Animal agriculture is the “single largest contributor to every known environmental ill known to human kind” according to Demosthenes Maratos, Communications Director at Sustainability Institute of Molloy College. Yet, while we all know the risk things like showering too long, leaving the lights on in the room you are no longer in, or driving your old gas guzzling car plays on the destruction of our environment, many people are unaware of the impacts their diet has on it as well. Animal agriculture is the cultivation and breeding of animals for food or to produce any animal-based product. Animal agriculture can be tied to problems such as global warming, deforestation, animal extinction, water scarcity, waste, and harm to our oceans. This problem is solvable though, if animal products have less demand there will be less need for animal-based products and the issue would eventually be eradicated.
Carbon dioxide emissions from vehicle exhaust is the most commonly blamed factor discussed in the cause of global warming, and while this is a problem, accounting for “14% of greenhouse gas emissions, animal agriculture actually accounts for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions” (Steinfled et, al.). But, what are greenhouse gases? The term greenhouse gas is a used as a comparison of the earth to a greenhouse. Just as the glass contains heat within a greenhouse, the gases in the air keep heat inside the earth’s atmosphere (NASA). Since we keep emitting these greenhouse gases into the atmosphere the earth is getting warmer and changing the natural habitats found around the world, glaciers are melting on either pole of the world, and places near the equator are becoming more and more desertified. The greenhouse gases released by animal agriculture include carbon dioxide emissions and methane. Carbon dioxide is very harmful to the environment. Methane, however, is 86 times more likely to cause global warming than carbon dioxide within a twenty-year period (Shindall et, al.) and cows alone produce 150 billion gallons of methane per day (Ross, Phillip) therefore, if methane emissions were reduced there would be almost immediate benefits, as it is short lived and can be eliminated from the atmosphere shortly after production has stopped (NASA).
Trees and other plant life naturally can help with the excess amount of greenhouse gases, through photosynthesis plants take in the carbon dioxide in the air and in turn replenish the earth with oxygen, but at the rate we are cutting down trees we are practically doubling the effect greenhouse gases have on the environment. Animal agriculture requires a lot of land, in fact almost half of the contiguous united states’ land is used for animal agriculture (Nickerson, Cynthia). Considering how much of this land was not naturally fit for breeding and raising animals, a lot of land had to be cleared to make space for all the animals. This is the case for areas all over the world not just the United States. 91% of the deforestation of the amazon has been because of the need to clear out land for animal agriculture (Margulis, Sergio). The leading reasons for all deforestation is crops to feed animals and to add grazing area for livestock. In addition to the harm deforestation causes to the atmosphere, the act of deforestation causes problems closer to the ground as well. When land is cleared there is immense habitat loss for any animals who naturally live there which in turn causes species extinction and endangerment. “1-2 acres of land are cleared every second” (Scientific American) and “up to 137 species of plants, animals, and insects go extinct each day due to deforestation” (Save the Rainforests). This kind of mass extinction has adverse effects on the environment, it leads to biodiversity loss and interruption of the food web. Even just the loss of one small species disrupts the natural balance of things, its predator may have to find a new food source, and its pray may become over populated, causing unfavorable change to the natural balance. Deforestation enhances the effects of greenhouse gases causing global warming and disrupts the natural habitats of the world.
Scarcity of water can also be related to animal agriculture. General agriculture accounts for 80-90% of water use in the United States (USDA). Crops grown solely for feeding the animals on animal farms make up 55% of water use in the united states while only 5% is used by people in private homes for things like showers, dishes, watering the garden, etc. (Jacobson, Michael). This means well over half of water used in the united states is used for animal agriculture. If you take into consideration the water used for growing crops to feed and hydrate these animals throughout their lifetimes it takes “2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef.” It will also take “1,000 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of milk, 477 gallons of water for 1 pound of eggs, and almost 90 gallons of water for one pound of cheese” (Hoekstra, Arjen). This is a drastic difference between the 50 gallons it takes to get a pound of fruit or vegetables. Places like California have gone into awful droughts and have been told to shower less or not water their lawn, yet the factory farms have been using hundreds of thousands of gallons of water to supply their factory. If there was a cut back on demand for animal-based products there would be more water available in times of crisis and just in general.
That’s not the only way our water is being affected by animal agriculture though, oceans are facing harmful effects as well, with over fishing being a major problem. “90-100 million tons of fish are pulled from the ocean each year and as much as 2.7 trillion animals are pulled from the ocean as well” (UNFAO). For every pound of fish caught 5 pounds of aquatic animals are unintentionally trapped in the net as well. These animals are killed for no reason it is estimated that 650,000 whales, dolphins, and seals are killed by empty fishing vessels (Goldberg, Suzanne) and 40-50 million sharks have met their demise this way (Stone, Dan). Similar to deforestation, marine species extinction will cause loss of bio diversity, and changes in the natural food chain.
Animal agriculture produces a ridiculous amount of waste, livestock in the united states produces “116,000 pounds of waste per second, 130 times more animal waste is produced than human waste” (USGAO). In fact, a farm with “only 2,500 cows will produce the same amount of waste as a city with 411,000 people” (EPA). This means most of the waste we produce is actually coming from animals used in farms. All of this waste goes the landfills, or even worse, our oceans, where we are running out of space for the excessive amount of waste humans have created.
There are several arguments against veganism, one of the most common in the misconception that you need dairy and meat to get calcium and protein to live. Leafy greens and beans or nuts have more than enough protein and calcium to sustain human life. It is actually proven that plant-based proteins are healthier because, they don’t contain the unhealthy fats, they are mostly filled with carbohydrates (O’Brien et, al.). Humans are the only animals to drink milk past infancy and most definitely the only animal to take milk from another animal. This statement also disproves the argument that we should eat this way due to being natural, because there is nothing natural about consuming milk from another animal, especially as an adult. There is also nothing natural about the way we breed and keep animals not giving them a chance to survive. In the wild there is hunting for survival, everyone involved has somewhat of a chance unlike what humans do, breed just to kill.
Animal agriculture negatively affects the environment in an atrocious amount of ways. It creates waste, hurts the oceans, harms virtually all animals, propagates the scarcity of water, leads to deforestation, and provides a large contribution of greenhouse gases into our earth’s atmosphere. Cutting back on meats, becoming vegetarian, dairy free, or vegan is a huge step into the right direction. Although cutting off shower times and switching to an electric car are good, the only truly sustainable way of living is through a vegan diet, and even one person’s consistency and perseverance to stand for what’s right will make a beneficial difference in the footprint they leave on the world throughout their lifetime.