Vegetarian diet and climate change, and other links

The misuse of water by creating inappropriate climates to improve specialised forms of agriculture (eg, to water beef and dairy cattle and other livestock in arid environments where they are not indigenous and to service waste disposal systems that use excessive amounts of water) might undermine efforts to tackle climate change through positive social action. Farmers use about three-quarters of the world's water supply: to grow 1 kg of wheat requires around 1000 L of water, whereas 1 kg of beef takes as much as 15 000 L. American or European diets require around 5000 L of water per person every day, whereas African or Asian vegetarian diets use about 2000 L per person every day.141 The social and political challenge of shifting dietary practices is enormous, especially as populations start to eat more meat as they climb out of poverty.
The Lancet, "Managing the effects of climate change," May 2009.

Maira Kalman's blog entry "And the pursuit of happiness: Back to the Land" is worth taking a look at: it is a visual essay as well as an essay-poem on the subject. She writes:

Do the wealthy have access to the really healthy food while the less affluent do not?
When you look at it that way, it does not at all feel like a democracy.
The fabric of our lives is bound in the food that we eat and the way we sit down to eat.