…Then we did back in the 1950′s.  This excerpt from the USDA shows a correlation between higher meat consumption caused by lower meat prices.  That means, for the last 50 years, the US population has increased an average of over a pound of meat per person, per year!  Going veg one day a week will cut your consumption by 35lbs per year.  This is a great start!

"Now more than ever, America is a Nation of meat eaters. In 2000, total meat consumption (red meat, poultry, and fish) reached 195 pounds (boneless, trimmed-weight equivalent) per person, 57 pounds above average annual consumption in the 1950s (table 2-1). Each American consumed an average of 7 pounds more red meat than in the 1950s, 46 pounds more poultry, and 4 pounds more fish and shellfish. Rising consumer incomes, especially with the increase in two-income households, and meat prices in the 1990s that were often at 50-year lows, when adjusted for inflation, explain much of the increase in meat consumption. In addition, the meat industry has provided scores of new brand-name, value-added products processed for consumers’ convenience, as well as a host of products for foodservice operators."

             Source: USDA "Profiling Food Consumption in America" http://www.usda.gov/factbook/chapter2.htm

Author Information -  During his spare time Eric writes for and maintains wannaveg.com. For his day job he works for an electronics company in San Diego, CA. Eric has been a vegetarian for about 10 years and believes that going 'green' and reducing meat consumption go hand-in-hand.