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When it comes to being thankful, there are many things that I think about. I’m thankful for friends, family, and even the animals. Everything nice in my life is worth being thankful for, but what I’m most grateful for is the chance to be vegan. I’m grateful that I can go to bed each day knowing that I didn’t cause the death of another living being. I’m also grateful for the change I’m able to make every single day. That being said, what I’m most ungrateful for is the meat and dairy industry. This business contributes to the abuse and murder of so many innocent animals, as well as contributes to the damages of the environment and our own health. Before I became vegan, I didn’t think about how my food got on my plate, or how bad that food was. …show more content…
Most people believe that the oil industry is the greatest leading cause to climate change, but it’s actually in fact the livestock industry’s production of greenhouse gases. “In late November 2006, the U.N Food and Agriculture Organization issued a report stating that the livestock business generates more greenhouse gas emissions than all forms of transportation combined,” (CollectiveEvolution RSS, 2015). Not only does the livestock business effect climate change, but it also contributes to our use of water. 1,799 gallons is used for the production of only one pound of beef, whereas it only takes 216 gallons of water for every pound of soy beans. The water that’s used for beef could, instead, be going into more soybeans in order to feed more starving people. Lastly, another environmental issue the meat and dairy industry contributes greatly to would be deforestation. It’s said that 80% of the remaining amazon is threatened by the cattle industry. Not only are they killing off billions of animals for us to eat, but they are also endangering thousands of species by tearing through the amazon and other forests. That being said, is the taste worth
Millions of animals are consumed everyday; humans are creating a mass animal holocaust, but is this animal holocaust changing the climate? In the essay “ The Carnivores Dilemma,” written by Nicolette Hahn Niman, a lawyer and livestock rancher, asserts that food production, most importantly beef production, is a global contributor to climate change. Nicolette Niman has reports by United Nations and the University of Chicago and the reports “condemn meat-eating,” and the reports also say that beef production is closely related to global warming. Niman highlights, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides are the leading greenhouses gases involved in increasing global warming. A vast majority of people across the world consumes meat and very little people are vegetarian, or the people that don’t eat meat, but are there connections between people and meat production industry when it comes to eating food and the effect it has on the climate? The greenhouse gases, methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxides are not only to blame, but we should be looking at people and industrialized farming for the leading cause of greenhouse gases in agriculture and the arm-twisting dilemma we have been lured into, which is meat production itself.
We care so much about what the food is and how it is made that we overlook about where the food had come from. According to the reading selection, “Killing Them with Kindness?” by James McWilliams, an American history professor at Texas State University, states “animals raised in factory farms have qualities that make them worthy of our moral consideration…[and yet, we] continue to ignore the ethical considerations involved in eating meat” (311). This exhibits that when Americans are so engrossed in healthy eating, our morals about animal rights are neglected. Most of what we eat are animals, and animals like we do have emotions, interests, and possibly goals in life. We pay no heed of the animal’s interests and it should not be that way since our interests are no more important just because we are more superior, intelligent beings should not give us the right to perceive animals in such a manner. In addition to paying notice of the origin of where the animals come from, we need to be aware of what killing animals will do to the earth. In the TedTalk, “What’s Wrong with the Way We Eat,” Mark Bittman states “10 billion animals are killed each year for food and they represent 18% of the harmful greenhouse gasses” (Bittman). This reveals that our careless consumption would not only lead to the suffering of animal deaths but the suffering of our world and our imminent death. As we increase our progression with our unhealthy obsession over healthy eating, there will not be any positive effects for the body, the animals around us, or the world. If we were to be conscious about the source of our food and the consequence of eating then we will be able to eat healthily and
The next time you go to sit down and enjoy a nice juicy steak, take a moment to think about how that piece of meat came from a cow and became your rib eye steak. Many people in our nation have no idea where their food comes from, what exactly is in the food they consume, and the effects it has on their health and the health of our environment. This is largely due to the industrialized, factory farming way of producing our meat and poultry. It has left our bodies sickened and our earth battered but with an elimination of animal products and an addition of a more plant based diet we can begin to restore …..
This statement is a myth and can be backed up by Meat Mythcrushers. According to the video, Myth: Going Meatless One Day a Week Can Have a Significant Environmental Impact, “reducing meat consumption one day per week as recommended by the Meatless Monday campaign has a negligible impact on greenhouse gas emissions.” This means that of the 3.4 percent of the gas emissions that are from animal agriculture, beef only contribute 1.4 percent. Even if the whole world were to reduce their beef consumption for one week, their carbon footprint would be just a meager .2 percent (2013). This misconception comes from people believing that livestock production is causing large emissions of greenhouse gas emissions when it is more so the transportation and energy production causing the problem. Meat is both economically and nutritionally efficient. Today, livestock farms require less land, water and energy than was required in the past
And, I won’t lie and say that I’m a “finger licking” carnivore — because I’m not. I cringe at making meatloaf or hamburgers, or anything else that requires me to handle meat with my hands. I still feel guilty eating meat at times, and I don’t think that will change. And, I still enjoy vegetarian or vegan cuisine at twice a week. However, the more protein and less carbs in my meals has helped with sugar cravings a lot. But most importantly, when I do eat meat, I choose meat that has nothing to do with the practices of the factory farming
Gratitude is one of the positive emotions shown from research and clinical trials to enhance the general well being of human beings. Gratitude is defined by Emmons (2004) as “a sense of thankfulness and joy in response to receiving a gift, whether the gift be a tangible benefit from a specific other or a moment of peaceful bliss evoked by natural beauty. Emmons and McCullough also see gratitude as an attitude, a habit, a personality trait and a way of handling difficult situations response (Emmons & Stern, 2013).
