Going Veggie for the Environment

							 		 
						
 
						
 
						  
							 
     
								
  1.  
								  
    Greenhouse Gases - Fossil Fuels: Meat production
									 requires 10 to 20 times more energy per edible ton than grain production.
									 This includes growing the crops to feed the animals, processing the feed,
									 housing the animals in unnatural conditions, transporting them to the
									 slaughterhouse and the actual slaughtering. The slaughtering process alone is
									 intensive in its use of water and energy. Animal products also require more
									 energy for packaging, refrigeration and transportation, whereas many vegetables
									 and fruit require no packaging or refrigeration. The energy generated for the
									 entire production system comes mostly from burning fossil fuels that
									 contributes to pollution and global warming. 
    2.  
								
  2.  
								  
    Greenhouse Gases - Methane: Also, livestock emit vast
									 quantities of methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. It
									 is estimated that the methane from animal agriculture causes more than 15% of
									 the planet's human-induced warming. A vegetarian diet can save 1.5 tonnes of
									 greenhouse gases per person per year.
     
    3.  
								
  3.  
								  
    Land use:  A meat based diet requires seven times
									 more land than a plant based one. Much of the land that is used for grazing
									 was once wild grassland or forest, supporting a variety of wild species. Using
									 the land for grazing farm animals also leads to soil degradation that otherwise
									 would not have occurred.
    4.  
								
  4. 
								  
    Water use: It takes 2500 gallons of water to produce a
									 pound of meat, but only 25 gallons to produce a pound of grain. 
    5.  
								
  5.  
								  
    Inefficient use of plants:  To produce 1 lb. of meat
									 requires 3.5-8.5 lb. of plant food (ratios vary with the type of animal -
									 "broiler" chickens being the most "efficient", pigs the least.)
    6.  
								
  6.  
								  
    Animal Waste: Cattle produce 40 lb. of manure for
									 every lb. of edible beef. This waste must be disposed of. Animal waste can
									 seep into water systems can cause Ecoli, nitrogen, phosphorous, nitrate
									 pollution. Canadians will remember a small town in Ontario where seven people
									 died and many more were made sick when Ecoli contaminated the town's drinking
									 water.
    7.  
								
  7.  
								  
    The Oceans  Commercial fishing has had a devastating
									 effect on marine ecosystems, not only depleting fish stocks, but ravaging the
									 environment for other marine life. Marine mammals such as whales and dolphins
									 are sometimes caught in nets and drown. Other fish species that are not useful
									 to the fishers also die. Fish farms, developed to supplement dwindling fish
									 stocks, raise fish in underwater cages in high densities. The water is
									 contaminated with drugs and feces that pollute the adjacent waters. Fish that
									 escape can spread disease to wild stock. From an animal rights perspective,
									 fishing is one of the cruelest ways that animals are killed. The fish suffocate
									 or are crushd to death. A fish flopping around in a net or hold of a boat is
									 literally gasping for air. 
    8.  
							 
 
						
 
						
 
						   
						
 
						
 
						    
						
 
						
 
						   Bibliography: 
							 
     
								
  • "Meat production's
								  environmental toll" , a paper presented by
								  Stephen Leckie at the 1997 International Conference on Sustainable Urban Food
								  Systems, held at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, 
    •  
								
  • "Diet for a Small
								  Planet" (Frances Mooore Lappe)
    •  
								
  • People for the Ethical
								  Treatment of Animals
    •  
								
  • Vegetarian Society of
								  the UK
    •  
								
  •  EarthSave
								  International
    •