In Lisa Hamilton’s “Unconventional Farmers; Let Them Eat Meat”, she justifies the issue of raising livestock for food causing greenhouse gas emissions. Should we be eating less meat or actually eating more? Hamilton’s research found many interesting points that would interest any human beings that consume meat or any other type of consumable goods.…
Environmental safety is the most important issue to be considered in this modern life. Joseph Pace in this article talks about how Animal-based agriculture is one of the most environmentally destructive industries on the face of the earth.Pace also talks about how the lands would be if people shifted away from meat.He…
“Some people become vegetarians after realizing the devastation that the meat industry is having on the environment.” (Vegetarian Times)…
The author starts off strong with logos, which appeals to logic. In response to the comments about animals in our food production, she writes, “the studies show only that the prevailing methods of producing meat — that is, crowding animals together in factory farms, storing their waste in giant lagoons and cutting down forests to grow crops to feed them — cause substantial greenhouse gases” (Niman), meaning that small farms and farms can cut down on greenhouse gases if, “they keep their animals outdoors on pasture and make little use of machinery.” (Niman) She points out, “In contrast to traditional farms, industrial livestock and poultry facilities keep animals in buildings with mechanized systems for feeding, lighting, sewage flushing, ventilation, heating and cooling, all of which generate emissions,” which are what most statistics pointing the guilt finger at meat production are referring to. The author, being a “rancher…who raises cattle, goats and turkeys the traditional way (on grass)” (Niman), neatly brushes off relations of “meat (especially beef) is closely linked to global warming” (Niman), to her own farm. Meat and dairy would certainly win the greenhouse gas competition if not…
The article, “Vegetarian is the New Prius”, written by Kathy Freston, discusses the amount of contribution that livestock actively plays in the most crucial and serious environmental problem, from a local scale to global scale. Freston writes that the amount of livestock raised in United States soil is the main cause of air pollution, land degradation, water shortage, water pollution, biodiversity, and especially aids to global warming. This article attempts to convince readers to cut meat out of their diet and to become vegetarians, so that less livestock would be raised to feed the people and environmental issues would be cut down. Although it is true that Freston provides the audience with solid, legitimate factual arguments concerning the brutal slaughtering and consumption of livestock by humans, she fails to address the opposing argument. Although I am a personal fan of vegetarian foods, I disagree with Freston, primarily because my family has raised me on chicken and other meats. I believe that there will be livestock whether a lot of people change their diets and become vegetarians or not. At the University of Chicago, researches concluded that feeding animals for the production of meat, eggs, and dairy products requires growing upwards of ten times as many crops needed than if we just went without livestock. According to a report done by the United Nations animal agriculture takes up 70% of all agricultural land, and 30% of the total land surface of the planet. Upon seeing these disturbing facts, I do not believe that society will never 100% convert to a vegetarian lifestyle. Even if they do, there will still be millions of wild animals producing all of the same gases that are so harmful to our environment.…
It has been argued that meat has high sources of energy, minerals, and proteins in the human diet. It is rich in proteins which have shown to have a high energy unit as compared to other food types. Proponents of meat consumption support its consumption as it has a greater nutritional value and is good to the test buds. Apart from the nutritional reasons, it is also thought meat consumption maintains the ecosystem at equilibrium. If meat consumption was to stop, it is thought that animals like cattle, sheep, goats and poultry will multiply to levels that are ecological disastrous. As most of these animals are herbivorous, their uncontrolled increase would exert extreme pressure on vegetation. This may cause wanton destruction to vegetation that may destabilize the ecosystem. In as much as these arguments appear logical and plausible, they still do not give any moral permissibility of eating meat. Just like any reason in support of unacceptable practice, proponents of eating meat do not give any solid ethical justification why humans should continue killing animals to please their test buds. There is no moral justification whatsoever to rationalize the eating of meat.…
In the book Vegan: The new ethics of eating, Erik Marcus argues that a vegan diet is by far the healthiest, linking meat consumption to heart disease, cancer and obesity. Marcus…
