A Post For Or Against Vegetarianism? ( AKA Cows Are Killing The Planet)
Ask most vegetarians why they eat a vegetarian diet and they will quickly answer it's for moral reasons. Yes, I know there are a million other reasons, but most will answer "moral issues" first. But what if I told you that all that livestock you don't eat was destroying our environment and planet? Global warming, land degradation, water pollution... it's the cows man! If I told you that you'd think I was nuts. Well...
A recent United Nations report found just that. Livestock is the biggest contributor to greenhouse gasses, creating 18% MORE greenhouse gasses than transport (cars, trucks, buses, planes, ships etc) and was one of the most significant contributors to land and water degradation.
This all sounds CRAZY till you start reading how HUGE the whole livestock industry really is. About 1/6 of the world's population work in the industry. Livestock currently uses almost 1/3rd of the of the earth’s entire land surface. Meat and dairy animals now account for about 20 percent of all animal biomass on the planet. These are crazy figures I never could have imagined.
So what is it really doing that's so bad?
Well, all these animals are creating 37% of all anthropogenic methane. Stuff that is 23 times more warming that CO2, that standard by which global warming emissions are measured. They also produce 64% of all ammonia. (Can you say acid rain?)
They are devastating on the earth's water as well. It takes 990 liters of water to produce 1 liter of milk. All the waste water, animal waste, pesticides, hormones, feed etc flow in to the smaller water systems and end up in the world's major water ways. In the Gulf of Mexico there is a dead zone of more than 20,000 square KM where waste from US cattle production ends up dumping out at the end of the Mississippi. The ecosystem in the South Chine Sea is quickly dying off with livestock waste being the # 1 contributor.
There's a lot more interesting facts at the UN site as well as their ideas for cleaning the industry all up.
Personally, I don't end up eating a lot of red meat and I'm FAR from a vegetarian, I LOVE my milk and do have a steak occasionally, but maybe I'll start eating beef a little more often to get ride of all these creatures that are killing our planet right from under us.
Hey, That sounds like a great excuse to head to MacDonald's! Two beef patties....
A recent United Nations report found just that. Livestock is the biggest contributor to greenhouse gasses, creating 18% MORE greenhouse gasses than transport (cars, trucks, buses, planes, ships etc) and was one of the most significant contributors to land and water degradation.
This all sounds CRAZY till you start reading how HUGE the whole livestock industry really is. About 1/6 of the world's population work in the industry. Livestock currently uses almost 1/3rd of the of the earth’s entire land surface. Meat and dairy animals now account for about 20 percent of all animal biomass on the planet. These are crazy figures I never could have imagined.
So what is it really doing that's so bad?
Well, all these animals are creating 37% of all anthropogenic methane. Stuff that is 23 times more warming that CO2, that standard by which global warming emissions are measured. They also produce 64% of all ammonia. (Can you say acid rain?)
They are devastating on the earth's water as well. It takes 990 liters of water to produce 1 liter of milk. All the waste water, animal waste, pesticides, hormones, feed etc flow in to the smaller water systems and end up in the world's major water ways. In the Gulf of Mexico there is a dead zone of more than 20,000 square KM where waste from US cattle production ends up dumping out at the end of the Mississippi. The ecosystem in the South Chine Sea is quickly dying off with livestock waste being the # 1 contributor.
There's a lot more interesting facts at the UN site as well as their ideas for cleaning the industry all up.
Personally, I don't end up eating a lot of red meat and I'm FAR from a vegetarian, I LOVE my milk and do have a steak occasionally, but maybe I'll start eating beef a little more often to get ride of all these creatures that are killing our planet right from under us.
Hey, That sounds like a great excuse to head to MacDonald's! Two beef patties....
posted by Geeper at 10:13 a.m.
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