Yardley

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Robert Yardley
UWRT 1101
November 22, 2016
Project 2

Careful Cow Consumption

Food is so much more than just biological molecules that give us

energy. A large part my life is spent either eating or thinking about food. As a
college freshman coming close to the first time seeing my family, since
moving day, for Thanksgiving. I am almost just as excited for the
Thanksgiving feast as I am for spending time with my family, and this is not
because I dont love my family or anything but because I just love food that
much. Food can be a door to a certain culture or experience and can also
bring people together when society works to bring them apart. The food we
eat however needs to be examined with a much closer eye than ever.
With the rising population on a steady rise, providing ample amounts
of food and nutrients is becoming increasingly important. With this demand
for food, meat is increasing in consumption far greater than any other source
of nutrients such as grain and produce. The lucrative animal farming industry
developed so extraordinarily due to growing demands from consumers and
the advances made in technology. While these farmers can produce mass
amounts of meats for consumers, the industry comes with many drawbacks.
Producing meat at the caliber it is produced at today has great

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environmental drawbacks that have great potential to sabotage the future of
our planet. It is important for consumers to be aware of the environmental
impact of their diets. To limit the amount of meat we consume in our diet and
force the big livestock companies to raise their livestock in an
environmentally friendly way to prevent the massive deforestation, carbon
emission, cruel animal treatment, and extreme water consumption that
livestock farming's associated.
Our atmosphere is a very delicate thing and it regulated by the ozone
layer which has an outstanding job of preventing the sun's radiation from
damaging the earth inhabitants and keeping our climate at a control and
optimal temperature. The ozone layers comprised of ozone or O3 which is
created by the oxygen that plants emit. Deforestation or the destruction of
these plants, therefore, is crucial to be aware of and in recent years has
grown to enormous numbers that have a potential to affect the ozone layer.
The number one culprit of this deforestation is none other than animal
farming. The Amazon rainforest is one of the most important producers of
oxygen making up more the 20% of the world's oxygen(Butler). Within the
past ten years, 289,000 miles of the Amazon rainforest destroyed(Butler)
and 91% of which is due to livestock production(Margulis). Its hard to ignore
the amount of blame that is due to animal production with it being so high.
The national geographic has predicted that at the current rate of
deforestation that within 100 years the rainforest could vanish (National
Geographic). Loss of rainforest leads to the loss of half of oxygen production

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and also takes away the homes of countless species of animals that diversity
our planet. Deforestation is comparable to a get rich quick scheme which
benefits a few people at the top momentarily but causes havoc and poverty
too many others. Almost just as important to the ozone layer as plants
production of oxygen is their abortion of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide
destroys the ozone layer and forest are the biggest absorber of carbon
dioxide. So not only do forest prevent the harm to ozone layer but they also
produce the resources to create it. We need to understand that destroying
the most important protector of the environment to make room for one of the
leading destructors of it is unacceptable and must be stopped.
Greenhouse gasses are the gasses responsible for heating our planet,
and without these gasses, we would virtually be living in a perpetual ice age.
However, when these greenhouse gasses are too abundant in the
atmosphere Earth overheats. This overheating has the has the potential to
change rainfall and snow patterns, increase droughts and severe storms,
reduce lake ice cover, melt glaciers, increase sea levels, and change plant
and animal behavior (National Geographic). The effects of global warming
would quite literally end up in killing millions of people, plants, and entire
ecosystems. The farming industry is the leading producer of greenhouses
leading in front of even fossil fuel industry. Of the different fossil fuels that
animal agriculture produces methane is the most notorious. Methane is 50100 times more hurtful to the environment than carbon dioxide and methane
production is expected to rise 80% by 2050 (Tilman). There is a lot of science

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that shows the impact that greenhouse gasses have on the environment, and
we also know that the largest problem in greenhouse gas emission is
livestock farming making changing of our diets the number one solution to
protect our earth.
Drought and dehydration are major problems in our world. We
constantly need to limit our use of water because of how important it is to
live. Saving water not only gives us a safety blanket in case of drought. To
get water, we often turn to rivers and wetlands, so when we save water, we
protect these habitats. Using water for agriculture dries up lakes and seas
while destroying ecosystems. The animal industry is the largest consumer of
our fresh water using 20-30% for the actual livestock and around 50% of all
fresh water for the crops that the animals consume (USDA ERS). Most of the
United States citizens worry about turning the faucet on too long while
brushing their teeth of taking too long of showers. Many states issue laws on
what type of sprinklers allowed and how often they are allowed to be on,
while only 5% of fresh waters used in private homes (Center for Science in
Public Health). There are no laws for the animal industry on water
conservation. If the government regulated the use of water on livestock
farms and consumers ate less meat, then we would save millions of gallons
of water to be utilized for the environment, recreation, and the consumption
of water we depend on to live. Although many argue that the world still has
so much water in the icebergs, this water is not able for us to maintain
unless the ice melts which is unpredictable which are not something to