As public attention focuses on the impact of policy changes on the climate, we may overlook an important contributor to the climate crisis: our food systems and the daily food choices we make. It may sound hyperbolic that our roast beef sandwich is contributing to environmental degradation of the planet. But mounting evidence of the impact requires our attention and action as global citizens. And each of us can do something about it, today, by taking what we eat as seriously
The impact of eating meat on the environment is staggering and it is scary how fast we humans are exploiting our planet. Eating meat is not sustainable. A shocking 30% of the worlds entire land surface is used for raising live-stock. This significantly adds to global warming and over 51% of greenhouse gas emissions are due to animal agriculture. Pollution due to animal waste running from factory farms into our waterways are killing marine life and tainting our fresh water. Did you know we spend more time, money and resources fattening up the animals we eat, than we do feeding humans who are dying of hunger? (Anderson) – no wonder there are 925 million people that don’t have enough food. Not to mention 60% of the world’s grain is fed to farmed animals, if less live-stock was bred then couldn’t we give that grain to the people who are starving? On top of this it takes almost 20 times less land to feed someone on a plant-based (vegan) diet than it does to feed a meat-eater (PETA). How can you argue with
... decomposing manure and other factors, including the energy needed to store and transport meat’’ were all responsible for that18% of greenhouse gas emissions in the estimations. The amount of gas emission from these factory farms has accelerated climate change faster than all of the ways in which we burn fossil fuels to create energy. Even with these high numbers, people are still continuing industrial agriculture and there aren’t enough concerns out there to show how serious this situation is. Meat is equivalent to cars, which both are deeply set in American culture. Not much protest was hold strongly against the production of meat because many environmental groups realize that people may get very upset if meat production was cut off. This is only because they aren’t well aware that meat is slowly killing our planet and should be taken care of before it’s too late.
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 cars off the road” (Goffman 9). Instead of taking the bus to work, switching your diet around could make just as much of an impact on the environment.
The topic of climate change is frequently discussed, yet so widely misunderstood. The food you endorse, being meat and dairy products, are the leading factors to our world’s rapid decline. The meat and dairy industries are the main culprits of climate change. This is due to the buildup of greenhouse gas emissions, and an unsettling increase in atmospheric carbon levels. The longevity of our planet and species is more important than consuming meat and or dairy products for momentary pleasure.
This is a much bigger deal than people think. In fact, according to an article by Peta, How Does Eating Meat Harm the Environment, it has such an effect on the environment that the Union of Concerned Scientist list meat eaters as the second biggest environmental hazard facing the earth. The number one affect being fossil fuels produced by cars. It was also found in a report published by the Worldwatch Institute that nearly 51 percent of all greenhouse gasses are produced from animal agriculture. This is a very staggering number when a lot of research is being done to make vehicles more environmentally friendly when we could make a huge impact just by changing the way we eat. It is even more astounding that it takes the same number of fossil fuels to produce one hamburger as it takes to dive one car 20 miles (Peta How Does Eating Meat Harm the Environment). The production of this meat is also a big cost. It takes more than 80 percent of the corn we grow and more than 95 percent of oat are feed to livestock. The world’s cattle alone are feed the equal amount that would be needed to feed 8.7 billion people. That’s more than the entire world population. If we cut back on our consumption of meat we could take corn and oats that we produce and feed the world. When producing meat many of our natural resources are used. We use water, fossil fuels and top soil, and we are
Many people don’t believe think anything of what they eat or how it got there. But the harsh truth is the meat that you eat was once a living, breathing creature that had feeling and emotions. Maybe next time you order a steak or chicken nuggets you should think about the animals that went through extreme pain and conditions for you to eat. Not only is it inhumane to put animals through such pain, not eating meat and having a vegetarian lifestyle can have huge benefits to animals, the environment, and your health.
A United Nations report states that land used for animal agriculture, both for grazing and production of crops fed to livestock, takes up an astounding 30% of land on Earth. ("Meat Production Wastes Natural Resources") To meet the industry’s demands, over 260 million acres of forest in the U.S. have been cleared to grow grain fed to farm animals. ("Meat Production Wastes Natural Resources") With that in mind, the meat industry also dumps disease-causing pathogens through animal waste that pollutes water and forces the need for waste lagoons to be constructed, which are susceptible to leaking and flooding. ("Facts about Pollution from Livestock Farms”) Scientists say that about 14% of the world’s greenhouse gases are released by said agriculture industries, which is a growing concern for climate change and global warming. (Silverman) The meat industry uses one-third of all the fossil fuels consumed in the United States. (Moore) There is no question that farming animals has a negative effect on the environment and steps should be taken to mitigate air and water pollution risks and future deforestation. If animal agriculture was phased out, land used for animal grazing could be returned to forest land and some of it converted into fields for cultivating crops for humans. A global shift toward veganism, resulting in the elimination of the meat and animal agriculture industries, would protect the environment from various detrimental effects.
When these agricultural resources are given to the animals involved in meat production, these resources are lost. Besides the loss of land, the process of animal production is contributing to pollution and other greenhouse gases that are doing irreplaceable damage to the environment and contribute to untold negative health