Prayer of Stewardship
God of all Creation,
At the beginning of time, You placed a single mandate on humankind - To be stewards of Creation; To replenish and nurture all generations what you have made.
We kneel today amid that same Creation; A world that is, in many ways, more splendid than ever But, in too many ways, scarred beyond recognition.
Turn us from our unmindfulness Help our touch be light, Help us renew the worlds that supports us, So we may once more know Creation as it was in the beginning.
Amen
Knowledge
In this edition of our Lenten YLBG series on how our food choices affect our health and the health of the planet, we will focus on animal agriculture and water use.
When I read the facts about water use in animal agriculture, I was stunned. Honestly, I couldn’t imagine how it could be true; then, I watched some videos. I will spare you that experience, but suffice it to say that it is eye-opening. A large amount of the water used for animal agriculture is for keeping animals and their barns clean - 75 gallons per day per cow (both meat and dairy). Another large affect is in the amount of water that is contaminated from their waste. Several of the sources I found estimate that animal agriculture in the US produces 89,000 pounds of excrement per second. That material flows not to treatment plants but to groundwater and surrounding waterways. Excrement has polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states.
This is in addition to the water livestock drink and the water required to grow the grain to feed them. Many say the next wars will not be fought over oil but potable water. Water is not an inexhaustible resource.
Action
I hope you will really reflect on the good you are doing on these Fridays of Lent if you are able to go meat free!
Remember, skipping just a ¼ pound of beef leaves about 500 gallons of clean water in our water systems.
I will share again a link to the Business Insider article regarding animal agriculture and the environment. There is a section on water. It gives me hope that even resources that are focused on business are starting to see the full scope of the effect of animal agriculture.