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How Your Eating Habits Affect The Environment
How Your Eating Habits Affect the Environment How Eliminating
Animal Products From Your Lifestyle Benefits the Earth
* POLLUTION/GLOBAL WARMING Animals raised for food produce 130
times more excrement than the entire human population --- 86,600
lbs per second --- which all too often leaches into streams and
contaminates groundwater. Nearly 90% of all U.S. farms drain
into a single body of water - the Mississippi River. Waste
lagoons on livestock farms release a considerable amount of
methane into the atmosphere, a greenhouse gas which contributes
to global warming.
* LAND USE/DEFORESTATION/HABITAT DESTRUCTION Nearly 90% of all
agricultural land in the U.S is used to raise animals for food.
20 times more land is required to feed a meat-eater than to feed
a pure vegetarian. For every quarter-pound burger made of
rainforest beef, 55 square feet of land are consumed. Livestock
grazing is the number one threat and cause of elimination of
tropical rainforest species.
* WATER Nearly 50% of all water consumed in the U.S. is used for
livestock. The production of one pound of California beef
requires a total of 2,464 gallons of water. You would save more
water by not eating a pound of California beef than you would by
not showering for 6 months.
* ENERGY Raising animals for food requires more than 30% of all
raw materials and fossil fuels used in the United States.
Producing a single hamburger patty uses enough fossil fuels to
drive a small car 20 miles, not to mention enough water for 17
showers.
* FISH FARMS/FACTORY TRAWLERS Fish and shrimp farms destroy
habitat and contaminate water with the heavy use of antibiotics,
causing coastal pollution, displacement of local people from
their land, and the clearing of mangrove forests. They take away
land that is traditionally used for growing rice, the primary
staple for most of the world's people. Just like their
land-dwelling counterparts, fish and shrimp are highly
inefficient converters of protein. It takes 5 lbs of wild ocean
fish to feed and produce a single pound of farmed saltwater fish
or shrimp. Think you're better off eating wild-caught? Think
again. Factory trawlers use long lines with thousands of hooks
and huge nets, spanning up to 80 miles. These lines wreak havoc,
destroying the ocean floor and drowning everything in their
path, including seabirds, seals, dolphins, sea turtles, and
countless other species. About 25% of all animals caught in
factory nets are thrown away (by-catch). Factory trawlers have
driven more than 100 species of "food fish" to full or near
extinction and have caused irreparable harm to others.
* PERSONAL HEALTH/ANTIBIOTICS The obesity rate among the general
(meat-eating) U.S. population is nearly 50%. For vegetarians,
that number drops to 6%, and for vegans (people who abstain from
all animal products), it is only 2%. The increased risk of heart
disease and gallstones for obese people is double to triple; the
risk of colon cancer is triple to quadruple; and the risk of
diabetes is 40 times greater than for people at a healthy
weight. Vegetarians and vegans enjoy a reduced risk for obesity,
coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, and some types
of cancer. This translates to a much lower drain on U.S. tax
dollars spent on health care and preventable medical procedures.
In addition, the EPA estimates that 60 - 80% of all livestock
receive antibiotics as a routine food additive, leading to an
increase in antibiotic resistance in humans by causing selective
pressure for the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Roughly 24 million pounds of antibiotics (about 70% of the
nation's total antibiotic use) are added to animal feed every
year to speed livestock growth.
* PUBLIC HEALTH Open waste lagoons on factory farms store urine
and liquefied manure, home to more than 150 pathogens
(disease-causing organisms) such as Salmonella, E. coli,
Cryptosporidium, and fecal coliform. These pathogens are 10-100
times more concentrated than in human waste and pose a serious
threat to human health. Animal waste is also contaminated with
endocrine disrupters from pesticides (consumed via feed crops)
and hormones (fed to cattle to speed up growth), which can alter
sexual development in humans, undermine intelligence, and render
us less resistant to disease. Animal waste lagoons emit toxic
fumes (such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, and
methane) which can cause diarrhea, nausea, headaches, eye
irritation, sore throat, shortness of breath, wheezing,
excessive coughing, seizures, coma, and even death.
Nitrate-contaminated drinking water can increase the risk of
methemoglobinemia (blue baby syndrome), and high levels of
nitrate contamination have been linked to spontaneous abortions.
* WORKER SAFETY On average, 25% of factory farm workers suffer
job-related injuries and/or illnesses each year - the highest
rate of any job in the country. At high concentrations, methane
and/or carbon dioxide can displace enough oxygen to suffocate a
worker; hydrogen sulfide can result in unconsciousness,
respiratory failure, and death within minutes; and ammonia
causes severe irritation to the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs,
and can also be fatal.
* SUSTAINABILITY/WORLD HUNGER Livestock are simply not efficient
converters of protein - it takes 17 pounds of grain to produce 1
pound of beef. As the meat industry devotes more and more grain
to feeding livestock, valuable food resources are diverted from
the hungry, contributing to food scarcity for the world's poor,
particularly in developing countries. An astounding 70% of U.S.
grain and soybeans are fed to livestock. If Americans were to
reduce their beef consumption by only 5%, it would free up the
12 million tons of grain needed to adequately feed every single
person on the planet who dies from hunger or hunger-related
diseases annually.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Diet For A New America, by John Robbins A
Diet For All Reasons, by Michael Klapper, MD Hope's Edge, by
Frances Moore Lappe and Anna Lappe Earthsave - www.earthsave.org
Natural Resources Defense Council: www.nrdc.org
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About the author:
Dr. James Carey is a retired engineer and international
consultant, now dedicated to the Raw Foods Movement.
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