Vegetarian vs Meat-eater Humans need substance to survive. Every single person has a choice in the type of diet they consume each day. Certain lifestyles, such as vegetarianism or a meat-based diet, can affect a variety of issues that are common in today’s society. Both vegetarians and meat-eaters make conscious efforts when eating which affects animal agriculture, the environment, their health, and the economy. Studies with staggering statistics have shown how much of a negative impact producing meat for consumption is having on this planet. “It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef, while producing 1 pound of tofu only requires 244 gallons of water (PETA).” Factory farms create manure which produces runoff and is one of the leading causes for the pollution in rivers and lakes. This also poses an issue for the air that people are breathing. “Studies have shown that [animal waste] lagoons emit toxic airborne chemicals that can cause inflammatory, immune, irritation and neurochemical problems in humans” (Foer). Another issue is the land that is being wasted. Threats like deforestation become a reality when crops are being used to feed animals and not humans directly. Only 4 million acres are being used to grow plants that go directly to humans, while 56 million acres are being used to grow feed for animals, and this is in the United States alone (PETA). Vegetarianism is an option that promotes better health and a positive environment for
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
Brought up in the southern of China, I often heard about that people from there “eat anything with four limbs except tables, anything that flies except aero planes, and anything that swims except ships”. Nevertheless, I eat more fruit, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains but less meat to make careful choices for environmental protection. Similarly, Kathy Freston argues that animal agriculture is one of the top contributors to global warming. In her Huffington Post selection “Vegetarian Is the New Prius,” Freston lists how many emissions of greenhouse gases people make when they eat meat and illustrates the consumption of tree in animal agriculture. She effectively convinces her audiences that the livestock results in the most serious environmental problems and encourages people to lead a greener diet to protect our environment. However, ardent craving, poor health, and perpetual hassle and cost prevent all Americans from being vegetarian.
You may not know this, but what you choose to eat has a huge impact on the environment. There are many stances for these view points, but two people have very different opinions from one another. Jonathon Safron Foer is a strong advocate to not eat factory farmed meat in his essay “Against Meat”. On the other hand, Christina Serbenz flips a 180 on her view about food in her essay “7 Reasons Why I Refuse to Stop Eating Meat”, she argues that meat is vital for nutrition and adds a huge social benefit. There are many pros and cons according to each author.
Did you know that buying that burger at dinner or frozen chicken at the grocery store is killing you, your family, and the environment? Despite that you grew up eating meat and accumulated the thought that you “can’t live without it,” you CAN go without consuming meat. If you were to give up meat, even for a while or better yet all together, you would not only be helping the earth, but also your health, and even our future generations to come. Believe it or not, eating meat causes huge side effect to your health. Factory farming even causes more pollution and chemical fume releases than cars. On top of that, it is wiping out vast sums of land and is causing deforestation, which is even causing plants and insects to become extinct every day. Factory farming and the consumption of meat is bad and should be limited or stopped altogether.
While vegetarianism has been proven to help environmental, health, and animal rights impacts, some people believe it to be too extreme. While vegetarianism claims to be helping the environment, there may be environmental problems associated with non-meat products. Stated before, animal agriculture produces greenhouse gas emissions. The farming of soybeans, which vegetarians fulfil their protein needs with, also has environmental impacts (Coogan,T.). Due to the increase in vegetarianism, there has also been an increase in the demand for soybean farming. Soybean farms have taken over many rainforests and diverse ecosystems (Coogan,T.). Ultimately, the creation of soybean farms destroys biodiversity. Biodiversity is necessary for ecosystems to
In 2016 alone, the industry has made up $1.02 trillion in total economic output, which is about 5.6 percent of the nation’s GDP and has employed 1.87 million workers that earned over 71.63 billion in wages and benefits (Dunham and Associates, 2016). Based on these statistics alone, we can already see how important the meat industry is to our economy. Imposing a pro-vegetarian diet would indirectly harm the industry as less demand for meats would cause prices to go up and eventually workers to be laid off as employers cut costs to maintain their potentially dwindling industry. This would lead to an increase in the unemployment rate and an inflation in meat prices that would only serve to damage the industry even
Veganism has grown into a widespread trend in the last 70 years; in fact, in the United States approximately 3% of the population reports that they do not eat meat and about a third of this group declare themselves as vegan (Singer and Mason 187). Factory farming is an intensive method of farming that results in inexpensive meat products at the expense of one’s health, the environment, and animals (“Factory Farms”) . Moreover, this form of farming has led to the slow destruction of the planet, the mistreatment of animals, and the increase of various health diseases. Veganism is increasing due to the exposure of the secondary effects caused by industrialized
There are two main lifestyles that we as human beings practice that impact our eating habits. One being a Vegetarian, a person who chooses not to eat meat. The other being a Meat Eater (also known as an Omnivore), a person who chooses to eat both meat and vegetables. A controversial debate continues to go on, evaluating the pros and cons of each group, along with the reasons behind their choice. In the end it all depends on the individual’s outlook on life that makes the decision.
