Animal Agriculture : The Devastating Environmental Impacts Essay

The film Cowspiracy emphasized that one of the greatest issues facing us humans today is environment sustainability and that the biggest cause of this problem is livestock. When we reflect on the world today we see many issues going on, such as forest fires, big storms, drought, and species extinction, just to name a few. As humans, we aim to fix these issues by doing things such as taking faster showers, recycling, carpooling, etc. However, Kip Andersen stated that the 47 gallons of water humans save is good, but that it does not amount to the 660 gallons used to produce 1 hamburger. Andersen emphasized that saving our planet is much more then changing the little things we do here and there. He stated that we humans have to change our way of eating and stop relying on meat because livestock is slowly killing our planet since it is the leading cause of environmental degradation. According to Anderson, cows produce methane, which is 86% times more destructive then carbon dioxide for cars. In addition, he stated that animal agriculture uses about 34-76 trillion gallons of water

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 world is consuming so much meat, more than ten times the amount of crops that would need to be grown if people didn’t eat meat is grown to feed all the livestock. After that, the animals need to be slaughtered, and the meat transported, which, Preston says, burns “ten times as much fossil fuels-and spewing more than ten times as much heat-trapping carbon dioxide-as does a calorie of plant protein.” She later adds that animal agriculture can be credited for giving off 9% of carbon dioxide emissions, 37% of methane, and 65% of nitrous oxide. These hard facts are a sturdy appeal to logos, and surprise any readers that were not aware of the damage of eating so much meat, and may change some minds. Finally, she makes an emotional appeal to the people that don’t want to drastically change their diet, by mentioning delicious vegetarian food like veggie burgers, and by giving her readers a website to get free recipes from. Preston’s argument can credit its efficiency to the fact that most people, are shocked about the damage that livestock does to the earth, and are interested in ceasing global

The excess of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere have led to a dramatic rise in the climate and the hottest recorded years the Earth has seen. To be specific, “the 25 warmest years on record have come since 1980 [and] the 10 warmest since global recordkeeping began in 1880 have come since 1996, (p 56)” which is nothing to boast about, seeing as this is also the largest population and most technology the Earth has ever seen. Moreover, in lecture, we went over the amount of greenhouse gases created solely by livestock and how being a society dependent of livestock for food is very negative. Livestock emit about 68% of all agriculturally produced methane(lecture) and methane counts for approximately 18% of greenhouse gases (p 57). That is not to say that livestock do not create a large amount; in fact, human-caused methane emissions are almost solely from agriculture. To combat this, Dr. Wailes proposed that instead of basing our diet on water-heavy crops and methane-emitting animals, we switch to much more sustainable foods. One example of this would be to eat bugs. Bugs contain much more protein by the pound and do not eat alfalfa, which is what causes cows and other livestock to emit greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. Dr. Wailes also displayed a chart with three different “meals” which

Animal Agriculture accounts for much of the issues in our environment today. Most would not think of animal agriculture being the main reason for pollution or greenhouse gasses. The majority of people would agree that the fossil fuels that come from cars are the number one producer for greenhouse gasses. Well think again. I am going to tell you how animal agriculture has affected our atmosphere in a negative way by emitting a large amount of GHGs, and in turn effecting our climate and speeding up the global warming process. Animal agriculture refers to an industrial livestock production, the management of farm animals such as cattle, poultry, and in some cases fish, are bred, fed and cared for in a way that is advantageous to humans, also known as factory farming. Animals behavior, genetic qualities and are altered to fit the mold of a human. This process requires a lot of energy, land and water.

Cows are destroying our planet?! According to Margaret Lundberg they are. In Lundberg’s essay “Eating Green” the author states her belief “that our personal and global health [are] tightly interconnected, and what benefits one will benefit the other” (Lundberg 570). Lundberg than goes on to explain why a vegetarian diet will restore the environment. She lacks a realistic solution for her American meat-obsessed audience. Lundberg also used unreliable sources to over emphasize the effects that the meat industry has on the environment as well as shows no evidence that a vegetarian diet is actually good for the environment.

Humans have impacted the world for years. One of the biggest environmental issues is Animal Agriculture. Many people do not believe this because it is a huge part in everyday life. Three things that this paper will show you is how Animal Agriculture affects deforestation, how much land is used to hold animals, and the factory farms. Many things that happen in today's environment is connected to Animal Agriculture. The top 10 things that are important to the environment that is affected is Pollution, Biodiversity, Ecological Footprint, Sustainability, Atmosphere, Ozone Layer, Habitat, Carbon Cycle, Fossil Fuels, and Carrying Capacity.

