Ultimate Health 5: Environmental Conservation

Human life is short. Value our life and health. A healthy foundation can pave the way for a happy life. The foundation could be set by many means, one of which is the taking of health food. You may work hard to earn money, but do not neglect your health. Health of individuals and the world can be attained when people undergo food revolution (Robbins 2001). See Robbins, J. (2001). The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your life and the World. Mumbai: Magna Publishing Co. Ltd.

“The world’s forests are being depleted as a result of several developments in addition to beef cattle ranching…What can we do? We can reuse paper and wood products…And, most important, we can eat less meat.” (Robbins 2001)

In this 21st Century, conservation and sustainable development have become the key words for the survival of human beings, and the earth’s flora and fauna. There is imbalance between the needs for development and the needs to sustain biodiversity.

If you let go of meat, eggs and dairy products, you will have indirectly contributed to the reduction of forest areas being cleared for poultry and animal farming. When forests are conserved, there will be less global warming and the homes of animals and plants are also protected. Moreover, “It takes far less agricultural land to produce a plant-based diet than to produce meat” (Robbins 2001). The same piece of land could meet the energy needed by more people when producing plant product compared with animal produce . Modern poultry farming also uses a lot of our water resources. More water is used for animal produce than plant produce . For example,
it takes up to 4,000 litres of water to produce a kilo of wheat and up to 16,000 litres to produce a kilo of beef.

The current culture of indulging in all nice, tasty and attractive food among the affluent world population is damaging to health. The world’s resources are limited. When a portion of the world population overeats less is available for the rest of the population. For example, it was estimated that the world’s population living in the United States was 4% but the world’s beef eaten in the same country was 23% (Robbins 2001). About half of the world’s population still lives in poverty. They earn low income, lack adequate food and they are malnourished. That is why poverty eradication among the world’s population is a major objective of the United Nations Development Programme.

If all the people in the world were to eat deep sea fishes, all the fish produce from the sea would last probably a day. Some of the world resources are not renewable. It is projected that the world’s petroleum resources will be depleted in about 40 years. In Malaysia, the petroleum resources we enjoy are expected to be gone by the year 2020 if no new resources are discovered.

The British government’s Climate Change Programme 2006 estimated that if everyone in Britain were to abstain from meat one day a week over a year, this would save 13 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. The carbon savings would be greater than taking 5 million cars off the road (Koay 2009). See Koay, A. (2009). “Meatless issue”, The Star, 10 November 2009.


Hence, simple eating with less or no meat, eggs, dairy products and processed food is encouraged. If you are a conservationist of flora and fauna, you may want to demonstrate your conservation’s idea in daily diet.

If you are an environmentalist, you probably need to know that cow and pig waste worldwide weighs 5.5 billion tonnes annually. The gas, called nitrous oxide, from that and from millions of tonnes of fertilisers used in the Amazon to grow animal feed, is a greenhouse gas 295 times more potent than carbon dioxide (Koay 2009). In addition, since forest land is being opened up for livestock pasture, you have more reason to take less or no meat.

When you decide to switch, select organically grown food for added advantages.

By selecting organic health food, you will have indirectly played a role in protecting and sustaining human cultures. Organic agriculture is a proven environment friendly and sustainable agriculture system producing high quality foods. In organic agriculture, the land and natural environment are both protected as it improves the soil through better aeration and drainage (less compaction). The health of humans and the soil/land/earth are interconnected. Land and natural environment form the basis of human culture. Their protection ensures the survival of human civilization.

Long term use of chemicals On the other hand, excessive non-desirable chemicals are used in conventional agricultural practices. They improve the crop yield initially. However, the chemicals damage the pH level of the soil, killing some useful micro-organisms and earthworms in the soil. In the long run, they reduce the fertility and the humid acid of the soil. Consequently, this causes plants to have poorer immune system in the future, increases their susceptibility to harm from pests and diseases and reduces crop output. People who eat the unhealthy plants will become less healthy and may have various diseases. Furthermore, when wild plants or weeds have been pulled out or killed using herbicides, the soil is subject to wind erosion, deterioration and desertification (Lai 2005). See Lai, C.N. (2005). “This is grown for human consumption”, Lapis News, 4th Issue, pp.5-8.


To increase the production of crops for exports and to ensure consistent supply, intensive farming is practised in many developing countries with the use of pesticides, fertilizers, hormone, genetic modification and sewer by products. This results in pollutions of river due to pesticide contaminated agriculture land runoff and ground water infiltration. The end result is the contamination of drinking water sources and this ultimately affects human health (Ratna 2008).

Hence, if you consume organically grown vegetables and fruits, you will have indirectly contributed to soil protection and prevention of river pollution caused by the excessive use of agro-chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides and mineral fertilizers. The chain effects of your health food lifestyle are tremendous without you knowing them. The use of pesticide may initially help in crop production by eliminating unwanted pests. However, pests may soon build up their defence system and are eventually immune to the effects of the pesticides. Farmers have little choice but to increase the amount of pesticides (Ratna 2008). See Ratna, D.N. (2008). “Consumer perceptionstudy on the importance of standards and certification related to organic foods”. Pp. 308-327 in Chang Yu Shyun, Mazura Md piar & Nik Musa’adah Mustapha (EDs.), Plant, Health and Man- Past, Present and Future. Forest Research Institute Malaysia.

It is thus important for us to preserve, conserve and restore the health of our land/earth by selecting food crops cultivated organically whenever possible. Organic farming is not just keeping our food free from chemicals. It is managing the farm as a complete living organism consisting of soil, land, plants and animals.