By Allison Brenner



You say, “That’s impossible. I can’t go through a day without wasting nothing, so I’m not going to sign up.” Well, I agree that it is very difficult to not produce any waste during a period of twenty four hours—especially at Wesleyan where paper and plastic plates are everywhere, food comes pre-packaged and you don’t have time to cook, and lights are often communal. But, if E3 can just get you to stop and think about how hard it is to waste nothing, and what it would take, I feel like we have been partly successful. Sure our ultimate goal is to stop producing unnecessary waste, but if we can convince people to change one small thing in their day, even if it’s turning off the bathroom lights, we have succeeded in cutting down waste on campus.

There are countless ways to reduce waste. One of the less widely understood sources of waste is eating meat and dairy products produced through factory farming. I know you have been inundated with WARN’s animal rights campaign lately, but I have some more information for you to consider.

Did you know that one quarter-pound hamburger patty requires over 600 gallons of water to produce, and one cheeseburger takes more than 700 gallons of water to produce? These numbers include the water consumed by the cows, water used to irrigate the cornfield that fed the cows, and the water used to process the beef and cheese. Over half of the water we use in this country goes toward livestock production and animal agriculture wastes more water than all American cities and industries combined. Generating one pound of meat requires 100 to 2,400 times more water than growing one pound of grain.

Aside from water waste, eating meat also raises environmental concerns in terms of land use and efficient food production. We say we are concerned with hunger and poverty in the world, but in order to produce one pound of beef, a cow has to eat sixteen pounds of grain and soybeans. This results in a 94% waste of food. What if we put all that wasted food towards feeding people? About 70% of the grain grown in this country is used to feed livestock and poultry, not Americans. The volume of meat produced is insignificant compared to the amount of food wasted in that process.

At Wesleyan we are so concerned with coffee that is grown in the rainforest, causing the depletion of the forest. Were you aware that livestock grazing is a major source of rainforest depletion, and also a large cause of deforestation? Eighty-five percent of topsoil erosion in the United States is a result of overgrazing.

And, there’s also the literal waste, animal waste, to consider. American agriculture produces 140 times more animal waste than that which humans produce. Five tons of manure per person in the country! Do you remember when people stopped using aerosol cans because they pollute the atmosphere? Did you know that animal waste contributes to 20% of methane emissions? That literally means that gas released from livestock (you know, farting) is a large air pollutant; it ranks right up there with industrial pollution.

I could go on forever, but you probably get my drift. All I’m asking is that you consider these things, and learn something about how eating meat and dairy is harmful to the environment. If you have any questions feel free to contact me, E3 at E3@wesleyan.edu or any of the members of WARN (they also have concern for the environment—it’s not all about animal rights).



Brenner is a member of the class of 2002 and E3