Problems with eating meat

[Guest guest]

(http://www.vegsource.com

Don't agree? Email me at afuture4all)

 

 

Animal agriculture is a terribly inefficient and pollution-filled way to

feed people. Eating less meat is the second most important positive

environmental decision – second only to the choice of transportation – that

a consumer can make. (1) Raising animals for food consumes vast quantities

of natural resources, including water, land and oil. It also destroys

habitats, causes the extinction of a variety of species, and generates a

tremendous amount of water and air pollution. Meat production causes 20

percent of the common water pollution related to consumer expenditures. (2)

And it uses a large share of our country’s land— about 860 million acres in

the United States alone! (3)

 

But we all have to eat, right? You get a clear picture of how inefficient

meat production is when you compare it to the production of fruits,

vegetables, grains and legumes. Compared to pasta, red meat uses 20 times

the land, and causes seven times the common water pollution, five times the

toxic water pollution and water use, and three times the greenhouse gas

emissions. (4)

 

 

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Skipping that hamburger does make a difference. Producing 1 pound of feedlot

beef requires 7 pounds of feed grain, which takes 7000 pounds of water to

grow. (5) And one hamburger causes 55 square feet of rain forest destruction

(for tropically raised beef) and 12 pounds of livestock feces and other

pollutants. (6) Plus, that one hamburger uses more water than you would use

by taking 40 showers with a low-flow showerhead. (7)

 

Livestock now produce 130 times as much waste as people do. (8)

Un-fortunately, that waste doesn’t just disappear into t h i n a i r. I t

has been responsible for massive fish kills and out-breaks of disease such

as pfisteria. Almost 80% of all U.S. farms drain into one single body of

water—the Mississippi River. (9)

 

The disposal of animal waste often goes unregulated. And that’s no small

matter when you consider the magnitude of some of our country’s factory

farms. One farm in Utah produces as much waste as the entire city of Los

Angeles!

 

What about seafood? Our current means of fishing have changed dramatically

since our ancestors used poles and small nets. Today, long lines can span 80

miles, with thousands of hooks and huge nets. These “fishing” techniques

destroy the ocean floor and drown everything in their way— including birds

and mammals such as seals and dolphins. About a quarter of everything caught

is thrown away, left to rot, or ground into meal and fertilizer. (10) These

factory trawlers are wreaking havoc on our ecosystems, and causing

extinction of certain species—more than 100 species of food fish have been

driven to full or near extinction— and irreparable harm to others, including

the marine life that depend upon these species for their survival. And fish

“farms” aren’t much better. Their often unnatural locations and heavy use of

antibiotics cause a whole different set of e n v i r o n m e n ta l

problems, including habitat destruction and water pollution.

 

 

 

 

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