By Megan Seyler Imagine if the American Heart Association flat-out refused to address unhealthy diets as a leading cause of Heart Disease. Even worse, imagine that its employees partake in eating an unhealthy diet despite having full knowledge of its repercussions. Sounds absurd, right? Yet this is precisely what is happening all across the planet, where leading environmental agencies and non-profit organizations are turning a blind eye to nearly all of the environment’s leading forms of destruction: animal agriculture. The meat and dairy industry has a momentous effect on land occupation, pollution, water usage, material usage, and greenhouse gas emissions, and yet somehow it is largely ignored both by environmentals and society as a whole. It is the ultimate elephant in the room, or rather, the planet, and if it is not addressed soon, the impact will be catastrophic. 87% of all agricultural land in the U.S. is designated to raising animals for food. Seeing as that is nearly half of the United States’ total land mass, the environmental damage done as a result is devastating. In the United States alone, over 260 million acres of forests have been cleared for cropland to grow feed for animals raised for food, and this does not even include the land that is occupied by said animals for grazing. It all seems a bit redundant, does it not? Growing food to feed to food, when a human body can healthily and happily live on a diet of the original food source? The Worldwatch Institute says that “Roughly 2 of every 5 tons of grain produced in the world is fed to livestock, poultry, or fish; decreasing consumption of these products, especially of beef, could free up massive quantities of grain and reduce pressure on land.” For every pound of flesh on a cow, it must have consumed 16lbs of vegetation, and if one were to look at the worldwide cattle population, the amount of vegetation consumed would meet the caloric needs of 8.7 billion people - more than the Earth’s population. Perhaps when one is contemplating how we are going to feed Earth’s growing population, it should be not a question of how, but what. Of course, one must also consider the opposite end of this problem - literally. Just as producing food for animals raised for food is a growing issue, so is the waste that these said animals are generating. The problem is so great, in fact, that animal agriculture is said by the Environmental Protection Agency to be leading cause of water pollution in the United States. On the occasion that animal waste is treated, it is done so mainly by using liquid manure systems that lie underground or in open air lagoons, mixing water with animal urine and feces - the same water that runs directly off into streams, rivers, ponds, and oceans. So how big of a problem is this, exactly? Think of it this way: According to Environmental Protection Agency, a typical dairy cow farm of around 2,500 generates the same amount of waste as a city of 411,000 people, and given that there around 9.1 million dairy cows on factory farms on any given day, this equates to around the same amount of waste produced by 1,496,040,000 people - four times the size of the entire U.S. population. And we’re just talking dairy cows. If you ask me, that is a lot of a crap, and we should not be taking it. To make matters considerably worse, animal agriculture makes up 18% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, beating out even the transportation industry, which society and environmentalists alike are quick to label as the leading cause of climate change. In fact, the fossil fuel it takes to produce just one hamburger is equivalent to the fuel used to drive a small car 20 miles. These figures are expected to rise 80% by the year 2050, and yet animal agriculture is still largely ignored as a key contributor to environmental issues like climate change, despite it being one of the most well-known and widespread environmental controversies worldwide. Environmental groups are blatantly choosing to ignore the issue of animal agriculture - the issue that could potentially corrupt our planet of resources - and for what? For the money? For the meat? In response to the documentary “Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret,” which is a 90-minute documentary exposing the environmental truths of animal agriculture, journalist Ward Pallotta for EcoWatch says, “To not address animal agriculture properly as one of (if not the) leading cause of nearly every major environmental form of destruction and degradation going on today is simply unacceptable.” Luckily, the issue of animal agriculture is unique in that it has a solution that requires no political action, money, tax incentives, or policy. It can be helped one person at a time by choosing to adopt a plant-based lifestyle, void of the consummation and advocation of animal products like meat, dairy, eggs, leather, etc, for when one buys and consumes these products, he or she is indirectly supporting organizations and businesses that are participating in the destruction of our environment. There is a growing disconnect between the food on people’s plate, where that food came from, and how it got there. It’s time that disconnect is severed, and we as a society work together on the betterment of our planet. It was stated in “Cowspiracy” that “Everyday, a person that eats a plant-based diet saves 1,100 gallons of water, 45 pounds of grain, 30 sq. ft. of forested land, the equivalent of 20 lbs. of CO2 and one animal’s life.” These figures are a call to action, and I would like to think that, should one have the resources and means necessary to adopt a vegan lifestyle, one would consider making that change after learning of the harmful effects of animal agriculture. After all, as Einstein says, “Those who have the privilege to know have the duty to act,” and now you know.
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Elena Caputo
Hi! My name is Elena, and I'm a senior at Wilson and one of the Editors of the Editorial section. If you have any questions or ideas or if you want to write, email me at [email protected]! Olivia MonosHello! My name is Olivia and I'm a junior this year, and one of the editors of the Editorial section! I'm really excited to write for the Paw Print again this year!
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