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(LizH228) wrote in message >...
> Here is a letter to the editor taken out of yesterday's Denver paper (Rocky
> Mountain News):
> Letters to the Editor, February 10
> February 10, 2004
>
> Worldwide vegan diet would be catastrophic
>
> With the recent mad cow disease scare I've noticed a lot of people have
> suggested that we all eat vegetarian. Let's think about that for a minute. Here
> are a few reasons why a total vegetarian planet would be a horrific idea:
>
> 1. We would have to clear billions of acres of land, rainforests, national
> parks, etc., to make room to grow crops.
>
> 2. Deer, elk, cattle, sheep, goats, etc., would wreak havoc on those crops
> because their natural food source would no longer be available to them. We
> would not like that and we would insist that someone do something about it.
> What do we do? Shoot them? Chase them away? To where? We would come to look at
> them as "pests." These predators would eventually become extinct due to lack of
> natural prey.
>
> Until then, I'm sure they would find humans pretty tasty.
>
> 3. Without humans and predators keeping down their populations, deer, elk,
> etc., will die from sickness, disease and overcrowding, eventually becoming
> extinct themselves.
>
> 4. With no room to breed livestock, many goods and foodstuffs, like wool and
> dairy products, will no longer be available.
>
> 5. Our oceans would be fished to extinction. Yes, all the vegetarians I know
> eat fish and seafood.
>
> 6. Without rainforests, global warming will accelerate out of control, creating
> floods in many parts of the world and drought in others.
>
> 7. What would happen if we had a drought? A lot of human deaths would occur, of
> course, but our crops will die, too. The planet will become a desiccated
> tinderbox waiting for something to ignite it.
>
> Human beings are omnivores, meaning we eat fruits, vegetables, nuts . . . and
> meat. If you wish to eat vegetarian, fine. In fact, if we all decided to be
> totally carnivorous (eating only meat products) a similar worldwide catastrophe
> would occur. We need to be omnivorous. Otherwise, this planet will die.
>
> We'll be moving to Mars a lot sooner than we think.

This would be a good opportunity to write your own letter to the
editor with your views on this.