Hold your nose at the steak house

Previewing the Article

Each year more than 6.7 billion hamburgers are sold at fast food restaurants in the United States where “beef is king”. In fact, many developed nations emphasize beef in their diets, and some economies are based almost entirely on the raising of cattle. But Jeremy Rifkin, the author of the article you are about to read, has a “beef” (slang for a complaint) about beef.

Raising and consuming cattle, he argues, harms the environment and undermines human health. This article uses many statistics and makes many claims against beef. It also criticizes government policies towards beef.

Before You Read

Before you read the article, discuss these questions.

1. What are the main foods in the diet of your native country? Is beef one of them?

2. Are you or is anyone you know a vegetarian? Do you believe that this is a healthy way to live?

As You Read

As you read, try to find at least three harmful effects of cattle raising on the environment.

Hold your nose at the steak house

by Jeremy Rifkin

Washington - In the United States beef is king. More than 6.7 billion hamburgers were sold last year at fast food restaurants alone. The average American consumes the meat of seven 1,100-pound (500-kilogram) steers in a lifetime. Some 100,000 cattle are slaughtered every 24 hours.

In South America the cattle population is approaching the human population. In Australia it has exceeded it.

Beef has been central to the American experience. Entrance into the beef culture was viewed by many immigrants as a rite of passage into the middle class. Commenting on the failure of the European socialism to gain a foothold in America, Werner Sombar, a German economist, wrote: “On the shoals of roast beef and apple pie, all socialist utopias founder.”

Now, the good life promised by the beef culture has changed into an environmental and social nightmare for the planet.

5 Cattle raising is a primary factor in the destruction in the world’s remaining tropical rain forests. Since 1980 more than a quarter of all Central American forests have been razed to make pastures for cattle. In South America, 38 percent of all the Amazon forests cleared has been for cattle ranching.

The impact of cattle extends well beyond the rain forest. According to a 2000 report prepared for the United Nations, as much as 85 percent of the rangeland in the Western United States is being destroyed by overgrazing and other problems.

Nearly half water used in the United States goes to grow feed and provide drinking water for cattle and other livestock. A 2000 study by the California Department of Water Resources reported that more than 1,200 gallons (4,500 litres) of water are required to produce an 8-ounce (220-gram) boneless steak in California.

Cattle raising is even a significant factor in global warming. The burning of tropical forests to clear land for pastures releases millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. In addition, it is estimated that the earth’s 1.28 billion cattle and other cud-chewing animals are responsible for 12 percent of the methane emitted into the atmosphere.

The beef addiction on the United States and other industrialized countries has also contributed to the global food crisis. Cattle and other livestock consume more than 70 percent of the grain produced in the United States and about a third of the world’s total grain harvest - while nearly a billion people suffer from chronic undernutrition.

10 If the American land now used to grow livestock feed were converted to grow grain for human consumption, America could feed an additional 400 million people.

Despite the grim fact, the U.S. government continues to pursue policies that support cattle production and beef consumption. For example, at the same time that the surgeon general is warning Americans to reduce their consumption of saturated fat, the Department of Agriculture’s Beef Promotion and Research Board is trying to convince Americans to eat more beef. This year the board is expected to spend $45 million on advertising.

Equally troubling is the government’s grading system to measure the value of beef. Established in 1927, the system grades beef on fat contents: the higher the fat “marbling”, the better the beef. By favouring fat over lean beef, the Agriculture Department has helped promote greater amounts of saturated fat in the American diet and contributed to rising health care costs.

Finally, the government has been virtually subsidizing Western cattle ranchers, providing cheap access to millions of acres of public land. Today 30,000 ranchers in 11 Western states pay less than $1.92 a month per animal for the right to graze cattle on nearly 300 million acres (120 million hectares) of public land. As long as in 2000 the Bush administration estimated the market value for pasturing cattle on the same land to be between $6.40 and $9.50 per month.

The government giveaway program has resulted in the destruction of native habitats, wildlife and erosion of land.

15 The government’s antiquated cattle and beef policies must be overhauled. The Agriculture Department, as it tried to do with the “Eating Right” pyramid, which was abandoned under pressure from the meat industry, needs to shift its priorities from promoting beef consumption to promoting a more balanced diet with less saturated fat. The department’s grading system should be restructured, with new classifications that elevate the status of leaner cuts of beef.

Congress should pass legislation to ensure that ranchers pay the market value for leased public lands. And it should reduce the public acreage available to ranchers, to help restore the Western grassland.

The writer, an environmental activist, is author of “Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Culture”. He contributed this comment to The New York Times.

I. Getting the Message

After reading the article, indicate if each item is true (T) or false (F).

___ 1. This article is mainly about world hunger.

___ 2. Immigrant population in the United States viewed consumption of beef as a sign of becoming part of the middle class.

___ 3. A third of the grain harvest is eaten by cattle and other animals raised for food.

___ 4. One way that cattle raising contributes to the process of global warming is by the burning of rain forests that is done to clear land for ranching.

___ 5. The US government’s beef grading system rewards beef that is low in fat.

___ 6. The US government’s land program is designed to minimize the amount of national land being used for grazing.

___ 7. One point the author states directly is that it would be a good idea to turn some land now used to raise cattle into land used to grow grain to feed people.

II. Expanding Your Vocabulary

A. Getting Meaning from Context

Use context clues to determine the meaning of each word or phrase, found in the paragraph indicated in parentheses. Choose the correct definition.

1. slaughtered (1):	used killed
2. central (3):	of major importance at a centre location
3. rite of passage (3):	movement to a new status in society movement across the ocean
4. nightmare (4):	a difficult situation a dream
5. impact (6):	problem effect
6. addiction (9):	compulsive need for strong presence for
7. chronic (9):	continual temporary
8. pursue (11):	chase and try to catch follow a course of action
9. promote (12, 15):	contribute to the growth of raise to a better job

B. Defining Useful Vocabulary

Match each word with its definition.

1. subsidize ____ right to use

2. undernutrition ____ something given with nothing received in

return

3. consumption ____ using up, eating

4. giveaway ____ assist by giving money or financial favours

5. grim ____ particular area where a kind of animal lives

6. access ____ not having enough to eat

7. habitat ____ gloomy, depressing

8. rangeland ____ open lands where cattle are raised

C. Practising Useful Vocabulary

Complete the sentences with words from exercise B.

1. The ___ of beef is common in the diet of some countries, while many people in poorer countries suffer from ___ .

2. The US government policies ___ cattle ranchers by giving them ___ to public land at a very low cost. Some people object to this government ____ .

3. The picture of the effects of beef consumption that the author presents is ___ .

III. Analyzing Paragraphs

Statistics can be effective in an opinion article because they give support to the idea expressed. Paragraphs 9 through 11 develop the effects of the beef addiction on the global food crisis and American attitudes toward that crisis. Below are some statistics given in these paragraphs that relate to these effects. Complete each phrase. The first one has been done for you.

70 per cent of the grain is produced in the United States.

a third of ___

400 million ___

$45 million ___

Find three other statistics about cattle raising that are used in the article. List them.

IV. Talking and Writing

Discuss the following topics. Then choose one of them to write about.

1. This article discusses the conflict between the custom of beef consumption and the quality of the global warming. Can you think of a solution of this problem that can accommodate both sides?

2. Do you think that people will make changes in their personal lives to solve environmental problems? Have you made any such changes?

3. Convince beef-eating people that a different diet would be healthier for them to follow. Give at least three reasons why this alternative diet would be better.