The Overconsumption Of Meat-Based Diets

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

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.

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.

Everybody loves meat. From steak to pork chops, it’s all good, just not good for you. In the past few decades, as our population has increased exponentially, so has our demand for food. Because of this, we have changed in the way we get our food. The way that the food is produced has changed and because of this the health risks increased and the environment is also affected. People need to know that there are consequences.

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.

The food system in the U.S. has changed a lot over these decades. In the past, people grew crops in their land and vegetables in their gardens. Today, the food system is dominated by the industrial farms and food companies. The industrial food system prevents us from knowing the food. We do not know where the food comes from, how it is produced, and what the conditions that animals live in are. Animals, such as cattle and chickens, are raised in concentrated feedlots where the conditions are terrible and the space is narrow. When it comes to the meatpacking, we do not know how the animals are slaughtered, gutted, and skinned. The operations are invisible and conducted behind walls. The industrial food system aims to produce more food faster and more cheaply. However, it hides lots of truths, such as its effect on consumers’ health, the environment, and the society. If there were more transparency in the food system, the inhumane practice of meatpacking would be reduced; the living conditions of animals would be improved; fewer fertilizers and pesticides would be used in agriculture; consumers would have the chance to see how the food is produced and make a wiser choice of what to eat; and the current industrial food system might be replaced.

“Meats, Dairies, and Eggs, Oh Why” (2014) is an argumentative essay written by Rebecca Dent that explains the benefits of eating a plant-based diet and advocates for the better treatment of the animals affected by the meat industry. Dent supports her assertions by discussing the negative health effects of an omnivorous diet, addressing reasons some might be hesitant to convert to a plant-based diet, describing the advantages of substituting meat for vegetables for both the consumers and the animals, and finally, by including expert opinions and statistical facts. Dent’s purpose for this essay is to highlight the benefits of vegetarianism in order to convince readers to convert to a plant-based diet. The intended audience for this argument is those who currently eat an omnivorous diet so that they would assess and change their eating habits.

I am really concerned about our eating habits in America, and I am beginning to wonder if the meat industry is negatively affecting America 's health and well-being. During this course I have efficiently held that the meat industry is in high demand, because we have dramatically increased the amount of meat consumed over the last twenty years. My understanding of this topic is that animals such as cows and chickens are being mistreated; this due to them living in small compartments, and in unhealthy conditions. I also think that a lot of bacteria is being created out of the unsanitary conditions in which these animals are kept, This bacteria ends up in our food and is harmful to us. A reason why this topic became very appealing to me is because I grew up in a small town in Mexico. My family’s eating habits were very different from the ones here in the United States. We raised our own cattle and chickens and I now believe that we did so in a healthy environment for animals. We would also cultivate our own vegetables and fruits. I remember the meat having a different taste. The cattle and chickens were not as big as they are here, they didn’t grow as fast, and they surely didn’t reproduce as quickly as they do in farms here.

In the United States, it almost seems like you can’t go far without running into a place that sells some sort of low cost meat. In fact, in the United States you can’t be further than 107 miles away from the Golden Arches of McDonalds (Worley, 2009). With all this meat so available and so affordable, it raises the question how it is possible to produce so much at such a low cost. The way this food is produced at such large quantities for such low cost is a due in part of factory farming. Factory farming has the ability to deliver food to millions and millions of people each year at an astronomical rate, however the way it goes about accomplishing this comes at the expense of the economy, the environment, the ethics of humanity, and the health of the consumer.

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

In the Ethics of What We Eat, Peter Singer, expert in Applied Philosophy and Bioethics, addresses controversy head-on by unraveling public misconception about meat consumption, bringing critical attention to how the animals are treated before they are killed, as conscious beings that share the planet with us. He points to the grocery store and the meat aisle where animal meats are purchased that give imagery of spacious ranches and animals grazing on grass peacefully in lush pastures. In fact, this is not the case at all. The lives the animals lead prior to being butchered are brutal, tortured existences, of unimaginable grief, that no living being capable of conscious thought on any level, great or small, should ever endure. Singer illustrates, that meat manufacturers don’t want the public to know this is the case, spending more than 11 billion dollars per year in deceptive advertisement, to convince the public otherwise, obscuring the horrible truth. This selfish, greedy advertising leads Americans to follow the Standard American Diet (SAD), characterized by high consumption of animal-based products, like meat, eggs, and dairy, high in fat and excess protein, consumed in larger than needed portions, more often than needed, paving the way to heart disease, high blood pressure, low energy, and unhealthy living, while meat producers rake in revenue. Singer asks his audience to reconsider the foods they eat, providing valuable insight into why they eat these foods, and

An estimated fifty-six billion animals are slaughtered every year just for human consumption. The consumption of these animals is now redundant and wasteful because meat and dairy products are not necessary for the majority of human’s survival. Humans should stop eating animals and animal by-products because it is morally wrong, this is due to the fact that many of the animals humans consume can feel pain. Humans should stop eating other animals if it is not essential for their survival. In addition, the conditions that animals are subjected to in farms and slaughterhouses are harsh. Moreover, the amount of grain that is required to feed farmed animals is high and can be used to feed humans instead of animals that will inevitably be killed

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

The United States prides itself on being an advanced society and helping both its citizens and foreign nations. However, some of the biggest problems facing the world today stem from sources often overlooked or even purposefully neglected by the American government. One of these sources is animal agriculture. Animal industries such as those which produce meat, dairy, seafood, and eggs are some of the main contributors to environmental decay, health epidemics, and even world hunger issues. Although proof of this is abundant, it continues to be ignored. Instead, we continue to go around the main problem and struggle to find alternate solutions only to arrive at inefficient and costly attempts. If we want our nation to truly represent its values, however, something must be done. In order to help solve issues regarding health, hunger, and the environment not only in America but in the world, the mass production of animal products should be outlawed.

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.