Animal Agriculture's Impact On The Environment

In “What do Al Gore and Mount Pinatubo Have in Common” Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner argue that global warming is a challenging problem to address and may not be caused by people; therefore, people are reluctant to act on something they do not understand. At the beginning of this essay, the authors write about global cooling and how people reacted to it (737). The text then goes into detail about the effects of global warming and carbon emissions. The authors then write about the emissions of cars and cows. Per the text cows are twenty-five times more toxic to the atmosphere appose to cars (738). After that, Levitt and Dubner discuss the issues around global warming and how it is controversial for a scientist to figure out

The author states that cows are responsible of at least 18% of methane that is in our atmosphere. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is odorless and colorless. The author also states that carbon dioxide is cleaner than methane. Methane released right into the atmosphere will be a thing of the past, because the National Institute For Agricultural Technology of Argentina has created a backpack that can be placed on cows. That bag has tubes that go into the digestive tract of the cow and collects 300 liters of methane. That is enough energy to be used to power a car for 24 hours instead of being released into the atmosphere. While each bag collects only 300 liters, one adult cow will produce 1000 liters of methane in one day. One day of methane collection can power a car for more than 72 hours or 3 cars for more than 24 hours. Methane can also be used for generating electricity by burning it to produce heat. While methane is harmful, there are still ways to reduce the output of it in the atmosphere by putting it to good

For one pound of beef, it takes 1800 to 2500 gallons of water opposed to 220 gallons for one pound of soy tofu. Meatless Mondays can cut down our water use by thousands of gallons.

It’s often argued that cows are the main source of our Methane emission, giving a strong argument to reduce, or even stop, our consumption of meat. In all actuality, only about six percent to seven percent of all greenhouse

The effects of factory farming is not worth the damage that is done to the health of the environment, animals, and people. The idea of a factory farm is to produce meat at a faster pace, but the way these companies accomplish this task makes life a living hell for the animals. For example, “They’re often given so little space that they can’t even turn around or lie down comfortably. Egg-laying hens are kept in small cages, chickens and pigs are kept in jam-packed sheds, and cows are kept on crowded, filthy feedlots”(Factory). The animals on these farms have to experience constant fear and agony, especially since most factory farmed animals will be genetically manipulated to grow larger or to produce more milk or eggs than they naturally would, and suffer severe pain throughout their entire life(Factory). Animals, especially cows, are being abused not only physically, but mentally as well.. For example, “just within hours of birth, calves are taken away from

Relevance: We all share the same planet, therefore, I believe it is vital to know the ways animal agriculture shapes our environment.

Michigan is surrounded by water, however, between the companies and people we us a great deal on a daily basis. The top five uses of water make up fossil fuel power using approximately six billion gallons a day, nuclear power using almost two and half billion gallons, municipal water makes up a little over one billion gallons, industries five hundred and ninety five million gallons and irrigation using two hundred and forty-four million gallons. I was surprised to see that livestock only uses forty-one million gallons with all the farms we have. (Bridge Michigan, 2017).

According to Eliza Barclay in her article from 2013 she states, meat, of course, requires more water in it's production than any other food, because animals devour so much feed that in turn has to be grown with water. Fortunately, we're better about eating the meat we produce. If you want to know where all of your favorite foods stand on the "how much water does this food contain" chart you can check it out at, Water Footprint Network.

I have read and seen a lot of things in the past about how food production and more specifically cattle production affects climate change so this did not come as a shock. However the one thing that did shock me in the video is that to lead a healthy lifestyle we should be eating half a pound of meat per week. Once I heard that I spent time thinking about how much meat I really eat on a weekly basis and it is sure more then that.

As the population grows, the demand for meat does too and therefore an increase in animal waste will also rise the United States Government cannot continue to fund the water treatment programs that are currently in place. (Nrdc.org, 2014)

“Methane has been identified as a significant contributor to global warming. It is second to carbon dioxide in contribution to global warming and is said to be 15-20% of all greenhouse gas emissions.” (Yusuf, Noor, Abba, A. Hassan, & Din., 2012, p. 1). The majority of the greenhouse gases emitted in the agricultural sector came from livestock (Yusuf et al., 2012, p. 2). Studies have shown that “cows produce more greenhouse gases than the entire

The water footprint for energy is substantial. The energy required to provide 100 gallons of clean water requires 300 gallons of water to produce. Therefore, reducing energy consumption could drastically assist in reducing water footprints. Therefore, when preparing all food during Thanksgiving, water waste should be kept to a minimum so that energy is not wasted in distribution and heating of this water. Additionally, electricity waste should be minimized with typical methods such as turning off electronics that are not necessary and using alternative energy methods may prove to be

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

The concept of global warming has become one of the most widely debated and controversial topics of our time. Scientists learned long ago that the earth’s climate has powerfully shaped the history of humanity. However, it is only in the past few decades that research has revealed that humans have a significant influence on the climate as well. A growing body of scientific evidence indicates that since 1950, the world’s climate has been warming, primarily as a result of emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of tropical forests. More importantly, an article titled "Global Warming" published in the New York Times shows that methane, a gas that is emitted from landfills, livestock and oil gas facilities,

A resolution by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation, was adopted in December of 1992, to start a World Water Day. March 22, 1993 was the first World Water Day, and for the last 24 years, this day has been devoted to the spread of water related information. The goal of World Water Day is to inform the public that changes must be made in order to conserve water and protect people that are in a water insufficient place. The World Water Day campaign in 2012 focused on the theory that, “The world is thirsty because we are hungry.” This year, they focused on agriculture, and how much water it takes to make the food we eat. For example, a kilogram of wheat takes about 400 gallons of water to produce, and a kilogram of beef takes about 4000 gallons of water to produces. The UN was trying to connect the importance of water in the world to the importance of having food for everyone to eat.