Destructive Dining

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by Jenna Kirkman

By now you have probably figured out the whole sustainable lifestyle thing.  You bike to work in your 100% organic clothing (fair trade, of course) and you recycle everything from plastic to cell phones.  But are you still tossing meat into your ninety-nine cent reusable grocery bags?  If so, it might be time to seriously reconsider your diet.

In fact, a study by the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science concluded that just one measly kilogram of beef is the source of more greenhouse gas pollution than a three hour gas-fueled car ride.  And, switching from a standard American meat-based diet to a vegetarian diet is actually more beneficial to the environment than trading in your SUV for a hybrid.  How?

Check out these major environmental detriments, courtesy of the meat industry.

Animals Who Eat Must Also Excrete

The EPA estimates that, in a single day, just one cow produces the same amount of feces as 20-40 people. Take that, and multiply by 9 million (the estimated number of livestock killed for food each year in the United States alone) and you’ve got yourself a plethora of poop and nowhere to put it.

As a result, excrement leaks into ground water, lakes, and rivers, filling them with pollutants (many of them given to livestock by farmers) such as nitrate, hormones, antibiotics, and ammonia.  These pollutants kill fish by the millions, disrupt natural ecosystems, and not surprisingly, pose a serious health hazard to humans as well.

A Gross Contributor to Global Warming

Poop is not the only toxic waste leaving food animals.  An outrageous 16 percent of methane is emitting annually from “belching, flatulent livestock”.  That’s right.  Burping pigs and farting cows are raising temperatures on earth.

Livestock also emits 18 percent of all greenhouse gases, which is more than that emitted through transport systems.  And 64 percent of ammonia emissions, responsible for acid rain, come from livestock as well.

Animals Aren’t the Only Victims…

Millions of trees are dying, too! It takes an estimated 55 square feet of forest, for growing feed and housing livestock, to make a single quarter-pound burger.  Clear-cutting forests contributes to global warming as well, since trees absorb carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas.

Energy Crisis

During meat transport and production, an unimaginable – and unnecessary – amount of energy is wasted.  According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, it takes 10 times more fossil fuel to produce one calorie of meat protein than it does to produce the same amount of plant protein.

Feed the World

The amount of land we use to both grow animal feed, as well as house billions of livestock, could grow enough food to feed every single human being on the planet.   This means that the estimated 840 million undernourished people in the world remain hungry, while human-bred livestock remain well fed.  It turns out that going veg is not only environmentally responsible – it’s a great karma boost, too!

Want to put an end to meat industry destruction?

• The simplest way you can make a difference is by going veg.  Read tips and facts about getting started.
• If you don’t think you can totally give up meat, start by substituting one or two meals per week with a mock meat option.
• Read more and educate others about an environmentally conscious diet.  Try Jane Goodall’s  Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating,  Frances Moore Lappe’s Diet for a Small Planet, or Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life for starters.

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