Comfortably Unaware Read online

  “If you care about our planet, and want to make a difference, this book is a must-read.”

  – Ellen DeGeneres’s BOOKS ELLEN READS

  “Comfortably Unaware explains, so clearly, how what we choose to eat has a direct impact on the health of Planet Earth: how modern agro-business and our thoughtless appetites are, quite literally, destroying the environment and the future of our children. I urge you to read it, to think about its message, discuss it with your friends — and start to change the world, one bite, one meal, one diet at a time.”

  – Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE, UN Messenger of Peace

  “As vegan diets gain popularity across the country for a way to improve health and the welfare of animals, it’s no secret that the environmental effects of this diet can have a positive effect on our planet. Comfortably Unaware helps readers take a closer look at just this — how to heal the planet by changing what’s on your plate. A health and environmental advocate for over 30 years, Dr. Oppenlander has long been inspiring change with his informative message. May his message inspire you.”

  – Neal Barnard, President, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

  COMFORTABLY UNAWARE

  COMFORTABLY UNAWARE

  What we choose to eat is killing us and our planet

  DR. RICHARD A. OPPENLANDER

  Copyright © 2012 by Dr. Richard A. Oppenlander

  Beaufort Books

  27 West 20th Street, Suite 1102

  New York, New York 10011

  (212) 727-0222

  www.BeaufortBooks.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Oppenlander, Richard A.

  Comfortably unaware : what we choose to eat is killing us and our planet / Richard A. Oppenlander.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 978-0-8253-0686-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)

  ISBN 978-0-8253-0622-8 (ebook : alk. paper)

  1. Livestock--Social aspects. 2. Animal culture--Health aspects.

  3. Animal culture--Environmental aspects. 4. Food of animal origin--Health aspects.

  5. Food of animal origin--Social aspects. I. Title.

  SF140.S62O64 2012

  636--dc23

  2012025782

  Cover Design & Typeset by Kristeen Wegner and Mike Naylor

  Printed in the United States of America

  Comfortably Unaware was printed with post-consumer recycled non-chlorinated paper and soy ink.

  To Lauren, Ricci, and Ty for my perpetual inspiration to learn

  And of course to Jill, for continually showing me the path toward some of the finer things in life… love, belief, compassion, and three beautiful children

  Regarding Food:

  “Every day each of us must make choices and then, ultimately, take responsibility for the comprehensive impact of those decisions. Therefore, it seems to be the inherent duty of everyone to make as informed a choice as possible. We should all be committed to understanding the reality and consequences of our diet, the footprint it makes on our environment, and seek food products that are in the best interest of all living things.”

  Richard A. Oppenlander, 1989

  Comfortably Unaware is about truth and about making a difference.

  CONTENTS

  Introduction

  Defining Global Depletion and Use of the Word “Sustainable”

  I. So It All Goes

  Defining global depletion as it relates to food (where global warming fits)

  II. For the Unaware

  Pertinent facts and figures

  III. It’s in the Air

  Depletion as it affects oxygen and the quality of the air that we breathe

  IV. Rainforests

  Depleting the lungs of our planet

  V. Whose Land Is It Anyway?

  Global depletion of our land

  VI. Water and Oceans

  Part 1: Drinking water and sustainability—where is it all going?

  Part 2: Our oceans—what is happening below the surface?

  VII. Pollution

  Yes, that would be you

  VIII. Why Do We Do It?

  A word about nutrition—do you really care?

  IX. Tread Lightly

  Entering the no-wake zone

  X. How We Arrived at This Point

  Observations, predictions, and solutions

  XI. Not-to-Read Chapter

  A closer look at the animals

  XII. A Final Word

  End Notes

  Index

  INTRODUCTION

  In the two-year period of time that was required to write this book and have it published, there has been an increase in attention—at least in some developed countries, such as the U.S.—given to the plight of our environment. Although known for decades by some, the effect on our planet of our choice of food as it involves livestock has finally made mainstream media headlines. Since 2007, a few authors have written books that begin to make the connection between the industrialization of foods and some—but certainly not all—of the effects on our planet. Because of this, I feel Comfortably Unaware will be read by two distinct audiences:

  One audience will have kept abreast of the news, read the books or heard the authors, and acquired a base of understanding about this connection, but their knowledge needs to reach another level of accuracy and comprehension, with unique perspectives, which Comfortably Unaware will provide for them. Until now, they have heard only a story that is incomplete and, at times, inaccurate.

  The second audience will be those who are vaguely (or not at all) aware of the connection of food choice and its effect on our planet—and there are many, many individuals in this category. For this group, every chapter will be enlightening.

