While gas guzzling transportation systems and mass amounts of waste have contributed greatly to climate change, there is another key factor that affects the environment even more so. Animal agriculture has detrimental affects on our environment as a result of greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation (Meat the Truth). The work of world wide agriculture has allowed animal products land on plates in developed countries and in the developing as well. This force of globalization has a negative impact on the environment due to the world’s growing demand for meat.
Eighteen percent of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by livestock farming, while all the transportation systems combined only come out to thirteen percent (Meat the Truth). One
The Amazon is also being deforested in order to make room for cattle ranches. Brazil is the world’s main beef export, and to keep up with the demand around the world, farmers must make choices for profit and not the betterment of the environment (AFP). Rancher Lazer Soares do Castro admits that he only purposefully left a few trees and bushes in the middle of the pasture, “It serves as shade for the cattle herd. It is a very hot region, and the cattle are always looking for shade to lay down in and ruminate. And when they do that, they turn the food into nutrients and gain weight” (AFP), Changing the landscape this drastically is detrimental. Increasing the amount of cows that produce methane and decreasing the amount of forests to absorb the raise of greenhouse gases accelerates climate change
At first, pork was to be part of meals during celebrations or other special occasions. However, it now is China 's most consumed meat (Brasch). Last year, China ate fifty million tons of pork, contributing over fifty percent of the world 's total consumption (The Guardian). All that pork has to come from somewhere, and China 's existing pig population did not naturally meet the growth of demand. To overcome this, China has a deal with the United Kingdom to trade pig semen for seventy eight million dollars (Brasch). Their livestock agriculture rapidly industrialized, causing harm to the environment in nearby communities, "[Since the pig farm opened], the air quality has deteriorated" stated an individual from the Hu Tong Luang village, twelve miles from the pork factory farm (The Guardian). This is due to lack of waste control that comes from the mass quantity of pigs. The waste pollutes ground water and causes many of the individuals who live near factory farms to fall ill (The Guardian). It only took a few decades for China to move from locally produce pork in backyards to full commercial factories. Brasch attributes this to the Chinese government funding this transition, "Chinese firms have gone abroad to learn how to run them", some of their new found pig rearing inspiration has come from the United
Millions of animals are consumed everyday; humans are creating a mass animal holocaust, but is this animal holocaust changing the climate? In the essay “ The Carnivores Dilemma,” written by Nicolette Hahn Niman, a lawyer and livestock rancher, asserts that food production, most importantly beef production, is a global contributor to climate change. Nicolette Niman has reports by United Nations and the University of Chicago and the reports “condemn meat-eating,” and the reports also say that beef production is closely related to global warming. Niman highlights, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides are the leading greenhouses gases involved in increasing global warming. A vast majority of people across the world consumes meat and very little people are vegetarian, or the people that don’t eat meat, but are there connections between people and meat production industry when it comes to eating food and the effect it has on the climate? The greenhouse gases, methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxides are not only to blame, but we should be looking at people and industrialized farming for the leading cause of greenhouse gases in agriculture and the arm-twisting dilemma we have been lured into, which is meat production itself.
Wright, David, Heather LaRocca, and Grant DeJongh. "Global Problems." The Amazonian Rainforest: Forest to Farmland? The University of Michigan, 2007. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
The “triumph of capitalism” (L3) puts a strain on our resources by food industries burning “nearly a fifth of all the petroleum consumed in the United States” (L3). A study by FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of The United Nations), reports that, “…the livestock sector is exerting mounting pressure on the world’s natural resources” (FAO). Deforestation, caused by clearing of the land for livestock production, releases “enormous amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere” (FAO) causing the extinction of several plant and animal species. Along with deforestation, the livestock sector accounts “for nearly one tenth of global human water use” (FAO) and is “probably the largest source of water pollution” (FAO). The excessive amount of waste created by raising lots of animals in one over-packed place also pollutes our air, land, and water. To counteract the health problems presented by unsanitary and congested living conditions, antibiotics are used throughout industrial farms, creating drug-resistant bacteria as well as putting human health at
According to the Organic Consumers Association, in 1970 there were approximately 900,000 family farms in the United States; by 1997 there were only 139,000 family farms. This number is continually decreasing by the year. Why is this a problem? Factory farms promote abusive practices in order to maximize production at minimal cost at the expense of the environment, the community, and even our personal health. They house thousands of animals and inject them with hormones in order to maximize their growth and food output. The techniques being used are inhumane and are used thousands of times a day. According to the Organic Consumers Association, two out of every three animal products in stores come from factory farms. Factory farms dominate food production throughout the country. Animals most commonly consumed that require large-scale farming practices are cows, chickens and pigs. The methods of farming are not only bad for the animals themselves, but it’s affecting the meat we put into our bodies, and is therefore affecting one’s health. Factory farms ultimately have a negative effect on the health of both the animal and the consumer of the animal product.
