Chances are, you’ve consumed meat, dairy, or eggs at some point in you life, but have you ever stopped to think about the effects the animal agriculture industry has on our planet? The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has gathered that from a local to global scale, the livestock sector emerges every year as one of the top 2-3 most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems. From air, to climate change, to land & soil, to biodiversity, the animal agriculture industry has an impact on virtually all aspects of the environment. Evidence has shown that the production of livestock releases substances that contribute to climate change and air pollution at nearly every step of the process. When compared …show more content…
According to the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the three root causes of environmental degradation include the large amounts of animal waste produced, a lack of management and disposal of waste, and unsustainable water usage and soil degradation associated with feed production. With nearly half of the water used in the United States being used by the animal agriculture sector, it’s quite obvious that raising animals for food requires much larger quantities of water than raising plants for human consumption. From animal’s drinking water to the irrigation of crops, processing, washing, and cooking, the standard diet of a US citizen requires 4,200 gallons of water per day, compared to only 300 gallons a day for a person on a vegan diet. As the effects of climate change increase, water sources will be jeopardized and will likely compromise food production, resulting in a potential loss of over 350 million tons of food worldwide. Water cycles have been shown to be further compromised by deforestation, which is an ongoing process occurring at the staggering pace of 9.4 million hectares a year, which the World Bank has found animal agriculture to be responsible for. Nearly 90% of the razing of the Brazilian Amazon has been caused by livestock and their feed crops. Since there is now a global shortage of grasslands, the destruction of natural forests is the only way to produce livestock and animal feed. Not only is this detrimental to the environment, but this degradation can directly and indirectly affect human health through contact with pollutants and increased exposure of humans and animals to infectious diseases. In addition to killing our planet, the animal agriculture industry is slowly killing our
Introduction (Attention Step): What do you think is the greatest cause of emission pollution? What do you believe is harming our planet? Well if you guessed that fossil fuel emissions are the biggest emission polluters, then you are completely wrong (attention getter). Animal Agriculture is actually the number one Greenhouse Gas emitter in the planet. Yes, cow farts are destroying the environment. It sounds crazy, but ever since the mid 60’s, agriculture associations have been spreading across the Americas and dominated the industry. The most destructive of all Ag corps are Livestock Corporation. These associations include IBP, Conagra, Perdue, Farmland National Beef, Cargill, etc … Animal Agriculture is effecting every single person in this room because we all breathe in the same air, drink the same water, and eat the same (credibility). The buildup of Animal Agriculture is a great destruction to our planet and our species because it is creating
Since the beginning of time, man has been defined as a carnivore devouring all meets for their cultural, religious and everyday lifestyles. But now, people are starting to realize that eating meat is also harmful to the environment and our health. It has been said that becoming a vegetarian would help prevent cruelty to animals and reduce the impact on the environment. An environmental scientist named Thomas Robbins said “we can eliminate world hunger out of society if people were to maintain a vegetarian diet.” Producing and manufacturing beef tend to leave our environment to suffer from air and water pollution. Animals tend to take up a lot of resources from farms and countryside’s such as water, top soil, and fossil fuels. As our
3). This waste is not effectively disposed, and has a very negative impact on the environment surrounding the plant (para. 4). The animals themselves aren't the only ones producing pollutants, the “chemical fertilizers and pesticides” used in factory farms have “turned agriculture into a leading source of water pollution,” (para. 8). L. Baroni, of the Department of Neurorehabilitation at Villa Salus Hospital, et al., concluded that a diet higher in animal products is more detrimental to the environment than one absent of them (282). This is expounded upon by a report by the EPA that estimated that “animal agriculture” has polluted over 35,000 miles of American river (Sustainable Table para. 20). While the world's rivers, lakes, and oceans become more and more polluted, it becomes apparent how irresponsible it is to support the meat-industry by buying their packaged flesh, because, as demand for meat increases with the world's growing population and waist-line, so will the harmful emissions and slurry produced by these “farms.”
Relevance: We all share the same planet, therefore, I believe it is vital to know the ways animal agriculture shapes our environment.
While all of us relatively understand how driving cars, leaving the lights on, or using too much water can affect the environment, there is one massive human activity that is frequently overlooked—eating. From growing, to processing, to distributing, and finally consuming, our agricultural system uses an immense portion of our planet’s limited resources and emits large amounts of greenhouse gases that have drastic effects on the environment. Because of this, it is imperative to understand the environmental impacts of the type of foods that we choose to include in our diets. While much of today’s population is heavily reliant on animal products, it is evident that a meat-based diet is not environmentally sustainable; on the other hand, a plant-based diet is much more environmentally friendly in terms of the amount of grain, water, and
This movie documents why animal agriculture is the #1 contributor to greenhouse gases, the #1 environmental problem , the leading cause of rain forest destruction and habitat loss, creating massive amounts of untreated waste and using far more of our precious aquifers than if we all simply ate a plant-based diet.
