Meat Consumption
23 May 2011
One Bite At a Time Most Americans are aware of global warming, cancer, heart disease and the fact that the earth’s supply of good water is diminishing. In an effort to conserve our planet people drive hybrid cars, recycle, and use low energy light bulbs and appliances, which is great. However, most Americans are unaware and uninformed about how meat effects global warming, our health, and how much of our planet’s water and resources meat production consumes. Meat contributes to global warming, increases risk for cancer, causes heart disease and uses a tremendous amount of resources to produce, therefore people need to be informed about what they are eating through food labeling and Surgeon General warnings, as well as cutting back to appropriate portion sizes. Farming used to do good things for our planet, where as now its causing harm due to mass production and factory farms. “Traditionally, farm animals played a useful role . . .they ate grass, crop wastes, and kitchen scraps that people could not eat and turned them into good that people could eat. Their manure provided the soil with needed nutrients . . .the animals pulled plows and provided services that enhanced human life”(Robbins 233). Things have changed drastically since the days of simple farming. Today, “With the expansion and mechanization of animal farming . . .there are now 20 billion livestock on Earth- more than triple the number of human beings”(Robbins 234). The problem with having so many livestock on earth is that the manure that used to provide soil with nutrients now releases nitrous oxide, which contributes to global warming. According to the U.N Food and Agriculture Organization “ Worldwide livestock farming generates 18% of the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions . . .all the world’s cars, trains, planes and boats account for a combined 13%”. However it’s more than just the manure contributing to global warming. FAO estimates that 70% of former forest covers were cut
One Bite At a Time Most Americans are aware of global warming, cancer, heart disease and the fact that the earth’s supply of good water is diminishing. In an effort to conserve our planet people drive hybrid cars, recycle, and use low energy light bulbs and appliances, which is great. However, most Americans are unaware and uninformed about how meat effects global warming, our health, and how much of our planet’s water and resources meat production consumes. Meat contributes to global warming, increases risk for cancer, causes heart disease and uses a tremendous amount of resources to produce, therefore people need to be informed about what they are eating through food labeling and Surgeon General warnings, as well as cutting back to appropriate portion sizes. Farming used to do good things for our planet, where as now its causing harm due to mass production and factory farms. “Traditionally, farm animals played a useful role . . .they ate grass, crop wastes, and kitchen scraps that people could not eat and turned them into good that people could eat. Their manure provided the soil with needed nutrients . . .the animals pulled plows and provided services that enhanced human life”(Robbins 233). Things have changed drastically since the days of simple farming. Today, “With the expansion and mechanization of animal farming . . .there are now 20 billion livestock on Earth- more than triple the number of human beings”(Robbins 234). The problem with having so many livestock on earth is that the manure that used to provide soil with nutrients now releases nitrous oxide, which contributes to global warming. According to the U.N Food and Agriculture Organization “ Worldwide livestock farming generates 18% of the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions . . .all the world’s cars, trains, planes and boats account for a combined 13%”. However it’s more than just the manure contributing to global warming. FAO estimates that 70% of former forest covers were cut
Cited: “A Campaign Becomes a Movement”. Meatless Mondays. n pg. n.d. Web. 11 May 2011. Davis, Brenda and Melina, Vesanto. The New Becoming Vegetarian. Summertown, Tennessee: Healthy Living Publications, 2003. Print. Hurley, Jayne and Liebman, Bonnie. “The Kindest Cut”. Nutrition Action Health Letter. 37.8 (Oct 2010): pg. 13. Web. 11 May 2011. Marcus, Erik. Vegan The New Ethics of Eating. New York: Mcbooks Press, 2001. Print. Office of Surgeon General. “About the office of the Surgeon General”. Surgeon General. n.pg. n.d. Web. 9 May 2011. Robbins, John. The Food Revolution. San Francisco: Conari Press, 2001. Print. Silverstone, Alicia. The Kind Diet. New York: Rodale Inc, 2009. Print Walsh, Bryan. ”Meat: Making Global Warming Worse”. Time. Sept. 2008:n.pg. Time.com. Web. 3 May 2011.