ipl-logo

Animal Agriculture: Effects On The Environment

725 Words3 Pages

Impacts: Animal Agriculture Animal agriculture is something that this world depends on in order to continue human survival. Humans use animals for all sorts of different products around the world. But is it hurting the environment past revival? As many of us know, the use of animals on a factory level is very damaging to the environment. Fecal matter from these farms are often times leached into rivers and are also creating methane gas which helps contribute to global warming. What if something could be done to help reduce the impacts of animal agriculture? To expand, animal agriculture creates a lot more harmful effects on the environment than just the obvious. Cattle ranching does …show more content…

I believe that if our planet continues to worsen in health then the human race will have to eat more veggies and plant based foods in order to save energy and produce less greenhouse gasses. In order to become a more sustainable food system it is smarter to eat at lower trophic levels. Plants produce their own food from the sun, when cattle eat the grass they only get about 10% of that energy that the plants contain. When we eat cattle we only get about 10% of the energy that they produce. All in all, cows have to eat more grass in order to sustain themselves and live off of that energy. Which means humans would be more sustainable and have more energy readily available when eating mostly a plant based …show more content…

Things are looking up when it comes to the placement of stricter rules. According to The Food Institute Report, the Environmental Protection Agency is “requiring permit holders to create a "nutrient management plan" that sets limits on the amount of animal manure that can be applied to fields” (EPA rule aims to, 2002). This plan will help to reduce the amount of manure that can be eroded into lakes and rivers. There are consequences regarding these solutions to animal agriculture. With any change comes consequences, good and bad. The negative side of our society eating plant based is that more and more heavy pesticides will have to be applied in order to yield enough crop to sustain human populations. With heavy chemicals being used this damages our environment as well. A negative side of creating legal requirements for farms is that there are ways around these rules or loop holes so to speak. I do believe however, that the good outways the bad in this situation. Animal agriculture is something that this world depends on in order to continue human survival. Change starts with just a small group of people. In order to reduce the detrimental effects of animal agriculture our human race is going to have to make a huge transition in our food system. With different solutions and trial and error changes can be made possible in the near

Show More
Related

Salt, Sugar, And Fat, Moss, By Michael Moss

1490 Words | 6 Pages

The fast food industry also hurts environments around farms in general. It has created an unsustainable cycle that farmers cannot escape. In order to feed themselves and their family, farmers play it safe and buy more fertilizer than needed. When the farmers do not use all of it, they must dispose of it, because that fertilizer will not be as effective next year, so they dump the fertilizer in the areas surrounding their farms. But what this causes is too much nitrogen in the environment because too much nitrogen can kill plants and throw the nitrogen cycle out of balance, in turn hurting the environment.

Read More

The Carnivore's Dilemma By Nicolette Hahn Niman

699 Words | 3 Pages

Is eating meat a detrimental threat to the environment? This debate over meat’s involvement in the global warming crisis was what inspired Nicolette Hahn Niman to write, “The Carnivore’s Dilemma.” Niman hoped writing, “The Carnivore’s Dilemma,” would cause her audience to understand that eating meat, raised on traditional farms, was a superior alternative to vegetarianism. Niman supported her claim by explaining how industrialized farms and vegetarians produce more of the three greenhouse gases that caused global warming, than that produced by traditional farms. Niman’s article fell short of being effective due to flaws in her supporting evidence and conclusion.

Read More

The Animals Practicing Complexity Analysis

315 Words | 2 Pages

Michael Pollan’s alternative to Factory farming has given a huge insight into a better ethics on food. In “The Animals: Practicing Complexity” Michael Pollan writes about a polyface farm and how it works. The goal of a polyface farm is to emotionally, economically, and environmentally enhance agriculture. Everything on a polyface farm has the potential to be helpful to something else on the farm. Pollan states “The chicken feed not only feeds the broilers but, transformed into chicken crap, feeds the grass that feeds the cows that, as I was about to see, feeds the pigs and the laying hens” (Pollan 345).

Read More

Escape From The Western Diet Analysis

77 Words | 1 Pages

In the article, “Escape from The Western Diet,” by Michael Pollan, who has also written many nutritional books, blames our unhealthy eating on the food industry. He argues that we should avoid any processed foods because of what they have become (424). Also, he claims that the American views for preparing a meal has downgraded over the years (425). His solution is to not overeat, but to eat plants instead because they are not as manipulated

Read More

Cowspiracy Ethos Pathos Logos

1503 Words | 7 Pages

Alisha Torres Kathy Patterson English H 103 9 March, 2023 The Persuasion Behind Cowspiracy Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn, producers of the documentary film Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret, are on a mission to reveal the truth about animal agriculture's impact on the atmosphere and the industry's lack of action toward its contribution to climate change. The filmmakers create a compelling argument to cut back on meat products, addressing the world's sustainability issues. They use many statistics, interviews, and visual imagery to persuade the audience to act on farming and agriculture.

