vegetarian

As a vegetarian, I always think it’s very important for people to know why eating meat is so bad. Bad for your health, bad if you look at world hunger, and of course – bad for the animals. But let’s just focus on the effects that factory farming of animals has on the environment! Being bad for the animals is only one of the reasons why I don’t want to have any part of factory farming, but it’s a pretty important one to me.

Here are some rather interesting facts that might be useful for you to understand the issue:

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

According to the United Nations, raising animals for food is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global”. Farmed animals are producing more greenhouse gas emissions than the world’s entire transport system. Animal production is responsible for eighteen per cent of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions – it damages the environment more than anything else we do.

Using up resources

Factory farming requires huge amounts of land, energy, water and food and comes together with air and water pollution, global warming, habitat destruction, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and using up resources. I think PETA does a great job describing why using resources the way factory farming does, doesn’t make any sense:

"It's bizarre, really: You take a crop like soybeans, oats, corn, or wheat, which are all high in protein, fibre, and complex carbohydrates but devoid of cholesterol and artery-clogging saturated fat. You feed them to an animal and create a product with no fibre or complex carbohydrates at all but with lots of cholesterol and saturated fat. It makes about as much sense as taking pure water, running it through a sewer system, and then drinking it."

Funnelling crops through animals in order to create and eat meat is one of the biggest causes of harm to the environment. It takes about 16 kilograms of grain to produce 1 kilo of animal flesh. Loads of grains and soy have to be produced to feed the animals, then it has to be trucked to the farms, the animals have to be trucked to the slaughter houses, and of course there’s all the processing and packaging. Every step costs a lot of energy, which could have been so much more efficiently used.

Meat's Not Green

What About Water?

Raising animals for food uses a lot of water. For example, a cow on a dairy farm consumes almost 200 litres of drinking water a day. Producing 1 kilo of cow flesh takes more than 20,000 litres of water, while it takes about 1,500 litres to make 1 kilo of whole wheat flour. According to John Robbins, author of Diet for a new America, the average meat eater’s diet requires fifteen times more water than a plant based diet.

The livestock industry does not only use a lot of water, it also pollutes the water. Manure ends up in rivers, lakes and drinking water. The waste produced by factory-farmed animals is used to fertilize crops, and then ends up in waterways, along with the antibiotics and bacteria they contain.

Go Veg

So, if you are really interested in helping to save the environment, say “No” to factory farming. Driving a hybrid car and switching to power and water saving devices will all help as well, but the most effective choice to fight against climate change is switching to a plant based diet. In 2008 a German study showed that a meat-eater’s diet is responsible for more than seven times as much greenhouse gas emissions as a vegan diet is. And according to John Robbins, the average meat-eater uses 20 times as much land to satisfy his or her food requirements as a vegan does. So, we can grow so much more food if we are not funnelling crops through animals.

Switching to a plant based diet is the single most effective choice that an individual can make to combat the effects of climate change.

If you really can’t give up your meat, eating even one less portion per week will make a significant change. You will help reduce the demand for meat and help decrease the impact meat production is having on the environment. But to me, eating meat doesn’t make any sense, if you look at the health, animal welfare and environmental reasons. There are heaps of healthy, cheap and delicious ingredients and meals available that don’t harm the animals and our planet. It’s worth a try!

Still need more convincing?

Meat the Truth Trailer


Also check out these websites for more information:


Written by Ilse Savenije

Image credit: Dave Meyers / PETA