Protein Footprint Research Paper
In this week's forum one of the question ask is, how big is my protein footprint? It also asks, does a meat rich diet have a negative impact on our environment? And does it contribute to global warming? With a very small percentage of Americans following a vegetarian diet. I will say that my protein footprint is about the same as the majority of the US population. I understand that a good source of protein can be found in nuts, black beans and lentils. However the number one source of protein in a US household, comes from a diet full of beef, poultry, fish eggs and dairy products. My protein footprint covers each individual source of proteins with meats being the main source for it. On a daily basis my diet contains some kind of meat. For instance, at breakfast it is a sure thing for me to have eggs or dairy products such as cheese, milk or butter. A typical lunch and dinner for me will have one of the meats with primary poultry or fish and many times with black beans or lentils over rice. To answer the above
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question, my protein footprint stretches out to all the protein sources.
Is the environment being negatively impacted by the rich meat diet the population is following? To answer this question, it's first necessary to understand the process the meat takes before the end up in the local food market. Before any fresh beef or poultry is available in the markets, the livestock need to be raised by feeding them hundreds of pounds of food. From all the grain, corn is the most common source of nutrition giving to livestock. Thousands of acres of land are used yearly for the growth of grains. They are utilizing large quantities of water and fertilizers to maintain these lands. According to Scientific America "growing livestock feed in the US alone requires 167 million pounds of pesticides and 17 billion pounds of nitrogen fertilizer each year across some 149 million acres of cropland" (How Does Meat, 2015). Looking at theses numbers in a different perspective, it could be said that it takes close to half the world's grain crops to raise the animals eaten by the population. The above numbers mentioned are astonishing for me to know. It can be disputed that to raise livestock it takes a bigger tow on the environment compared to growing fruits and vegetables. The disagreement is based on the fact that livestock can feed more people than grains do. The argument continues with that consuming smaller quantities of meats and dairy in one's diet will boost farmland capabilities. For this reason some people (about two percent in the US) chose to follow a vegetarian diet. One of their hopes is to lower the adverse impact that raising livestock causes to the environment. The outcome of a rich protein diet, is causing a tremendous hurt on the ambience. This is because of the amount of water, fossil fuels, pesticides and top soil used daily to raise livestock are hurting the earth. Furthermore the air and water contamination that occurs during the breeding of livestock is devastating to the environment. My personal opinion is that what we chose to eat will hurt our health and also damage the environment.
After analyzing the consequences of a higher meat diet on our environment.
The question that arose was if a high meat diet is a factor in global warming? Global warming is causing largely by too much carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. This CO2 is acting like a cover in the atmosphere inclosing the heat and this is warming the earth. The burning down of thousands of acres (deforestation) to make place to raise crops and cattle is one of the contributors to global warming. According to the Union of Concern Scientists "Any action to reduce or eliminate the release of heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere helps slow the rate of warming"(Ultimate Hot Map, 2011). Deforestation discharges hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon into the atmosphere sharing the blame on global warming. Reforestation won't totally fix the problem causing the global warming. But the more trees the earth has the lower the CO2 and the higher oxygen it will
have.
Reference
The Causes of Global Warming. (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2015, from http://www.climatehotmap.org/about/global-warming-causes.html
How Does Meat in the Diet Take an Environmental Toll? (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2015, from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/meat-and-environment/
question, my protein footprint stretches out to all the protein sources.
Is the environment being negatively impacted by the rich meat diet the population is following? To answer this question, it's first necessary to understand the process the meat takes before the end up in the local food market. Before any fresh beef or poultry is available in the markets, the livestock need to be raised by feeding them hundreds of pounds of food. From all the grain, corn is the most common source of nutrition giving to livestock. Thousands of acres of land are used yearly for the growth of grains. They are utilizing large quantities of water and fertilizers to maintain these lands. According to Scientific America "growing livestock feed in the US alone requires 167 million pounds of pesticides and 17 billion pounds of nitrogen fertilizer each year across some 149 million acres of cropland" (How Does Meat, 2015). Looking at theses numbers in a different perspective, it could be said that it takes close to half the world's grain crops to raise the animals eaten by the population. The above numbers mentioned are astonishing for me to know. It can be disputed that to raise livestock it takes a bigger tow on the environment compared to growing fruits and vegetables. The disagreement is based on the fact that livestock can feed more people than grains do. The argument continues with that consuming smaller quantities of meats and dairy in one's diet will boost farmland capabilities. For this reason some people (about two percent in the US) chose to follow a vegetarian diet. One of their hopes is to lower the adverse impact that raising livestock causes to the environment. The outcome of a rich protein diet, is causing a tremendous hurt on the ambience. This is because of the amount of water, fossil fuels, pesticides and top soil used daily to raise livestock are hurting the earth. Furthermore the air and water contamination that occurs during the breeding of livestock is devastating to the environment. My personal opinion is that what we chose to eat will hurt our health and also damage the environment.
After analyzing the consequences of a higher meat diet on our environment.
The question that arose was if a high meat diet is a factor in global warming? Global warming is causing largely by too much carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. This CO2 is acting like a cover in the atmosphere inclosing the heat and this is warming the earth. The burning down of thousands of acres (deforestation) to make place to raise crops and cattle is one of the contributors to global warming. According to the Union of Concern Scientists "Any action to reduce or eliminate the release of heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere helps slow the rate of warming"(Ultimate Hot Map, 2011). Deforestation discharges hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon into the atmosphere sharing the blame on global warming. Reforestation won't totally fix the problem causing the global warming. But the more trees the earth has the lower the CO2 and the higher oxygen it will
have.
Reference
The Causes of Global Warming. (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2015, from http://www.climatehotmap.org/about/global-warming-causes.html
How Does Meat in the Diet Take an Environmental Toll? (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2015, from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/meat-and-environment/