Meatless Rant

I stopped eating meat for two reasons. One, I never really liked it. Two, my biology teacher (who owned cattle, go figure) taught us about all of the bacteria/bad stuff that gets in to cattle that they kindly pass on to us.
That was it - no more meat for me.
Plus I was 13 and it seemed kind of cool.
9 years later I don't push my beliefs on people. I am not a 'be nice to the animals' nazi, and I eat fish sometimes, though I'd chose tofu or tempeh or seitan over it. But today somebody, a friend, and I got in to an argument about why I don't eat it now. Here's a couple of facts for all of you genetically engineered cow and chicken eaters out there.
-One acre of prime land can produce...
30,000 pounds of apples, or
40,000 pounds of potatoes, or
50,000 pounds of tomatoes, or
250 pounds of beef.
-80% of the meat produced in the U.S. contains drugs that are passed on to you when you eat it.
- The amount of waste produced by a 10,000 head feed lot is equal to the waste of a city of 110,000 people.
- World livestock production is now a significant factor in the emission of two of the four global warming gasses: carbon dioxide and methane. Every steak we eat has the same effect as a 25 mile drive in a typical American car.
Source: The Student's Vegetarian Cookbook
I could go on and on and on but people would get annoyed and frankly I don't feel like typing it. I don't eat meat because our bodies do not need it and, frankly, eating it in the quantities people do and raising it the way most places raise it is not good for the environment. You can get protein from leaner, more natural sources that are better for the environment AND your checkbook. I'm not saying never eat meat, but be smart about what you put in your body. Know where it comes from and what it will do to your insides.
And for all of you who think it's cool to be all environmental but eat tons of meat and drive 3 blocks to the store, stop being a hypocrite.
I think I'll step down from my soapbox now...