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depend on considering how important water is to life. Not only does animal
farming waste the most water but also produces the most waste.
Animals contribute 130 times more waste than humans do (Gao).
With this waste is all the methane that hurts our environment so much.
Animal waste also leads to algae blooms that kill many marine animals and
make so many humans sick. E. coli and water contamination are a few more
problems that arise with the abundant animal waste. Researchers point out
the effectiveness of using manure as fertilizer which is completely backed up
by scientists. However, the amount of manure used to form fertilizer is far
less than the manure animals are excreting. Therefore, after using some
manure for fertilizer farmers are still left with tons of waste that nothing
environmentally friendly can solve. Because of manure used as fertilizers we
can address the problem of waste, but we must cut out an abundant amount
of meat in our diets and on our farms. Aside from all of the effects animal
farming has on our environment it is also cruel how these animals are
treated.
Animal farms can often be quite disturbing and saddening. The
animals kept in poor conditions living with barely any space to move. These
animals treated poorly, and this often leads to diseases. Cows who often are
milked have them utters full of pus from being continuously milked. Chickens
and pigs develop ulcers and hair loss. The way these animals die is in even
worse conditions; then they were raised in usually taking a hit to the head
and then hung to have their throat slit which often they alive for. Farmers

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often abuse their animals, and many videos have emerged of farmers
beating their animals in many cruel and unusual ways. Watching just 30
seconds of one of these videos is bound to make anyone cringe and feel sick
to their stomach. On TV we often see commercials and organizations trying
to help cats and dogs from abuse and living a hard life, but we never see
what is going on with livestock animals. Organic farming is considered to be
the alternative to this cruel industrial agriculture, but it is not as great
organic farmers make it seem. Animals on an organic farm who become sick
are never treated due to the use of chemicals being prohibited from organic
farming. Instead of having an animal not be labeled as organic the farmers
do not treat the animal and often kill it and use its body for nothing.
The last major problems with animals farming affect us directly and
currently. Animal agriculture uses 80% of all antibiotics (Center for Livable
Future). Animals are often treated with copious amounts of antibiotics
despite if they have a disease or not. This sufficient number of antibiotics is
the perfect place for antibiotic resistant bacteria to form which we can ingest
and get extremely sick. Crops made in developing countries where children
are often starving go to the animals that are to be shipped to other nations
before they get fed.
The world we live in is very and needs to work on balance. The
overproduction of meat is throwing off the balance of the environment
through its destruction of the rainforest and the addition of greenhouse
gasses that the industry produces in massive numbers. The farm industry

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also is destructive in the number of ecosystems it destroys whether it's from
drying up a lake or destroying the forest for more grazing land. On a more
personal level the farming industry in very inhuman and disturbing in their
treatment of animals. The next time you sit down at a restaurant or the
Thanksgiving table be sure to be aware of the amount of meat you are
consuming and be aware of the effects that amount of meat has on the
environment.

Butler, Rhett. "Amazon Destruction." Monga Bay. N.p., 23 Jan. 2016. Web. 21 Oct. 2016.
Article

Margulis, Sergio. "Causes of Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon." World Bank Working
Papers (2003):. Web. 22 Oct. 2016.

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Society, National Geographic. "Deforestation Facts, Deforestation Information, Effects of

Deforestation - National Geographic." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov.
2016.

Tilman, David, and Michael Clark. "Global Diets Link Environmental Sustainability and Human
Health." Nature 515.7528 (2014): 518-22. Peer reviewed Article.

"Background." USDA ERS - Background. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2016. Web

"Center for Science in the Public Interest." Center for Science in the Public Interest. N.p., n.d.
Web. 22 Nov. 2016. Web

Gao, Us General Accounting Office. ANIMAL AGRICULTURE: Waste Management Practices

GAO/RCED-99-205 (n.d.): n. pag. Web.

"Comment Navigation." Center for a Livable Future. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2016. Peer
Reviewed Article

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