Read More

Rhetorical Strategies In Eating Animals By Jonathan Safran Foer

577 Words | 3 Pages

He presents a compelling argument for why we have to recall lowering or casting off our intake of animal products, the use of evidence and records to guide his claims. for example, Foer cites the fact that animal agriculture is chargeable for more greenhouse gas emissions than all kinds of transportation combined. via presenting this statistic in a clean and concise manner, Foer makes a robust case for the environmental blessings of lowering our meat consumption. Foer additionally appeals to our sense of morality and values. He emphasizes the significance of compassion and duty in our food choices, encouraging readers to remember the ethical implications of consuming meat.

Read More

The Omnivore's Dilemm Article Analysis

1308 Words | 6 Pages

“Industrial agriculture characteristically proceeds by single solutions to single problems: If you want the most money from your land this year, grow the crops for which the market price is highest.” - Wendell Berry Many people question whether or not the morality of treating animals in a humane way outweighs the morality of cheaper food for a nation where 1 in 6 people are facing hunger, and/or starving in any way. Back in the day, a while after World War II, industrial agriculture was applauded as a technological success that permitted an ever growing population to practically feed themselves. Now, many farmers and scientists see it as a blind alley, rather made for factory work.

Read More

Michael Pollan Foreign Policy Analysis

379 Words | 2 Pages

Michael Pollan exposes this by suggesting three main ideas to the future President of the United States. The first idea that Michael Pollan has, is to make farming as natural as it can be again. Currently, CAFO’s are being used to produce our food, which is very unhealthy. CAFO stands for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation, which basically means animals

Read More

Mark Bittman What's Wrong With What We Eat Analysis

745 Words | 3 Pages

In Mark Bittman’s talk, entitled What’s wrong with what we eat, he discusses all the food we waste and how to reduce our food waste. Due to all the meat we eat, “livestock is the second-highest contributor to atmosphere-altering gases and produces more greenhouse gases than transportation” (Bittman). Livestock also contributes to land degradation, air and water pollution, water shortages, and loss of biodiversity. However, Bittman is quick to point out that the problem isn’t the cattle, but how we use them. We are producing cattle simply to eat and much of the meat they produce is simply thrown away if it is not purchased by a certain date.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Red Meat Consumption

301 Words | 2 Pages

The consumption of red meat has increased significantly in recent years. The link between red meat consumption and climate change is greatly evident. Therefore, this issue may be considered positive for various stakeholders, while also having a negative impact on others. Not only is the consumption of meat a major contributor to climate change, but the production of the meat consumed influences the climate as well. Livestock produces a considerable amount of greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide, which accounts for more than 18% of greenhouse gas emissions.

Read More

Natural Farming Satire

292 Words | 2 Pages

I know a lot of people don 't know how to farm nor do they want to. But a lot of people forget on caring about where and how they got their produce as long as it is on the market for them to feed themselves or their families. What they don 't know is more and more these days the animals are living in horrible factories their whole lives. Which means they aren 't being treated wrong. They are neglected with the proper food and are being drugged with medications like steroids.

Read More

Analysis Of The Documentary Cowspiracy

825 Words | 4 Pages

The documentary Cowspiracy, overall, wants to tell us about the truth behind animal agriculture, which heavily affects the survival of our planet. Basically, the documentary said that animal agriculture is responsible for most of the greenhouse gases that lead to global warming, which also affects our planet. The goal of this documentary is to make us believe that the meat industry, and by extension the fast food industry, are the causes that lead to most of our environmental issues. Also, the documentary stated that the amount of water that is used for cows and other livestock is way too much and our planet will gradually face a lack of water. The solution that they propose is just to become vegetarians, which will solve everything.

Read More

Argumentative Essay On Agriculture

872 Words | 4 Pages

The Controversy on Agricultures Mankind has gone through numerous changes that have defined life today. Humans have developed technology and discovered resources that are essential to ones everyday life. Some of the changes weren’t for pleasure but vital to survive on Earth. These changes may not benefit humans but allow us to survive: agriculture. Jared Diamond explains in the article “The worst mistake in the history of the Human Race” stating that “…the adoption of agriculture, supposedly our most decisive step toward a better life, was in many ways a catastrophe from which we have never recovered.”

Read More

Persuasive Essay On Eating Meat

1421 Words | 6 Pages

Eating meat is beneficial to humanity, because they provide nourishment that cannot be obtained from other sources. Without the support of animals, humans lack a distinctive diet, that is essential to their well-being. However, since animals are so important to the diet, they deserve great care and respect as well. Humans were always hunters and gathers. They always knew that meat was a big source of protein that helped keep them going(Araki).

Read More

Persuasive Essay On Climate Change

734 Words | 3 Pages

Veganism is a foolproof method to provide the answers the Earth needs, especially as the world’s population continues its inefficient and environmentally damaging methods of energy usage. People tend to focus on the political sides of climate change, however, the biggest problem the world faces in energy consumption is not transportation emissions but is how we go about out food systems and daily food choices. Evidence has surfaced about how daily food choices impact the climate severely. According to an assessment by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the livestock sector of global greenhouse gases surpassed that of transportation.

Read More

More about Animal Agriculture: Effects On The Environment

Related Topics

Open Document