Background:
To fully address the concern of America’s role in attributing to climate change through producing meat there must be a clear understanding of how America got to this point by looking at a brief history of the process. After the Civil War there was a jump in population and immigration rates and the growth of urban cities like, New York. New jobs in the city that were not farming caused a need for a solution to feeding the growing population fast. The railroad was invented and this allowed for quicker transportation and the old times of cowboys herding cattle in the West soon came to a close (History of the Animal Science Industry). There was no need to raise cattle where it was to be consumed and so there came to be concentrated farming areas. This sets the stage for the big businesses of mass meat production to develop and flourish. The transport of meat over large distances became a feasible task that American people came to rely on. Furthermore, the new technology of refrigeration only added to the convenience. “Refrigeration in box cars allowed shipping of carcasses to population centers.” (History of the Animal Science Industry) Refrigeration is another way that helped the meat industry grow to what it is today. It allowed mass transportation of meat over long distances without the worry of it going bad. Through a long line of these inventions and innovations came a whole world of trouble concerning the environment that no one predicted. Big businesses left the small local farms in the shadows. The government has a large role in supporting the big meat industry businesses and so it feels that “so many acts are intended to get rid of small farms.”(Edible) Small farmers are struggling in today’s mass production age. The uncontrollable expansion of the big meat industry is proven by small farms struggling immensely everyday. The big businesses only add to the mass production of meat in the least effective and most destructive ways in regards to the environment like contributing the the Greenhouse Gas emissions, major deforestation, and the water supply becoming lower and polluting. This directly impacts the creation of big factories that contribute to climate change.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions:
The meat industry’s impact on Greenhouse Gas Emissions is by far the most detrimental aspect to climate change. GHG emissions are most widely associated with livestock farming for meat production as the main contributor to the worsening state of our climate. “The global increase in methane and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere is caused primarily by agriculture. Of global anthropogenic emissions in 2005, agriculture accounted for ≈60% of nitrous oxide and ≈50% of methane.” (The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition) Cows are the main producers of methane because of their unique bodily functions. They digest foods differently causing methane to be released in their feces and when they flatulate. When cattle is concentrated and the feces is not disposed of properly the toxic gases go into our atmosphere in increasing amounts. Therefore, raising cattle for the meat industry is a problem that is changing our natural environment in a fatalistic way. “Livestock, especially ruminants such as cattle, produce methane (CH4) as part of their normal digestive processes. This process is called enteric fermentation, and it represents almost one third of the emissions from the Agriculture economic sector.” (EPA) The EPA specifies the process of of cows contributing to these gases. With America being one of the lead countries in producing beef this leads to the conclusion that the path of the meat industry today is only going to add to the issue of climate change today. Soon the Greenhouse Gas Emissions will be irreversible and so it is important to recognize this issue as urgent. N2O is one of the gases that contribute to the greenhouse gases as well. “Agricultural soils are the largest anthropogenic source of N2O emissions in the United States, accounting for approximately 73.9 percent of N2O emissions in 2017 and 4.1 percent of total emissions in the United States in 2017.” (EPA) This puts into perspective that even the soil that is needed to raise agriculture is largely contributing to climate change and changing the atmosphere. Carbon is stored in the soil and eventually, when it reacts from the agricultural handling of it like plowing, it causes the carbon to rise to the atmosphere. There are so many ways and pieces of evidence that make it patent that raising livestock is one of the biggest problems that need to be dealt with to manage global warming and climate changing.