  If you are a reader in the first group, however, I would suggest that your focus as you read should be on having been afforded another level of awareness beyond what you have been exposed to by other authors or various media. For example, it is not just the excessive use of fossil fuel or contribution to global warming that should concern us with regard to raising livestock. Instead, we should be concerned about all the effects. It also is simply not sustainable for us to continue to eat animals, even if they are grass-fed. This is particularly true on a global food production scale. Additionally, we need to be aware of our oceans and the fishing industry as that affects global depletion. The impact of our food choices is not just a land-based issue. Our water supply is severely affected by our food choices as well, as is world hunger.

  We are witnessing what could only be considered the sixth era of extinction on our planet because of an accelerated loss of biodiversity. The leading cause of this massive loss of plants, insects, and animals is our current choice of animal products as food. And regardless of whether the animals you eat are grass- or grain-fed, it is not sustainable for your own long-term health to eat them.

  Most important, though, is the way in which this information is disseminated and ultimately used (or not used) to develop global strategies. Comfortably Unaware will provide you with information regarding all the areas of sustainability affected by eating animals and how various decision-making organizations are, in many instances, mismanaging it. Those of you who already feel somewhat enlightened may have recently been exposed to the information you’ll find in the first few chapters, but your journey through the rest of this book will provide you with a new level of understanding, new perspectives, and new solu
tions. And, regardless of which group you may fit into as a reader, once you have fully read Comfortably Unaware, all the dots should be connected for you about this evolving and immensely crucial topic.

  Once in a while, a story comes along that needs to be told. More infrequently, a story comes along that needs to be heard. This is one of those stories—except that this is not just a story. It is very real, and it affects all of us on earth. A number of individuals and large businesses and organizations would rather this story not be told; much of the public most likely does not want to hear it. Comfortably Unaware, however, reveals the truth about what we eat and what it is doing to us—and to the sustainability of our planet. It is not just another book about food. Comfortably Unaware is about being just that—comfortably unaware—about this truth and how we can make a change for the better.

  The intent of Comfortably Unaware is to provide an unbiased informational base upon which readers can, at the very least, be afforded the opportunity to increase their awareness of food choice as it affects their lives and the life of our planet, each and every day. I wrote Comfortably Unaware to dispel widely held myths and offer a clearer and more truthful perspective about this suppressed subject. From this informational base, there is hope that proper decisions will be made to make a positive impact on the health of our world.

  Food and the nutrients it contains are essential to our very existence. Food has been the nucleus around which social and cultural experiences occur. Food has been the reason for the success or failure of past civilizations, as well as for us as individuals today. Over the previous century, the food we’ve consumed in developed countries—and particularly in the United States—has become more industrialized and more commercialized. As such, the origins of our food have become less understood and less important, with little or no appreciation of the resources required to produce it. The current state of our food industry is forged by business and often political agendas, whereby the only measurement of success has been with economic standards. Unfortunately, this myopic and selfish view has created a food production system that overlooks public and environmental health. So strong has this industrial food system become that the realities of food origins and true cost of damages to our planet’s health have been obscured and suppressed by a complex overlapping of large business interests and political, media, social, and cultural influences.

  You and most other consumers make purchase decisions, including those involving food, based on one or a combination of factors: price, trusted recommendations or by association, convenience, taste familiarity, necessity, etc. Rarely does one choose and buy food items based on where, how, why, or from what that item was derived or its cost to our environment. Certainly, the true origin of what we eat—the path and story of how it arrived on your plate or in your mouth—should be known. This journey and the true cost in used resources and the effect on your health and that of our planet should be understood and taken into consideration with each food choice made. These food choice realities should also be placed back into the equation as a parameter of success or failure of our entire worldwide food production system.

  Comfortably Unaware reveals facts and provides fresh perspectives by exploring how food choices affect our land, water, air, pollution, biodiversity, true sustainability, and our personal health. I structured Comfortably Unaware to resemble more of a symphony than a conventional nonfiction book—that is, the initial chapters serve as a prelude that establishes an appreciation and better understanding for hearing the crescendo—the final chapters that follow.

  I would like to extend a special thank you to Dr. Jane Goodall for authoring “Harvest for Hope,” which provides a global view of our current food choices with themes of sensitivity and hope. Other authors have paved the way and have written about food choices as they relate to our health and various disease states. To them, I am very grateful and acknowledge their commitment and accomplishments. Although there have been many, specifically I would like to thank Dr. Neal Barnard of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and Dr. Dean Ornish of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute.

