How many hamburger lovers realize that a single boneless beefsteak requires more than 1,000 gallons of precious water to produce, that livestock now consume nearly one-third of the world's grain, or that cattle play a central role in species extinction? Taking us from ancient Sumer to the automated factory feedlots, Jeremy Rifkin interweaves anthropology, history, sociology, economics, health and ecology in an examination and indictment of the cattle culture that has come to shape the warp of our society. He depicts a world in which the poorer peoples have been starved to support the beef addiction of a handful of wealthy nations - an addiction that has resulted in millions of deaths from heart attacks, cancer and strokes. He also describes the grim ecological effects of the cattle culture: rain forests burned, fertile plains turned into desert, a climate threatened by global warming.
- ISBN10 0722529791
- ISBN13 9780722529799
- Publish Date 13 June 1994
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 11 September 1997
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
- Imprint Thorsons
- Format Paperback
- Pages 368
- Language English