Animal agriculture is ruining our planet. Scientists say that animal agriculture is responsible for more than 18 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than the combined exhaust gases from all transportation in the world. Therefore, this means that riding your bike, walking or taking the bus will not help if you want to be kind to our earth. Although I do understand that some people might enjoy eating meat and that they might not feel complete without it the consequences of it has no mercy.…
One of the biggest impacts done by eating meat is the depletion of resources, especially because a generous amount of water is used for livestock. With more than 1.7 billion farm animals in the world, it is approximately triple the amount of humans (4). Research shows that it takes 441 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, on the other hand, it only takes 14 gallons of water to produce one pound of wheat. The meat industry is one of the major reasons why we are depleting in fresh water. Ed Ayres (1999) of the World Watch Institute found the following: Around the world, as more water is diverted to raising pigs and chickens instead of producing crops for direct consumption, millions of wells are going dry. India, China, North Africa and the U.S. are all running freshwater deficits, pumping more from their aquifers than rain can replenish (2).…
Even though one of the main reasons for having pollution in our atmosphere is carbon dioxide emissions, studies have shown that there are many other culprits. One of these many culprits is the production of meats as well as maintaining the livestock itself. Scientists found out recently that “raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined” (Top 10 Reasons Why It's Green to Go Veggie). Livestock also contributes to global climate change due to the fact that they cause the destruction of the land and the pollution of water…
We are not in the stone ages anymore; we know the implications of meat and dairy industry on the environment. “Animal agriculture is responsible for 80-90% (34-76 trillion gallons annually) of US water consumption” (Anderson). The statistics to produce 1 pound of meat, 1 lb eggs, 1 lb cheese, 1 gallon milk, are 2,500, 477, 900, 1,000 gallons respectively (Anderson). A criticism of plant-based diets is that they are extreme, but what we are doing to animals and our planet is extreme. A severe change needs to be made in order to help reverse the damage we have done to the planet, and it is as simple as changing how we eat. Dr. Jennifer Rooke shuts down a common criticism of plant-based eating, that vitamins such as B12 are not being ingested from plant products. “Cattle no longer feed on grass and chickens do not peck in the dirt on factory farms”, so animals do not naturally absorb B12 (Rooke). Pesticides often kill B12 producing bacteria and insects in the soil, and heavy antibiotics kill B12 producing bacteria in animal’s stomachs (Rooke). Essentially the meat industry now gives a B12 vitamin to animals, so when a human eats the meat they get B12. “90% of B12 supplements produced in the world are fed to farm animals” (Rooke). Instead of murdering animals for food and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, and species extinction, why…
We can learn to become sensitive to our personal needs as well as the needs of animals. In a world that is growing with an increasing population, we must become aware of the ecological impact food consumption and farming has on nature and our environment. Eating healthy and caring about animals are choices.…
I. The Problem – The consumption of animal products harms the economy, the environment and people’s health.…
Scientists have scrutinize the safety of red meat consumption for several decades. Red meat has been linked to coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes mellitus, colorectal cancer, alzheimer’s disease, and nearly every other disease that can be caused by dietary habits. Scientists have made these assertions based on extensive research conducted in studies on a large scale across the globe. The validity of these claims rest solely on the assumption that these studies prove the claim and do so accurately. However, many of these study do not prove anything and can only show that two variables have an association with each other, not a direct connection. Also, these study fail to distinguish the difference between types of meat and skew the perceived results. Because these studies cannot directly prove the harms of red meat in comparison to the harms of other types, red meat cannot…
Eating meat is a fundamental part of human evolution and an acceptable norm in our society. The meat industry is vast and has impacts in different aspects of Australian life. However, there are many issues about the consumption of meat, such as; impact on the human health, emission of CO2, and issues with animal welfare. Some Australians are encouraged or aspired to become vegetarians for these reasons. On the other hand, some objected because they believe eating meat is defying the basic law of nature and would not make a huge difference in our environment as well as our health. Therefore, many aspects of these issues have been rising in our society regarding the intake of meat.…