Eat meat sparingly

On Sunday there was a very interesting editorial in the SL. Trib. written by a former U of U student. The author (who is a member of the LDS church) talks about the word of wisdom, which forbids drinking alcohol and coffee, smoking and doing drugs. The author says that many members of the LDS church dismiss the pat which reads "yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly ; and it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or of famine." The author continues by stating: "According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the runoff from factory farms pollutes our waterways more than any other industrial sources combined. In the U.S., 70 percent of all grains, 80 percent of all agricultural land, half of all water resources and one-third of all fossil fuels are used to raise animals for food. Eating animals destroys the rain forest, when the amazon is slashed and burned to create grazing space for cows as well as land to grow feed for chickens." The Environmental defense fund states, "if every American skipped one meal of chicken a week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than a half-million cars off U.S. roads." I am not sure if all that she is saying is true, but I have to tell you I was shocked when I read this. I knew that the meat industry wasn't the best thing for the environment, but these numbers are shocking, and it is scary to think of all the damage we are doing just to eat meat. I challenge everyone to skip one meal of meat a week, so we can make this earth a better place.