Factory Farming Is Destroying Our Environment
According to the US Department of Agriculture nearly 10 BILLION animals are raised and killed for food each year in the United States alone.
While there are multiple reasons for you to start cutting factory farmed animals out of your diet, one of the most important reasons is one that is not often talked or thought about -the destructive toll that is taken on the environment from the mass production and consumption of factory farmed animals and animal products. It’s interesting how this aspect is, for the most part, entirely overlooked. No one ever really stops to think about how much land and resources are actually needed to produce enough animals and products to cater to the excessive over-consumption of animals across the globe. Just think about how much these animals need to eat and drink, feeding 10 Billion animals in the US alone is considerably more than feeding the entire planet. Currently according to the UN, raising animals and producing the feed for them uses 30% of the Earth’s land mass- wow. While doing research for this article I have come across some staggering statistics to support this environmental issue. I also came across this very interesting piece of information: it takes more than 11 times as much fossil fuel to make one calorie from animal protein as it does to make 1 calorie from plant protein. 1) Grow massive amounts of corn, grain, and soybeans (with all required tilling, irrigation, crop dusters etc.) 2) Transport the grain and soybeans to feed manufacturers on gas-guzzling 18 wheelers. 3) Operate the feed mills 4) Transport the feed to the factory farms 5) Operate the factory farms 6) Truck the animals many miles to slaughter 7) Operate the slaughterhouse 8) Transport the meat to processing plants 9) Operate the meat processing plants 10) Transport the meat to grocery stores 11) Keep meat refrigerated or frozen in stores until sold Keep in mind, this would be much more than 11 steps if this meat was being processed further into fast-food or processed packaged products such as hot dogs and the like. How come this is never talked about? How come all of this is pretty much kept a secret from us? We are told to recycle and we hear about the environmental affects that we are contributing to by driving a car and using too much water. In many cities there are water-bans put in place during certain times of the day. We are encouraged to buy energy saving light bulbs and other items that are deemed ‘energy efficient.’ So why are we not encouraged to step back and at least look at the massive ecological footprint we are creating by continuing to excessively raise and slaughter animals for mass consumption? If we were really concerned about helping the environment, we might consider how much meat and other animal products we are consuming on a day-to-day basis. We could consider buying our meat from local organic farmers who raise grass-fed cattle. We may consider incorporating a lot more local fresh fruits and vegetables into our diet. We would limit our intake of fast and processed foods. We might consider participating in ‘Meat-less Mondays.’ (http://www.meatlessmonday.ca/) Maybe we would start raising our own chickens. Or maybe, we would just stop eating meat and animal products altogether.
There have been many studies that suggest eating meat -especially factory farmed meat, is not even good for us and we could have a much longer, happier, healthier life by cutting out meat.
The environmental and sustainable factors tell us that at the very least we must return to a more organic and local way of creating animal products if we are choosing to still have them available. We are destroying our Mother Earth and our entire Eco-system in order to fulfill our own selfish eating habits. It is so important that we become harmonious with all life on Earth, including all vegetation and the animal kingdom once again. Just imagine a greener, cleaner more lively planet that we could inhabit if we all chose to have a more compassionate lifestyle. Sources: http://veg.ca/content/view/55/87/ http://www.farmsanctuary.org/learn/factory-farming/ http://www.chooseveg.ca/ http://www.vegetariantimes.com/article/the-environmental-impact-of-a-meat-based-diet/ http://www.downtoearth.org/environment/top-10-reasons .
Read the full article at the original website
References: