A Western diet is eating the world dry according to a secret study released on WikiLeaks.
The research by Nestle, the world's largest food company, begins the study by pointing out that, "A calorie of meat requires 10 times as much water to produce as a calorie of food crops. As the world's growing middle classes eat more meat, the earth's water resources will be dangerously squeezed."
Nestle is estimating one-third of the world’s population will be affected by fresh water scarcity by 2025, with the situation only becoming more dire thereafter and potentially catastrophic by 2050.
But there is enough water to feed everyone on a diet that's not so meatcentric:
"Nestle reckons that the earth's maximum sustainable freshwater withdrawals are about 12,500 cubic kilometers per year. In 2008, global freshwater withdrawals reached 6,000 cubic kilometers, or almost half of the potentially available supply. This was sufficient to provide an average 2,500 calories per day to the world's 6.7 billion people, with little per capita meat consumption."
We are headed towards what will be a catastrophic water shortage. So why wait? Take our 30 Day Vegan Challenge and let's save our most precious resource.