Vegan Eating Isn't as Sustainable as You Think

My daughter went through a vegan period. I treated it as a phase, and fully supported her, including periodic nutritional testing to ensure that she was meeting her needs for calcium.

Listening to her rationale for being vegan, I got the impression that there was more emotion than science in the move. I didn't argue with her, but she'd throw statistics out like 'It takes 600 gallons of water to make 1 hamburger, and there is a shortage of water in the world.' [0] The LA Times does report this in the context of the recent drought, however, the bulk of the water is used to irrigate the grain the cows eat. They eat a lot of corn, which is grown in the Midwest (in the US, at least) and that water falls from the sky on the Midwest and is therefore not a candidate to relieve a drought in California. Certainly, we grow a lot of beef here, and providing drinking water for the cattle in California is a factor, about 40,000 gallons in one cow lifetime. But not the 3,400,000 that is implied by this data (1,800 gallons per pound on a 2,000 pound cow over 3 years).

Anyway, she grew out of it. It's beef stew and sausage pizza again.

[0] http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-gallons-of-water...