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How America’s Diet Is Feeding the Groundwater Crisis | As dinner tables and snack menus feature far more chicken and cheese, farms are expanding where water is scarce. (www.nytimes.com)

submitted 10 months ago by silence7@slrpnk.net to c/usa@lemmy.ml

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These transformations are tied to the changing American diet. Since the early 1980s, America’s per-person cheese consumption has doubled, largely in the form of mozzarella-covered pizza pies. And last year, for the first time, the average American ate 100 pounds of chicken, twice the amount 40 years ago.

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[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 21 points 10 months ago (2 children)

This is a farming/regulation problem. Not a consumption problem. Almonds are a similar food grown where they shouldn’t be.

[–] Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago

Yeah chicken consumption is going up because it's almost always the cheapest option in the shelves (here anyway). People aren't magically all deciding to eat it. It's what they can afford.

[–] WetBeardHairs@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago

I think the problem with almonds in california is more of a problem of water rights which were granted generations ago. They have to use the water so they literally just flood fields. Almonds can and are grown with much less wasteful techniques all over the world.