factory farming deforestation climate change carbon food water corn

Fossil Fuels

  • More than than a third of all raw materials and fossil fuels consumed in the United States are used in animal production ("Ecological Cooking" by Joanne Stepaniak and Kathy Hecker)
  • The production of one calorie of brute protein requires more than x times the fossil fuel input as a calorie of establish protein. (The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition)
  • Producing a unmarried hamburger uses enough fuel to drive 20 miles and causes the loss of five times its weight in topsoil. ("The Food Revolution" by John Robbins)

Water

  • Virtually half of all the h2o used in the United States goes to raising animals for food ("The Food Revolution" by John Robbins). It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat and only 25 gallons to produce i pound of wheat ("H2o Inputs in California Food Production" past Marcia Kreith)
  • To produce a mean solar day'due south food for i meat-eater takes over iv,000 gallons; for a lacto-ovo vegetarian, only 1200 gallons; for a vegan, only 300 gallons (The Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook)
  • Animals raised for food produce approximately 130 times as much excrement as the entire human population and beast farms pollute our waterways more than all other industrial sources combined. Run-offs of animal waste matter, pesticides, chemicals, fertilizers, hormones and antibiotics are contributing to expressionless zones in littoral areas, degradation of coral reef and health issues. (The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency).

Country

  • Raising animals for food (including country used for grazing and land used to grow feed crops) now uses a staggering 30% of the World'south land mass. (Livestock'due south Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options, a 2006 written report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture System)
  • Seven football fields' worth of land is bulldozed every infinitesimal to create more than room for farmed animals and the crops that feed them. (The Smithsonian Establishment)
  • Of all the agricultural land in the U.S., 80% is used to enhance animals for food and grow grain to feed them—that'due south virtually one-half the total land mass of the lower 48 states ("Major Uses of Land in the U.s.a." by Marlow Vesterby and Kenneth S. Krupa)

Air

  • The massive amounts of excrement produced by livestock farms emit toxic gases such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia into the air. Roughly 80% of ammonia emissions in the U.S. come up from animal waste (The U.S. Ecology Protection Agency).
  • When the cesspools holding tons of urine and feces become total, factory farms volition frequently become effectually water pollution limits by spraying liquid manure into the air, creating mists that are carried away by the wind. ("Neighbors of Vast Pig Farms Say Foul Air Endangers Their Health," by Jennifer Lee, The New York Times 11 May 2003)
  • Air pollutants generated by fauna farms can cause respiratory illness, lung inflammation, and increase vulnerability to respiratory diseases, such as asthma. Emissions of reactive organics and ammonia from brute farming can play a part in the germination of ozone (smog) and air pollution (The U.South. Environmental Protection Agency)

Food

  • In the U.Due south., 70% of the grain grown is fed to animals on feedlots ("Plants, Genes, and Agriculture" past  Jones and Bartlet)
  • Information technology takes up to xvi pounds of grain to produce just one pound of meat. (The Global Benefits of Eating Less Meat past Mark Gold and Jonathon Porritt). Fish on fish farms must be fed five pounds of wild-defenseless fish to produce one pound of farmed fish flesh ("The Nutrient Revolution" by John Robbins)
  • The world's cattle lonely consume a quantity of food equal to the caloric needs of viii.7 billion people—more than than the entire human being population on Earth ("The Global Benefits of Eating Less Meat" by Mark Gilded and Jonathon Porritt)

Climatic change

  • Brute agriculture is responsible for 18% of the total release of greenhouse gases world-wide (this is more than all the cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the earth combined)  (Livestock'due south Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options, a 2006 report published by the United nations Nutrient and Agriculture Organization)
  • Livestock business relationship for an estimated ix% of global CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) emissions, estimated 35-xl% of global CH4 (Marsh gas) emissions and 65% of NO2 (Nitrous Oxide) emissions (Livestock'southward Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options, a 2006 report published by the Un Nutrient and Agriculture Organization)
  • By replacing your "regular machine" with a Toyota Prius the average person tin can prevent the emission of about 1 tonne of CO2 into the atmosphere, By replacing an omnivorous diet with a vegan nutrition the average person tin can forbid the emission of about 1.five tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. That's 50% more CO2 saved! ("Information technology'due south amend to light-green your diet than your automobile", The New Scientist, December 17, 2005.)

In addition to all of the higher up, let'south not forget that the expansion of livestock farming is ane of the key factors leading to deforestation in parts of the earth such as Latin America and posing a significant threat of the World's biodiversity. Our Oceans are not being spared either and over-fishing is having a devastating affect on our marine ecosystems. This is not merely a trouble that impacts our planet, it'due south a humanitarian crunch. Our demand for animal based products is diverting precious resources like land, water and fossil fuels to produce farmed animals instead of feeding the estimated billion + people that are malnourished in the world.

Nosotros can all showtime working on sustainable alternatives or attempt to brand sustainable choices every bit a solution to this trouble, simply the easiest solution is the elimination of the demand for animate being based products. Switching to a institute-based lifestyle is the simply long term solution that not only benefits the environment, just also the animals and our health.

Image Source: Image i, Image 2, Epitome iii