If that isn’t enough, the Amazon rainforest is being affected by beef production; four-fifths of the deforestation is due to cattle ranching (Scheer). This is because there needs to be room for the livestock to roam and crops to feed the animals. There isn’t enough space for humans and our livestock since reported by Suzanne Rice, writer for the Journal of Thought, “30 percent of the earth’s ice-free land is... involved in livestock production” (Rice 118). 30 percent doesn’t leave us with much and it is no wonder we are deforesting these rainforests. However, although cattle seems to be the most detrimental livestock factor to the environmental problem, they are not alone.
We can not allow that more farms revolt and lose our control. We need to find a way to ensure that the animals are joyous under our rule. As fellow farmers we should be able to support each other, and find a way to support our animals even when a crisis is occurring. With your help we can find a way to keep the animals jubilant. As fellow farmers you guys should help me gain control of my animals. Helping me gain control of my farm will ensure that your animals stay under your control. With your help there will be no more ideas of a revolt against you guys. After everything that happened I learned my lesson and will no longer anger anymore of the animals.
Diets that focus on animal products, like meat, dairy, and eggs, require disproportionate high amounts of resources like water and land. Additionally, animals produce huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions that are responsible for climate change. Such diets are not great for the environment that surrounds us, but more and more studies also link them to chronic diseases and early deaths. If the way we eat is bad for us and for the environment, we should inform ourselves about the potential impact of changing our diets.
Throughout Animal Farm, George Orwell develops the theme of the repetition of history due to the actions of those who fail to remember or adhere to it. In the novel, the animals overthrow their master, Mr. Jones, and take responsibility of the farm for themselves. The pigs are elected as the “leaders” for the time being; however, the animals end up experiencing inequality as they did with Mr. Jones. “Curiously enough, Clover had not remembered that the Fourth Commandment mentioned sheets; but as it was there on the wall, it must have done so” (Orwell 79). Clover fails to remember that the original Fourth Commandment did not mention sheets, but continues to adhere to it because it is on the wall. The commandments are changed
The impacts of livestock on global climate change are important to the health of the ecosystem because it causes the average global temperature to increase. Livestock contributes to the majority of methane emitted into the atmosphere because of the feces it produces. The growing population increase is not helpful to this matter because as a result, a demand of food arises. This demand for food also includes the demand for livestock because it is appropriate for the human diet. “Meat production is to double from 229 million tonnes in [2000] to 465 million tonnes in 2050” (McMichael et al. 1259). The methane emission rate is bound to increase because it is “dependent upon the population size of the [livestock], their productivity, and [handling system]” (Jose et al. 3).
Animal agriculture is full of multiple components that overall affect the Earth’s health including the health of the population that makes up the Earth. The practice of breeding livestock has become readily responsible for the changes in the Earth regarding climate and pollution. The Animal Agriculture Alliance has promoted the interest for the largest corporation and trade association for livestock, antibiotics, and genetically modified organisms (Modern Animal Agriculture Methods Are Efficient, Highly Productive, and Sustainable). In other words, this corporation is profiting from this field while the Earth is going through exposure of dangerous weather conditions, predators, and disease; all resulting in carbon emissions. Furthermore, Canada’s
Global meat production rose to a new peak of 308.5 million tons in 2013, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a more than fourfold increase over the last five decades. Even more startlingly, meat production has grown 25-fold since 1800 (Horrigan, Lawerence &Walker, 2002). Globally, agriculture utilizes nearly 70 per cent of the world 's available freshwater. One-third of that percentage is used to grow grains to feed to livestock (ECOS, 2014). While the global meat industry provides food and a livelihood for billions of people, it also has significant environmental and health consequences for the planet. Over half of the water used in meat production
When you break it down its easy to see how much of an impact the meat and dairy industry has on the planet. Animal agriculture contributes between 18 and 51% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Another impact the meat and dairy industry has is consuming 60 and 70% of grain crops grown and agriculture is responsible for 93% of water depletion worldwide. The meat and dairy industry is also responsible for a lot of soil destruction on our planet, this takes a long time to repair and if we don’t give it time to repair we won’t be able to grow food and other plants won’t be able to thrive. These are concerning numbers and the meat and dairy industry is predicted to double or triple by 2050. The year 2050 is important because the UN has reported that we need to keep the temperature from rising 2° by that year. Unfortunately, we’ve already gone up 0.8° and at the rate were going it is expected that it raises another 1.5°. Tt.is could mean terrible things for our planet and for us. We have made great moves with
“Did you know that seventy billion animals are reared annually worldwide” (factory farms). Imagine if seventy billion people were living on our planet today and the impact it would have on the environment; currently there are seven billion people that are causing substantial damage to the environment, with one of the main contributors to the damage being animal farming . Every year that mass animal agriculture exists, water resources are overused, causing deforestation issues, ultimately having an enormous negative effect on climate change. Animal agriculture is happening on an enormous scale across the globe, it is having a negative impact on our planet. Due to this unnecessary water resources are being wasted, deforestation is occurring for cultivating crops and pasture, and agriculture farming leads to extraneous pollution. Therefore, the reduction of animal agriculture, particularly though a diet modification, should be accelerated to help sustain the environment.