To keep animals, lots of animals, alive and somewhat healthy, takes an enormous amount of energy. Think of a large factory farm chicken coop. We've all seen the pictures of those over stuffed, disease ridden, brightly lit, metallic enclosures. The lights are usually kept on at all times to keep chickens producing eggs. If every person were to dedicate one day to eat no meat, not only would we save a lot of suffering, but we would also give mother nature a much needed break too.
For some yummy recipes try
http://www.vrg.org/
"Raising animals for food requires more than half the water used in the United States each year and one-third of all raw materials, including fossil fuels. The meat industry is the single greatest polluter of our waterways and is directly responsible for 85 percent of US soil erosion.It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat, producing just one hamburger uses enough fossil fuel to drive a small car 20 miles. Fifty-five square feet of rain forest may be razed to produce just one quarter-pound burger. ."
excerpt from PETA's web site
