excess, it has been calculated, would fill a freight train
stretching16,000kilometersfromAmsterdamtothefarthest
shoresofCanada.Buttheexcessisnotbeingcartedaway;it
isdumpedonthelandwhereitpolluteswatersuppliesand
killstheremainingnaturalvegetationinthefarmingregions
of the Netherlands.^13 In the United States, farm animals
produce 2 billiontonsofmanureayear—abouttentimesthat
ofthehumanpopulation—andhalfofitcomesfromfactory-
rearedanimals,wherethewastedoesnotreturnnaturallyto
theland.^14 As one pig farmer put it:“Until fertilizer gets
moreexpensivethanlabor,thewastehasverylittlevalueto
me.”^15 Sothemanurethatshouldrestorethefertilityofour
soils ends up polluting our streams and rivers.
Itwill,however,bethesquanderingoftheforeststhatturns
outtobethegreatestofallthefolliescausedbythedemand
formeat.Historically,thedesiretograzeanimalshasbeenthe
dominantmotiveforclearingforests.Itstillistoday.InCosta
Rica, Colombia, and Brazil, in Malaysia, Thailand, and
Indonesia, rainforestsare beingcleared to provide grazing
landforcattle.Butthemeatproducedfromthecattledoesnot
benefitthepoorofthosecountries.Insteaditissoldtothe
well-to-dointhebigcities,oritisexported.Overthepast
twenty-fiveyears, nearlyhalfofCentral America’stropical
rainforests have been destroyed,
largely to provide beef to North America.^16 Perhaps 90
percentoftheplantandanimalspeciesonthisplanetlivein
thetropics,manyofthemstillunrecordedbyscience.^17 Ifthe
clearingcontinuesatitspresentrate,theywillbepushedinto
extinction.Inaddition, clearingthelandcauseserosion,the
increasedrunoffleadsto flooding,peasantsnolongerhave
wood for fuel, and rainfall may be reduced.^18