The Meat Industry Has A Huge Environmental Footprint, And It 's Not A Sustainable Business

Our nation’s industrial farming has become more than just feeding people; it has become a way for the food industry to make more money as human population continues to grow. Jonathan Safran Foer in his book Eating Animals, illustrates the effects factory farming has had on animals meant for human consumption. Furthermore, Foer asks many questions to the reader on what will it take for us to change our ways before we say enough is enough. The questions individuals need to be asking themselves are: how do we deal with the problem of factory farming, and what can people do to help solve these issues? Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation, also illustrates the animal abuse that goes unseen within the food industry as well as Bernard Rollin and Robert Desch in their article “Farm Factories”, both demonstrate what is wrong today with factory farming. Foer gives such examples of employees who work in slaughterhouses giving accounts of what goes on in the kill floors, and stories of employees who have witnessed thousands and thousands of cows going through the slaughter process alive (Animals 231). Namit Arora in the article “On Eating Animals”, as well as Michael Pollan in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, both address some of the issues that animals face once they hit the kill floor. The food industry has transformed not only how people eat, but also the negative effects our climate endures as a result of factory farming as illustrated by Anna Lappe in “The Climate Crisis at the End

Do you really know what is in your meat? What about what happens to the meat after it is slaughtered? Fortunately, the conditions have gotten much better throughout the years. But many years ago, in the early 1900s meat consumers bought spoiled and rat infested hams that were produced by the meat industries. Nowadays, the meat industry has improved to a certain extent. Today, about 80% of all U.S. feedlots are injected with hormones (Lerner). Americans should know what they are eating. This is important in the meat industry because they are the producers of all the meat that we eat. The meat industry has improved and is much better than the 1900s, but still not at as ideal as everyone thinks it really is.

It used to be very common just to eat any meat we pick up from our local grocery store such as Walmart or Target, but with this upcoming millennial generation’s new lifestyle expectations, people are starting to care more about what they consume and how they treat their body. It is important to understand where the food that is being put in your body is coming from and whether or not it is really what you think. Most people understand that eating meat is healthy and good for you always, but the manner in which the animals the meat is being produced from are raised affects the way it tastes and how it either damages or helps the body. I personally believe that people should eat humane meat because it is much safer for the human body due to it

One of the biggest controversies with livestock production is that the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that get released into the atmosphere. Its assumed that cars produce most if not all the greenhouse gas emissions however livestock has a big say in air pollution. According to Cassandra Brooks, writer for the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, 18 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions are due to livestock production. This is nearly 20% and can be greatly reduced if people reduced their demand for meat. The Environmental Working Group used a tangible variable for Americans stating “if everyone in the U.S. ate no meat or cheese just one day a week, it would be like not driving 91 billion miles – or taking 7.6 million

Factory farming is an efficient and profitable way to make and sell meat. But there are a myriad of consequences to this system. Factory farms do whatever they can to be cost-efficient. This leads to a waste of energy, harmful effects on the environment, cruel animal treatment, and negative effects on human health, and therefore, factory farming should be abolished.

Every year, an average American will consume approximately one hundred-twenty six pounds of meat. This meat can be traced back to factory farms where the animals are kept to be tortured to turn into a product for the appetite of humans. The terrible treatment these animals are forced to endure is the outcome of the greed and want for a faster production of their product. The industry of factory farming works to maximize the output of the meat while maintaining low costs,but will sadly always comes at the animals’ expense.

In America, our everyday lives tend to revolve around our food choices. The average consumer veers towards the quick and easy food options. Without prior knowledge, an individual could be consuming contaminated meat products that were produced on a factory farm. Since the 1960’s, factory farming has accounted for over 99% of the meat sold in the United States (Zacharias, 2011). The move towards large, factory farms saves meat industry millions of dollars a day. These farms pose a huge risk to public health and environmental safety. Currently, four major companies produce 85% of all the beef in the United States (Bernice, 2014). It is important to examine how these companies are treating the animals we will ultimately consume. Knowing what these animals are fed, the conditions they are kept in and the effect that these factory farms have on the environment is essential for our health. But are there other options other than Big Ag corporations? Smaller, family owned farms might be the key to better nutrition and a smaller, ecofriendly footprint.

