it was plain old beef, it was a cow. The cow needed something to drink—water—as well as something to eat. The grass that was chewed upon by the cow must be watered so it can be pleasantly delicious. This is why your numbers get so high in the production of one pound of beef. And that’s when the question comes up, “Is using so much water for a lavish food item such as meat really worth it?” The answer is different for everyone, but it’s easy to lead a life without meat (however tasty it may be) and in doing so, lower your daily water usage immensely.
I (Leah) have been a Vegetarian for nearly four years, and I (Helen) have recently become one as well on account of a bet made with Leah. Vegetarianism is a life style that can be chosen by anyone, anywhere. No one is kept from going vegetarian because of where they live, how they live, who they live with, etc.; besides, it’s the best, and easiest way to reduce your water footprint or, in other words, to ‘go green’.
Before our research in this topic, neither of us knew the extent to which water is used in the food we eat. When people talk of reducing their water footprint, they focus on things such as taking shorter showers and not watering the lawn, when they should be focusing on what they eat and how much water is used in their foods production. The best way to change the way you eat and consume water through food is by being educated about it. Hopefully the word will get out and people everywhere will start taking into consideration their diets affect on water usage so we can move along in solving the issue of water in the world.
Sources:
Dunn, Collin. "Measure Your Food's Water Footprint - Planet Green." Planet Green : Sustainable Living, Energy Conservation, Earth Day. 23 Apr. 2008. Web. 13 Feb. 2011.http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/measure-your-foods-water-footprint.html
"News Headlines." CNBC Mobile Home. Web. 13 Feb. 2011.http://www.cnbc.com/id/39156898/There_s_How_Much_Water_In_My_Hamburger
"Water Footprint: Introduction." Waterfootprint.org: Water Footprint and Virtual Water. Web. 13 Feb. 2011.http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/home
Nelson, Jeff. "How Much Water to Make a Pound of Beef?" Vegsource.com. 01 Mar. 2001. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. http://www.vegsource.com/articles/pimentel_water.htm
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