Animal Agriculture

Patt Morrison’s article, “Waste Not” (June 6), was an excellent piece on our water crisis. But for all the worthwhile tips on saving water, it overlooked an extremely important area.

The great bulk of California’s water is not being used up or thrown away in our daily drinking and bathing habits. It’s going into our animal agriculture industry. Take these items from John Robbin’s “Diet for a New America:”

Water needed to produce a pound of wheat: 25 gallons.

Water needed to produce a pound of meat: 2,500 gallons.

That’s because pound after pound of grain has to be raised and converted into livestock feed before we get any of it back as meat from the butcher.

Moral: You want to save water? Cut back on eating meat.

CASEY KASEM