Persuasive Essay : Should We Eating The Planet

Anna Lappé’s book, Diet for a Hot Planet, discusses the impact that meat consumption has on the planet and our environment. It discusses how the global food system is a major contributor to climate change, producing as much as one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. She writes about how the way we farm, what we eat, and how our food gets to our tables all

The Omnivore’s Dilemma, written by Michael Pollan, gives light to the question, “What should we have for dinner?” that he thinks Americans today cannot answer simply due to the fact that there are too many food options. This book serves as an eye-opener to challenge readers to be more aware and accountable of what is consumed daily. In order to understand fully where our food comes from, we must follow it back to the very beginning. Pollan goes on to discuss three different modern food chains in which we get our food: the industrial, the organic, and the hunter-gatherer. By tracing our food back to the beginning, we can understand that most of the nutritional and health problems America is going through today can be found on the farms that make our food and the government that can decide what happens. America deals with many food related illness such as, heart disease, obesity, and type II diabetes. Majority of a human and animals diet consists of being corn-fed leading to a high cause of obesity in the United States these are just some of the many diseases that come with over processed foods and diets we are unaware of. In this study, we will highlight the environmental and health issues and impacts related with modern agriculture and how these systems can be made more sustainable.

While all of us relatively understand how driving cars, leaving the lights on, or using too much water can affect the environment, there is one massive human activity that is frequently overlooked—eating. From growing, to processing, to distributing, and finally consuming, our agricultural system uses an immense portion of our planet’s limited resources and emits large amounts of greenhouse gases that have drastic effects on the environment. Because of this, it is imperative to understand the environmental impacts of the type of foods that we choose to include in our diets. While much of today’s population is heavily reliant on animal products, it is evident that a meat-based diet is not environmentally sustainable; on the other hand, a plant-based diet is much more environmentally friendly in terms of the amount of grain, water, and

This article breaks down a variety of different considerations to eating sustainability. They discuss specific diets such as paleo, which is focused on protein. This protein focused diet has a negative impact on the environment, each meat not only requires a tremendous amount of water, but also emits greenhouse gasses. The worst offender is lamb, while the most efficient is chicken. This article explains that if everyone ate 90 percent less meat the Earth would be so much better, or even if consumers would shy away from diets like paleo and tend towards there recommended protein intake (whether that is through meat or other sources). The article also mentions seafood and asks consumers to get smart about their seafood. Muscles and oysters have

In the United States we are currently in an environmental crisis. Our temperatures keep rising and while a lot of people are trying to make efforts to help with this, many people are still ignoring the easiest way to help the planet. The meat and dairy industry are two of the largest contributors to climate change and one of the easiest solutions for people to help with is to at least cut back on their consumption of meat and dairy. The UN has even said “A substantial reduction of impacts of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products.” (Carus, UN urges global move to meat and dairy-free diet), but this has barely made an impact even though they released this five years ago.

The first three words that come to most minds when hearing “climate change” would most likely be deforestation, pollution, and fossil fuels. But almost as though it is a hidden secret, the McDouble and chicken nuggets consumed leisurely at lunch break is theoretically, according to reporter Lecia Bushak (2013), eating the earth. Vegetable and fruit consumption is rising, and red meat is also. An excess number of calories are being consumed, producing skyrocketing food-related Greenhouse Gas emissions. University of Oxford researcher Marco Springmann (2016) reports that these emissions would theoretically fall to 29% if global dietary guidelines were adopted, and if vegetarian diets were followed, 63 to 70%.

Americans, as well as others throughout the world, consume meat, dairy, and eggs practically every day. Because using animal products is a constant, most people are not prompted to ask the question, “why?” The behaviors of eating a burger, using makeup that was tested on animals, and buying products made from leather and fur, are deeply ingrained into cultures in varying geographical locations, including the United States. Humans are creatures of habit, and often don’t sway from the “normal” way of life, because is known and comfortable. Staying within comfort zones, inhibits people from learning and growing. Unfortunately, individuals’ health, the environment, and innocent animals all suffer injurious consequences when a person makes the decision to buy the flesh, fur, skin, and by-products of animals. Our one and only Earth is impacted significantly by our seemingly arbitrary daily choices. Animal agriculture is the main contributor to global warming. Water is not an unlimited source, and coincidentally is necessary for all living beings to survive. Animals in the agriculture industry require a substantial amount of water to live and produce meat and other superfluous animal products. Ironically, humans have constructed a sense of normalcy around the idea of using water, a scarcely expendable source, in an exponentially wasteful manner. Humans are unconsciously sabotaging every living being, through the destruction of earth. Often

We have several meals a day and what we eat can have an influence on our body’s health for better or worse. We usually select foods based on taste and convenience, but making selection on

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.

