> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Eat a burger, skip a shower
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/eat-a-burger-skip-a-shower-editor/
- Published: 2008-08-26T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T20:50:30.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Jeff Mackey People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals*

World Water Week has just concluded in Stockholm, and the scientists who gathered there reached an alarming conclusion: The way we eat is endangering our water supply.

The experts particularly blame Western-style diets — centered around water-intensive foods like meat and dairy products — which are now spreading around the world, further depleting sources of water. In the United States alone, nearly half of all the water used goes to raising animals for food. Between watering the crops that farmed animals eat, providing drinking water for those animals, and cleaning away the filth in factory farms, transport trucks, and slaughterhouses, the farmed animal industry places a serious strain on our water supply.

A totally vegetarian diet requires only 300 gallons of water per day, while a meat-based diet requires more than 4,000 gallons of water per day. You save more water by not eating a pound of beef than you do by not showering for an entire year. Animal-based diets also contribute to higher rates of pollution and human diseases.

A delicious vegetarian diet is the best choice for animals, human health, and our environment. To learn why, visit www.GoVeg.com.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 26, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/082608.pdf?ref=smdp.com)