One of the biggest problems facing the world today is global warming. The main reason behind it is the production of carbon dioxide from our cars, factories, power plants and other greenhouse gases, which is having a heating effect on the atmosphere, and this affects our ocean weather and agriculture, thereby dangerous to human life. “In Climate Crisis at the End of Our Fork “Anna Lappe gives her views on how global warming can lead to many problems, what are its probable causes and potential solutions to it. Whereas in “Research and Development on Climate Change and Greenhouse Gases in Support of Climate Smart Livestock Production and a Vibrant Industry” Scholtz discusses the impact of global warming and continued, uncontrolled release of greenhouse gases on the livestock industry and consequently food security as well as
Meat has become a part of our culture in our country, where it is expected as part of each meal of the day. But the production of the meat raises questions on whether eating meat is ethical in people’s eyes. Studies in recent years have shown that the growing impact of our meat eating culture, has negatively affected different aspects around us. The problem is not about whether people should or should not eat meat, but that we should focus on how the production of meat can have negative affects and how we can limit those problems.
People infrequently think about the amount of land it took to produce the foods they eat, however livestock and the land used to grow food for livestock accounts for approximately one-third of the Earth’s ice-free land (Cowspiracy). Animal agriculture, mainly cattle ranching, is also responsible for 90% of Amazon rainforest destruction (Hyner). According to Cornell University, “Each year an estimated 41 million tons of plant protein is fed to U.S. livestock to produce an estimated 7 million tons of animal protein for human consumption.” Therefore it takes about 5 times the amount of crops to produce animal products compared to the equivalent amount of plants. Eating more plant-based foods uses much less land than animal-based foods, thus causing less destruction to
The world’s demand for cheap processed beef has given Brazil the rationale to convert valuable Amazon rainforest to low yield pastureland. Since 2004, Brazil has become the world’s largest exporter of beef, controlling 41% of the global meat exports (Valdes). Most of the beef produced on cattle ranches in Brazil is exported to countries like the UK and Russia (Valdes). Beef exports have elevated cattle ranching to the leading cause of deforestation in Brazil as it is now responsible for 60% of the deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon (BBC).
There is much to be said about how exactly meat is being produced. In the present day, there are hardly any farms out there that still practice the traditional and environmental - friendly way. Animal agriculture is widely used all over the world and greatly contributes to climate change. Meat production leads to global warming because of the combination of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The process of raising animal is the major source to these harmful gases. It is vital to save the world from the worst impacts of climate change by reducing meat consumption. However stopping this meat eating system is extremely difficult, given that we had been consuming meat ever since our ancestors domesticated animals for that purpose. Over the decade Animal agriculture has been getting worse and worse. In 1973 when the Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz announced ‘’ what we want out of agriculture is plenty of food’’, overproduction was encouraged and lowering the price of meat was carried out; this originally started when there was a massive increase in corn (Wolfson). In order to keep up this mass production of meat, multiple pounds of grains are fed to livestock. Livestock industries depended on corn and soy based food and used over half of the artificial fertilizer used in the United States (McWilliams).
Not to mention, livestock puts pollutants the earth. A United Nations Food organization found that 18% of greenhouse gases are produced by enteric fermentation or cow farts. This is more than the amount of pollution produced by cars. According to a peer-study in 2014 a meat based diet produces 54% more greenhouse gas emissions than a vegan diet
This is a much bigger deal than people think. In fact, according to an article by Peta, How Does Eating Meat Harm the Environment, it has such an effect on the environment that the Union of Concerned Scientist list meat eaters as the second biggest environmental hazard facing the earth. The number one affect being fossil fuels produced by cars. It was also found in a report published by the Worldwatch Institute that nearly 51 percent of all greenhouse gasses are produced from animal agriculture. This is a very staggering number when a lot of research is being done to make vehicles more environmentally friendly when we could make a huge impact just by changing the way we eat. It is even more astounding that it takes the same number of fossil fuels to produce one hamburger as it takes to dive one car 20 miles (Peta How Does Eating Meat Harm the Environment). The production of this meat is also a big cost. It takes more than 80 percent of the corn we grow and more than 95 percent of oat are feed to livestock. The world’s cattle alone are feed the equal amount that would be needed to feed 8.7 billion people. That’s more than the entire world population. If we cut back on our consumption of meat we could take corn and oats that we produce and feed the world. When producing meat many of our natural resources are used. We use water, fossil fuels and top soil, and we are
Felsinger, Alex. "80% of Amazon Deforestation Stems from Cattle Ranching." PlanetSave.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. .
When these agricultural resources are given to the animals involved in meat production, these resources are lost. Besides the loss of land, the process of animal production is contributing to pollution and other greenhouse gases that are doing irreplaceable damage to the environment and contribute to untold negative health
The greenhouse gases are those that absorb the Earths radiation and thus contribute to the greenhouse effect, but water is also a major absorber of energy. Where there is an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases (as with CO2 due to the burning of fossil fuels) this results in an enhanced greenhouse effect - which is of concern as it could lead to climate change (i.e. global warming).
Bibliography Fiala, Nathan. "How Meat Contributes to Global Warming." The American Scientific Magazine. Journal Article, 4 Feb. 2009.