Is Your Diet Destroying The Environment?
5 Reasons Why the Food on Your Plate is More Important Than the Car You Drive:
Many people who go green consider buying something major like a hybrid car. A larger contribution to the environment is not in your driveway though, but in your fridge right now.
The climate change cost of animal meat production is greater than the cost of cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together.
This is not just vegetarians or health advocates saying this either. The World Health Organization, Scientific American, New Scientist and Readers Digest have all come out with clear information on this fact.
Effects of Meat Production on the Planet
1. Cow Farts:
Cattle farting (and burping) methane as has been joked about in the media is a factor in global warming.
2. Plant Displacement:
The biggest impact of meat production is that it displaces useful plants. Trees, grasses and other year-round plants are what absorb CO2 and capture carbon on this planet but they are displaced for specific crops to house and feed cattle.
3. Water Pollution:
Rearing animals for meat contributes significantly to water pollution. Animal waste, antibiotics and hormones enter the water cycle alongside chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and the pesticides used to spray feed crops.
4. Water Usage:
Raising cattle for food is incredibly inefficient in terms of water. Meat production is different in different parts of the world but even the more efficient systems use 1,500 gallons of wa! ter to p roduce a single pound of beef.
5.Overgrazing:
Overgrazing by cattle and other meat producing animals is so hard on the land that it cant maintain any productive vegetation.
