Eating plants saves water
March 15, 2022 – Although 70 per cent of our planet is water, only three per cent is fresh water, and 70 per cent of the fresh water is used in agriculture, according to Ocean Robbins of the Food Revolution Network. Governments can restrict fresh water usage, but we can do our part to increase the results. How to personally do that depends on what we eat, where we get it, how we recycle, and where we grow our own food.
Believe it or not, producing animal products uses more water than producing plants. Take a gander at the charts below. Both show water footprints of the same product: the first compares a liter(a little more than a quart) of water to a kilogram(2.2 pounds) of each product; the second to 1000 calories of that product.
Our midwestern corn(maize) and soybeans require less than a quart of water to grow. Except for almonds, plants require less water to grow; even almond milk takes less water to produce than cow’s milk. So eating plants and plant products requires less water for their production than eating animals and animal products.
What about protein? All plants provide protein, but legumes(beans), nuts and seeds provide the most. Other vegetables, fruits and cereal grains use the least amount of water to grow; legumes more; nuts and seeds the most. Except for almonds, growing plants still uses less water than producing livestock. So placate your gut by varying the different water users in each group.
Buying locally grown plants saves even more energy. Luckily for us in south Chicagoland, we have several urban farms, community gardens and farmers markets. Although the markets and fresh picked vegetables/fruits are only available in the warm months, urban farms offer other options in the colder months. Urban farms that grow their plants indoors in water can provide vegetables yearlong. All urban farms offer community-supported agriculture(CSAs), in which subscribers receive a periodic prepaid delivery of produce to either their doors or a pick-up destination.
For more information about urban farms, go to Articles-Support “Urban farms differ from rural ones.” For specific information about CSAs, go to Food-Urban Farms and click on the websites of several nearby urban farms to contact them about their CSA regulations.
Recycling also saves water. I use four rain barrels in the warmer months to collect water for my plants; in the colder months, I reroute the downspouts from my gutters to the front yard gardens. So if I don’t haul the rain barrels early enough, the from gardens will have adequate water.
If you decide to start your own food garden, recycled/rerouted water will decrease your expense. If you go the hydroponic route, you’ll have plants to eat yearlong.
How have you saved water in the past week, month and year? Can you suggest other ways to save water? Do you disagree with the ways suggested in the article.