Raising livestock for animal products requires a lot of land, water, food, and energy. Further, waste water, manure, and the use of pesticides and fertilizers pollute the air, streams, rivers, and oceans. There are a number of different types of livestock that contribute to environmental degradation, and in different ways; however, beef and dairy cattle appear to be the worst perpetrators. To narrow the focus of this paper, I will examine beef and two types of environmental impacts: greenhouse gases and water usage. Before we can understand the impacts, it’s important to note something about consumption habits.

The fact of the matter is that the meat and dairy industry are one of the biggest producers of food related greenhouse gases. This in turn speeds up global warming and is quite literally killing the planet. There are a multitude of ways we can cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, but the most effective in the long run is to drastically reduce our meat and dairy

Decidedly, one of the most profound and positive impacts people can make on the environment comes from a change in eating habits.The Standard American Diet’s (SAD) outright reliance on the breeding and consumption of animals, as it’s main food source, has created a global environmental threat. For it is through modern animal agriculture and industrial practices that human health, animal welfare, and the global environment as a whole is being directly impacted. The following report outlines the correlation between the environmental impact of a single individual, myself, and modern animal operations.

Environmental Protection Agency has blamed the current farming practices for 70% of the pollution in the nation’s rivers and streams. They reports that runoff of chemicals, silt, and animal waste from U.S. farmland has polluted more than 173,000 miles of waterways in 1998. These natural resources are being depleted at a faster rate than they can self-replenish (Horrigan 447). Livestock are fed with genetically engineered corn and soy instead of pasture which means that a lot of energy is used up by the animal during the conversion of grains eaten to meat. Extensive monocultures of grain feedlots used to supply diet in factory farms means the use of huge amounts of pesticides which pollutes ground water and emits nitrous oxide (Horrigan 450). According to a 2006 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), animal agriculture is responsible for 18 percent of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, including 37 percent of methane emissions and 65 percent of nitrous oxide emissions. The methane releases from billions of imprisoned animals on factory farms are 70 times more damaging per ton to the earth’s atmosphere than CO2. Immense natural ecosystems such as forests and wetlands have been destroyed to pave way to intensive feedlots and animal rangeland. This wasteful exploitation of resources has disrupted the ecosystems natural balance of

Imagine running in lush green grass, surrounded by the sounds of animals like you playing, grazing and exploring their paradise. Imagine bright red barns, and being fed and getting pampered every day. Imagine taking a bite of a juicy burger, and breathing in the clean fresh air of nature. Now imagine a small confined space with fences and millions of others like you placed in one area, with barely any space to move. Imagine contaminated water, biting into a poor quality, hormone infested burger. Lastly imagine breathing in harmful emissions. This is the behind the scenes of our meat industry. Although factory farming provides inexpensive meat, Job opportunities and lucrative, efficient produce, its negative consequences to animals, global warming

Once again, as a kid I was taught that the largest contributor to global warming was the burning fossil fuels, and the subsequent release of carbon dioxide. The best way to combat this, I was led to believe, is to ride the bus, carpool, or just walk. There was even a day in high school where they gave ice cream to any junior or senior who, instead of driving, found an environmentally friendly way to get to school. And, once again, it was never taught to me that methane, a byproduct of cows’ digestion process, is “21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than carbon

Commercial farming today produces over 250 million pounds of the meat that is eaten. While some see that industrial farming has its benefits such as less man power with technology, large scale production, and lower prices, (Fredrick, Advantages of Industrial Agriculture) the industrial food institutions have also had bad effects. These effects concern agriculture, the environment, human health, and animals. Industrial farming can lead to environmental degradation, air and water contamination, loss of biodiversity, loss of marine life, and even poor treatment of animals kept inside these industrial farms (Horrigan, How sustainable Agriculture can Address the Environmental…). Because industrial farming is tied to these bad effects more sustainable approaches can be made to lessen the severity of this occurring issue.

Animal agriculture is the growing and raising of animals in preparation for slaughter and consumption by humans, or other animals. When raising meat animals it takes 12 times as much land, 13 times more fossil fuel, and 15 times more water than it takes to grow vegetables, fruit, or grains. It also produces more greenhouse gas than all modes of transportation combined (citation). The increase of greenhouse gases increase the effects of the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is the idea that is that when more gas is released the sun’s warmth is trapped closer to the earth. The greenhouse effect is one of the contributors to global warming. Another way raising cattle affects the environment is in many cases land becomes deforested to create more land for cattle to graze. Even though meat is important for a healthy diet since it