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

The cattle industry produces vast amounts of strain in the environment. It is energy inefficient, pollutes water, occupies many acres of land, and deteriorates the health of the people who abuse its consumption. The government subsidizes this industry. Therefore, the price paid for meat doesn’t reflect the environmental hazards involved in the process. In order to protect our health and the health of the environment we should pay close attention to our food choices and make sure we don’t support industries that degrade it.

     It also needs to be pointed out that meat production industry is highly unfriendly to the environment. It has been proved that the results of this mindless actions are extremely harmful to the whole planet: trees are lost in creating farms for animal food, land is taken away from wildlife, additional erosion is caused, topsoil is lost, groundwater is wasted, and pesticide is excessively used. In fact, one chicken farm uses as much water as a little city. Few may know that this industry, compared to others, causes the biggest pollution at all.

The global appetite for meat is growing and there is not enough land to keep up with it. Meat production takes too much out of the environment. The earth’s resources are not limitless and the ignorance of us as a species is continuing to grow(“How does…”). Technology will not save us from ourselves.

Even after listening to the facts about animal agriculture it is difficult for me to imagine that factory farming represents 99% of the animal products Americans consume especially after growing up in eastern Iowa and western Illinois. Consuming animals is a difficult topic because, Americans and I would rather discuss how we can change industry, politics, and our energy dependence rather than a personal issue such as the food we consume to protect the environment. Livestock farming is regrettably affecting the environment and the planet through methane produced, waste contamination, land utilization, and human health. Americans have ideals for farming from the American cowboy to the family farms, who continue to raise animals, might have a difficult time accepting the negative outcomes of raising

This day in age we have heard so many rumors of how factory slaughter cattle farms are actually ran. Many people assume all beef cattle are kept outside in fields. But, this is not always the case. This paper is to serve to somewhat get a clearer picture of what really happens within a cattle slaughter house. In every phase of development within a factory slaughter farm, animals suffer needless changes and restricted, narrowed living conditions. Not only are the animals being affected by diseases or stress, but we too are being affected just as much. When the farms dump fesses on lands it will make its way into our water and air supply leaving behind pesticides and toxins affecting our immune systems. “Scientists have linked animal stress to problems with food quality and safety” (Animal Welfare). Like any human that suffers from stress and anxiety can be diagnosed with any sorts of illness, the same circumstances can happen to an animal when it is subjected to stress and pain, the animal is prone to disease and can produce lower quality meat, and milk. In this case the cattle being exposed to stress their milk and meat will have a lower quality.

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

Meat production is one of the largest factors contributing to environmental degradation, and consumption is the primary cause for a striking amount of chronic diseases found in humans. Christopher Hyner, Managing Editor of Georgetown Environmental Law Review, states, “Climate change. Ocean dead zones. Fisheries depletion. Species extinction. Deforestation. World hunger. Food safety. Heart disease. Obesity. Diabetes. The list goes on. There is one issue at the heart of all these global problems that is too often overlooked by private individuals and policymakers alike—our demand for and reliance on animal products.” The negative impact of meat production on the environment are often hidden by the cheap prices of meat in grocery stores across the U.S. and by massive corporate factories in which the livestock are produced. These prices provided by major corporations do not show the hidden detriment that meat production is having on the environment, as well as the products negative health impact on the human population. The air and water pollution from feedlot runoff, energy and water expenditures, and the damage that meat production can have on our livelihood and the sustainability of our planet cannot go unnoticed for the sake of our world's future. By increasing public awareness on the negative effects of large scale livestock production and excessive meat consumption, our generation and those to come have the potential to massively influence both health and environmental