A Carnivore's Dilemma Summary

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Eating Towards Global Warming Global warming has been a topic of debate for many years now. A more recent argument is that food production is a key contributing factor to the global warming epidemic. In the article “A Carnivore’s Dilemma”, Nicolette Niman provides an insight to the logistics being said in these statements. The article was written in response to the statement farming and food production is leading to climate change. Niman, being a rancher who raises cattle, goats, and turkeys, effectively frames the situation logically by providing credible statistics and examples to help the reader better understand the impacts of different methods of food production. She does this by providing specific information regarding the greenhouse gases involved, being carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides. Niman, the rhetor, has written this article to try and inform the readers about the differences between traditional style and industrial style methods of food production. She has directed the article towards those concerned about the carbon footprint, we as individuals, are leaving …show more content…

She goes paragraph by paragraph comparing the different worlds of food production, proving her point that not all meat is created equal. She goes through each of the three greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides, which are a result of food production. She provides you a comparison of how each method impacts the environment in terms of greenhouse emissions and the level of extremity respectively. “Niman claims that industrial farming produces markedly more carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides than traditional farming and ranching” (173). She manages to keep the reader involved by keeping each comparison short and to the point. Her argument is backed with sources she states, and with the statistical figures she has