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I believe the statistic for the grain to meat ratio is that a cow is fed 3500 pounds of grain in its life to produce 500 pounds of meat. The average cow raised for food purposes produces 50 pounds of waste excrement (poop and urine) a day. And that excrement has been known to decimate stream and river populations due to runoff, as well as create a horribly unpleasent odor, and create land that is essentially bactarially infested, making it unlivable.
Morality is based on perspective. It is an entirely human concept. The issue is that being supposed moral beings, we should be ethical enough to at least take into consideration the conditions under which these animals die. It isn't only a moral issue, but it is a logical issue. Unsanitary slaughter conditions and unsafe workplaces are a breeding ground for disease and, with all the fear about terrorism, the easy access to, because of consolidation of the meatpacking companies, the ability to easily transmit a potentially lethal pathogen.
As for as using more fossil fuels, I don't think it is so much of that, but more that these animals produce an extreme amount of methane gas, which has been directly linked to Global Warming.
Meat is a very easily accessible source of protein, an essential nutrient in our diets. The carnivorous life style offered somewhat more security, as predators would be more unlikely to attack a creature that was adept at killing. However, this is no longer the case, as we have virtually wiped out the threat of predatory creatures within the safety of our concrete jungles. So, yes, the logical solution here is to move onto a vegetarian diet. Along with providing a much more nutrient rich diet, it has been shown to reduce the risks of colon cancer.
I'm not saying that people should move to a strictly vegetarian diet. I think people have the right to choose what they want to eat. The issue at hand isn't whether or not it is moral to kill another animal for its flesh; on the contrary, the issue is why have we, being such moral creatures, allowed this injustice in the slaughterhouses to continue? Why do we line these beasts up and process them with such speed and deliberance? The first thing that comes to mind here is Eric Schlosser's book, Fast Food Nation. But the other object is a film, an anime to be more precise, titled Mononoke Hime. It doesn't pertain entirely to the issue of eating meat, but more to the almost cancerous attitude we have taken towards the Earth. I think we are heading in entirely the wrong direction with our stance towards how we treat the Earth. We need to look at the long term consequences, instead of selfishly looking to the short term.
I think PETA is wrong in wanting people to stop eating meat. Meat is not murder, it is effeciency, in all reality. Depending on the viewpoint, meat and the byproducts from the animal, such as fur and fats, is survival of the fittest, in a rather cruel sense. The perfect example is the American Indians. They used everything; leaving something to waste would be a sin against Nature herself. I know this doesn't really pertain to people anymore, but the idea of not wasting should still stand. With such an overabundance, we have become lax and completely ignore the threat that a famine might affect the more developed countries.
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