  Over the years, I have lectured extensively on this topic to numerous audiences and have written many, many notes and articles. In fact, each chapter of Comfortably Unaware and many of the subtopics could have been developed into multiple books. The difficulty I found, then, was how to condense this enormously important subject into a book for the masses that would provide awareness, create intellectual stimulation, and effect positive change. I wrote Comfortably Unaware quite carefully, in a way that would present research without seeming too academic, that would relate difficult-to-believe facts without seeming too “in your face,” and at the same time, offering new, challenging perspectives without appearing too theoretical or smug.

  The first two chapters prepare the reader with a definition of global depletion as it relates to food, and they provide relevant facts and figures to serve as tools to help with appreciation for the rest of the book.

  Chapters III through VII are devoted to each area of depletion—our air, rainforests, land, water and oceans, and pollution. This separates, in a clear format, each area of our earth that is becoming irreversibly depleted by our food choices.

  Chapters VIII through XI are intellectual in nature but easy to read and compelling. They provide insight on how this crisis happened and how to solve it. These are the chapters that separate Comfortably Unaware from all other books, as they provide never-before-seen perspectives about our culture.

  Numerous books have been written about various diets and food as it relates to our health. Many also are now available about global warming and climate change. Comfortably Unaware is the first to bring to light the much larger and more insidious issue of global depletion as it relates to food. I have not cut corners or suppressed topics to avoid exposing businesses, institutions, or individuals and I am not concerned whether or not it is a risky business move for me to write this book. I also have not withheld or modified information because it may be difficult for you, the reader, to accept it or because it may be culturally or socially overloading for you.

  So, my agenda is clear: to provide you with complete truth and compel you to understand all the issues of this critical topic. It is my sincere hope that you become more aware of and sensitive to the ubiquitous effect of your food choices and that a positive difference can be made in your life and in the health of our planet and all its inhabitants.

  DEFINING GLOBAL DEPLETION AND USE OF THE WORD “SUSTAINABLE”

  Comfortably Unaware, first and foremost, is a book about sustainability—of our planet, our resources, and ourselves. At the same time, though, it is a book about food choice and responsibility, which are intertwined inextricably with the concept of achieving true sustainability (although “true” or “full” sustainability may be a difficult, if not improbable, state to achieve).

  Global depletion is a term I have used over the years to describe the loss of our primary resources on earth, as well as loss of our own health due to our choice of a certain type of food. Therefore, global depletion essentially is about sustainability, but I feel we need to hear it from a different direction and with a more accurate view, through an unfiltered lens. Most of us have heard about the atrocities of factory farms, the issues with high-fructose corn syrup, and the industrialization or processing of foods with their contribution to obesity—all important topics. But these are simply small fragments of the picture. We need to move beyond that to understand the entire picture by connecting the dots and including our effect on all aspects of global depletion—topics such as loss of biodiversity, world hunger, sustainability of our own health, water scarcity, agricultural land-use inefficiencies and loss of our rainforests, pollution, and the state of our oceans and fish, as well as the effects on climate change. The largest contributing factor to all areas of global depletion is the raising and eating of more than 70 billion animals each year and the extracting of 1–2 trillion fish from our
oceans annually. It’s simply not sustainable.

  Because of what can be viewed only as misuse or abuse of the word “sustainable,” I am introducing and advocating use of the term “relative” sustainability. How “sustainable” is it to raise and eat ANY animal products in a RELATIVE sense, as compared to plant-based foods? How can we best use our resources? What foods will have the very least effect on our planet? Which foods best promote our own human health and wellness, and which are the most compassionate? Do we really need to slaughter another living thing in order for us to eat? Or, sadly, is it because we want to? In terms of sustainability, this is the way we must begin viewing things, in a relative sense, from this day forward.

  Even as we deplete our natural resources, we add 230,000 new human mouths to feed each day. Water will become scarcer—predicted to be a 40 percent global shortage in just 18 years (over one billion people are already without adequate drinking water; two billion are without running water for cleaning and hygiene)—nearly one billion people are considered hungry, and six million children will starve to death this year. Nevertheless, of the 2.5 billion tons of grain harvested in 2011, half was fed to animals in the meat and dairy industries; 77 percent of all coarse grain went to livestock. Many of our planet’s issues—dwindling resources, food security concerns, increased climate change, hunger and poverty, loss of biodiversity, pollution, declining human health and escalating health care costs, and the ravaging of oceanic ecosystems—can be eliminated or at least significantly minimized by a simple, collective change to a healthier, more peaceful plant-based food choice and thereby a more efficient, more compassionate food-production systems.