Water Pollution/Shortage:
The meat industry contributing to climate change directly causes glacier and ice sheets warming shown by the increase of water levels in direct cause of ice sheets melting because of global warming and polluting the bodies of water. One way that raising of livestock impacts the water supply in America is the ineffective ways of disposing of the manure of the animals. “Manure is a valuable resource for promoting soil fertility, but the volume of waste generated by IFAP operations often overwhelms the capacity of nearby cropland to absorb it, leaving the excess to contaminate drinking water and waterways.” (Johns Hopkins) Manure can be used in effective ways which, is important to remember if we want to make an effort to raise livestock in effective ways but, the ways it is being used now is just mostly harmful. Concentrated manure, as mentioned above, causes a release in toxic gases into the atmosphere which goes into the natural bodies of water. Water is an essential part of earth and human life and now it is contaminated and affecting natural water sources and the occupying living organisms. Concentrated manure is byproduct of big meat industries that hold large amounts of livestock together in one place. This makes it difficult to find ways to deal with and dispose of the manure in ways that will not harm the environment. Water is essential to the production of meat and in large quantities. “By some estimates, between 1,600 and 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of feedlot beef. Globally, an estimated 27 percent of the water “footprint” of humanity is attributable to meat and dairy production.” (Johns Hopkins) This statistic exhibits a small portion of how much water is being used to keep the meat industry alive. With the decreasing of water supplies this is simply speeding up the process of the impending droughts and water shortages. Water is not a renewable resource and the inefficiency of conserving water has impacted climate change with global warming already causing water supplies to drop. The warming of the climate which, Greenhouse Emissions contributes to, is causing fresh water sources to deplete. It all connects and leads to the same conclusion of the meat industry only adding to worsening state of the climate. The increase in the temperatures causes the need for water to rise for both animals and humans to survive and along with the demand growing, water is evaporating faster with changes in precipitation (NEEF). Livestock raising will begin to need more water to keep it going and it is predicted that the decrease in fresh water supplies due to climate change will cause a competition of obtaining water-the most essential part of living. Climate change caused by the meat industry is impacting water in so many ways that will only increase the demand of water which, will cause even more detrimental problems that could pave the way to extinction of living organisms.
Deforestation:
Deforestation is the clearing of forests and plants usually for the reason of using the land in different ways. More cleared land means more room for livestock to be raised and fed and as a result, the big businesses thrive. Deforestation is key to raising livestock since there is room to house so many animals while watching over them. So much land is needed to support the meat industry and the lack of forests directly causes more carbon dioxide to stay in the atmosphere. “The single biggest direct cause of tropical deforestation is conversion to cropland and pasture, mostly for subsistence, which is growing crops or raising livestock to meet daily needs.” (NASA) Meeting daily needs of meat consumption has caused the U.S. to not strategize correctly in how these lands are being used. The carbon dioxide increasing in the atmosphere is changing the climate in the worst ways. The lack of plants and trees make it difficult for CO2 to properly be taken in by plants thus causing issues with our atmosphere like global warming and pollution.
Deforestation, mainly caused by raising livestock, proves how the meat industry has gone overboard and has to be restricted as soon as possible to try reversing climate change. The land being converted to cropland is usually to feed the livestock as well. The waste of natural resources is uncanny. Carbon dioxide warming the climate directly impacts the water levels and the change weather patterns that we see today. Unpredicted weather is becoming normal and deforestation is a cause to it increasing. Americans have come to a point where convenience when it comes to food is essential. The increase of American fast food chains that specialize in meat like Burger King are direct contributors to the deforestation epidemic. The Rainforest Action Network started to boycott the mass cattle raising in rainforests because of how these natural habitats were being mindlessly cleared all to make cheap meat available to the public and they began by boycotting Burger King, an American fast food chain.(Deforestation, Cattle, and Fast Food). Our population today has grown accustomed to the fast life that demands food to be quick and a big staple of the American diet is meat. With this trend we can only expect more negative consequences in relation to climate change. Deforestation directly changes ecosystems which changes the the climate.
What about the growing of plants?:
One can argue that we should not focus completely on the meat industry causing climate change because the farming of vegetable and fruit crops also contributes to climate change. Although this could be true to a certain extent, if we look at the ways these crops would be farmed, there is more than sufficient evidence to back up the fact the increase in farming of plants can actually decrease or even reverse climate change and global warming. It is also extremely more effective and efficient. Based on The Humane Party, plant-based agriculture produces approximately “1.5 trillion more pounds of product than animal-based agriculture.” The farming of plants use a lot less land as well, “plant-based agriculture utilizes 115 million acres less than animal-based agriculture.” (The Humane Party) This shows how much more effective plant-based agriculture is in conserving natural resources. It decreases the amount of deforestation needed, it does not produce manure, and the plants take in CO2 from the atmosphere which reverses the climate change.
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