Agriculture for meat and beef, eggs and dairy products are responsible for eighteen percent of all the greenhouse gas emission per year, which is more than the emissions of cars, planes, and trains together. And livestock and their byproducts are responsible for fifty-one percent of the greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and for up to ninety percent of water consumption in the U.S.. Thousands of gallons of water are used to produce beef, eggs and dairy products. More than half of the oceans are fished and two acres of the rainforest get destroyed every second for food production. Switching to a vegan lifestyle can decrease all these factors and make the world we live in now exist longer.
For thousands of years people have been consuming meat. A big part of people’s culture is focused around food and family, and disrupting that can be insensitive. Humans have evolved to a population by manipulating the environment, that being the use technology. Animal byproducts are what humans live on and contain essential nutrients on which humans thrive on. It provides a dense amount of calories, protein, and minerals in which is essential to survive. Animal agriculture was the driving force of human development, because there was an ability to constantly provide adequate food to the population. This allowed free time, innovations, explorations, and eventually the world in which we live. Meat also provides economic stimulus with in our world, but that has some drawbacks. As a country’s wealth develops, so does its consumption of animals, and studies have shown that this has a direct impact on the environment. Factory farming can have a substantial effect on the environment, by gas emissions, carbon use, and water pollution -just to name a few. The pros and cons can be pretty equal or out of proportion depending on one’s predisposition on the topic.
“Recognize meat for what it really is: the antibiotic- and pesticide- laden corpse of a tortured animal.” says Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder of (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) PETA and animal activist. Factory farming should be banned or demolished thoroughly due to more harm than good that is being presented worldwide. Animal brutality, which can be found constantly and excessively throughout factory farms, is a deleterious act involving the animals and a diabolic act regarding human morals. The antic actions that proceed have an effect on both humans and the environment, as well as the unethical, inhumane treatment and the atrocious sufferings of animals. Besides factory farms offering a copious amount of cheaper food, factory farming is a detrimental agricultural practice to both humans and the environment. The way we receive our food is inhumane and unhealthy to humans and the environment, thus factory farms should be banned.
The raising of cattle, pigs, chickens, turkeys, and more are the reason for most of the destruction of the environment on the planet. Over all farm land covers about 38% of the worlds land area. So humans can continue to eat meat millions of animals and insects are losing their homes and even going extinct so more farm
One cannot omit the fact that there are some global economical problems caused by mass meat consumption, such as starvation. Cattle are fed soybeans, corn, and other grains that could be eaten directly by people. You can feed a cow 16 pounds of food, and only one pound becomes meat that people can eat. The other 15 pounds are waste. It has been proved that decreasing global meat production by 10% would allow us to feed additional 60 million people. I am convinced that it is a strong argument why all people should become vegetarians.
As different crazes and fads are appearing each day, we have come to expect them to simply fade away as the hype passes. However, veganism has stood the test of time in our fad society and is still increasing in popularity. Originally only thought to be a religious lifestyle, many people from different walks of life are becoming vegans. However, this poses many questions and sparks heated debates, mainly from omnivorous people who believe that veganism is against life’s natural order. Vegans, then, argue against an omnivorous lifestyle by bringing up facts about humans’ biological makeup and how humans are, contrary to popular belief, herbivorous by nature, not omnivorous. While both sides present good arguments to some, the veganism lifestyle contains more benefits and less harmful cons than an omnivorous lifestyle.
Consumption of meat by humans creates several problems. First and foremost, raising animals for food compromises the environment. For example, it takes a large amount of natural resources to sustain the meat industry. The use of water, land, and food to raise animals for human consumption is not an efficient use of our limited resources. In contrast, it is more efficient to feed humans directly than to use land, food, and water to feed animals to be used as food. There are shortages of fertile land, clean water, and food in several third world countries. Many of these countries’ resources are allocated to produce feed for animals in developed countries around the world. As a result, the citizens of these countries are stricken with water and food shortages, while their crops are feeding cattle from across the globe. However, this problem can be solved by adopting a vegan diet. The vegan diet will allow a more efficient use of resources that in turn can be used to feed starving men, women, and children throughout the world. Consequently, more people in the world could be fed if the land used to grow feed for animals was used to grow food for humans.