Many people nowadays try to be conscious of their impacts on the environment, but what if one of the main contributors of environmental destruction was something that the vast majority of people contribute to everyday, without even realizing the detrimental effects it has on the environment? In conversations about lessening one’s personal environmental impacts, some common points are using renewable energy, recycling, taking shorter showers, and not littering. While these are great steps to take, one subject rarely thoroughly discussed is one’s consumption of animal products. Switching to more sustainable meat is suggested by numerous environmental organizations, but based on the enormous scale of the animal agriculture industry, would this really be enough to significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, rainforest destruction, ocean dead zones, water use and other negative environmental impacts all caused by the animal agriculture industry? In order to most effectively minimize the negative environmental impacts caused by the animal agriculture industry, humans must decrease their consumption of animal products.

Moving forward, people are not the only ones affected by food waste, it takes a significant hit on our environment. When the excess food from dinner gets thrown away it doesn’t just evaporate into the air like fairy dust it gets sent to landfills that are expanding by the second. The size of these landfills although a worry not a top priority, the methane gas they release are. The methane that is released is 25 times more damaging to the earth. The levels of methane are low right now but if they increase which they will because of the landfills are expanding it will have significant effects of the clarity of the air we breathe. 10% of rich countries greenhouse gas emissions comes from growing food that is never eaten. Ironic that the food that is ruining the environment is from food that is

Meat consumption is a normal part of most people’s diets. However, meats accumulate to a large impact to the amount of greenhouse gases in our environment. The amount of meat a person eats counts up to how much carbon dioxide in released in the air. This is a part of an individual’s carbon foot printing. To decrease carbon emissions, individuals should try to reduce their meat intake and have organic, environmental-friendly food. According to The Nature Conservancy, “there are a lot of environmental reasons to buy organic food including reducing carbon toxins in the environment and encouraging sustainable farming practices, which frequently accompany organic farming”. Organic food is produced and distributed locally. As a result, transportation is not used constantly, and slight carbon is released into the air. If an individual chooses to consume healthy, organic food, their carbon footprints will be low and the environment surrounding them will be cleaner. This contrasts to meats that are loaded with chemicals that are being transported from state to state. These meats create a large carbon footprint from the time it is being processed to the time it travels through a state. The amount of meat an individual eats in their life not only affects them, but it also effects the environment around them.

We are eating ourselves to death. The overconsumption of meat is proving to be detrimental to consumer health, the environment, and society. Preventable diseases are on the rise and resources are being wasted. The rate at which we are currently consuming meat is unsustainable and we are paying for it.

Americans throw away billions of pounds of food, worth billions of dollars and enough to feed millions of people each year. Food waste is the single largest component of American landfills. Every year, around 40 percent of all food goes unconsumed in the United States. This amounts to Americans squandering as much as $218 billion annually growing, processing and transporting food that never gets eaten. That is a very vast waste of resources considering all the freshwater, land, fertilizer, and energy used was for nothing. ‘Washington Post’. Even Europe does a better job of curtailing food waste and food waste in Europe alone could feed 200 million hungry people! Food waste is often described as a “farm-to-fork” problem because produce is lost in fields, warehouses, packaging, distribution, supermarkets, restaurants and fridges. How do Americans waste so much food? We purchase too many food products, our eyes are bigger than our stomachs, and we buy what is not expected.

Global warming is one of the biggest problems the world faces today. The production of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases is affecting our atmosphere and human life. Society has been told that fossil fuels and auto emission needs to stop but there is one industry that “makes a 40% greater contribution to global warming than all transportation in the world combined; it is the number one cause of climate change” (Foer 43) and that is Animal agriculture. Over the years the meat industry has been unconcerned about the deterioration of our environment and has taken upon corrupt practices. The industry only focuses on their profits instead of the unhygienic condition animals live in and the effect diseases can have on human health and our environment.