The destruction of the environment is a major crisis in the world today. The mistreatment of natural resources, pollution, and over population has negatively affected the quality of the Earth. All forms of life are suffering from the environmental degradation. Cities and surrounding areas suffer from poor water and air quality. Global warming is displacing many species out of their natural environment. The root cause of the aforementioned concerns is that human action negatively affects the environment. Western culture abuses the Earth in the name of making life desire’s conveniently available. If environmental destruction continues at the current rate, then the Earth will not survive for future generations. There are many different strategies to solve environmental destruction. Western society uses technology to solve our environmental problems. Some examples of greener technology include: building cleaner cars, efficient factories, and producing green building materials. However, one major problem that causes for higher emissions of CO2 and methane then our vehicles is the cow (Davis & Caldeira, 2009). The beef industry is one of the major causes of global warming, water shortages, and land degradation. The farming industry progressed from the early 1900’s to the 1950’s. Farming was a time consuming job, which required all family members to be involved. In order to plow the land, farmers used horses to pull a basic plow. Grain was grown to feed and maintain the horses, which was an added responsibility to the farmer. In 1920, there were only 225 tractors in the entire nation (Living History Farm, 2012). The tractors were heavy and expensive. Some farmers would acquire one and share it to assist in making f... ... middle of paper ... ...://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/02/23/0906974107.abstract Living History Farm. (2012). Retrieved February 12, 2012, from Livinghistoryfarm.prg: http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe20s/machines_01.htm Robbins, R. H. (2002). Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism 2nd Ed. Boston: Pearson Education Company. Sclosser, E. (2001). Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of The All-American Meal. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. Shah, A. (2010, August 22). Beef. Retrieved July 12, 2011, from Global Issues: http://www.globalissues.org/article/240/beef Shah, A. (2006, April 06). Loss of Biodiversity and Extinctions. Retrieved July 16. , 2011, from Global Issues: http://www.globalissues.org/article/171/loss-of-biodiversity-and-extinctions Why Become Vegan? (2012). Retrieved February 13, 2012, from Veganet: http://library.thinkquest.org/20922/why_vegan.htm