ipl-logo

The Water Footprint Of Beef: Industrial Vs. Pasture-Raised

1412 Words6 Pages

The trend to eat organic or natural foods has become so big that it is not hard to find a “natural” food store in most cities. People are starting to recognize the harmful things they are putting in their bodies. They are also recognizing the impact the food industry has on the environment, making healthier and more local food choices. Much of America has seen dry times and water shortages, most communities are aware of the need to conserve water. What most people don’t know is they could be helping conserve the nations water supply by changing the type of meat they buy. “Recent research has shown that about 27% of the water footprint of humanity is related to the production of animal products.” 98% of that is from water used to grow and process …show more content…

In the article “The Water Footprint of Beef: Industrial Vs. Pasture-Raised” by Robin Madel and Kai Olson-Sawyer, they explain the best way to reduce the water footprint is to not buy beef from factory farms. The industrial cattle farms will pack way too many animals together and feed them mostly grain feed. The feed used at these farms are the biggest reasons the meat industry is such a huge water user, it takes a lot of water to grow the feed. With that many cows together there is an enormous amount of pollution from manure. Madel and Olsen-Sawyer claim the “waste is hazardous and can contain antibiotics, bacteria, pathogens and heavy metals. A single (factory farm) … can produce as much waste as a city.” Just like pollution from the cities in Barnett’s article, marine life is also effected from factory farming. “The waste is nutrient-rich, which, in overabundance, contributes to algae blooms in water bodies that create oxygen-depleted “dead zones” that are inhospitable to most aquatic life” ( ). The local government should encourage factory farms in their areas to make changes to reduce the waste and to conserve water. Fines should be implemented and farms assessed for their water footprint annually. The entire surrounding community can be effected by wastewater and overconsumption of the local freshwater

Show More
Related
340 Words | 2 Pages

In the article, “Farmers Agree to Water Cuts in California,” written by Jennifer Medina, the author writes about the new ways farmers will decrease water use in California. Medina explains that Farmers have made a deal to use a quarter less of their water. This will be done by not plating crops for a season, or finding their own ways to reduce their use of water. The new agreement between farmers and the state will have no effect on food production, but is vital since most of the water in California is used for agriculture. On the other hand, not all farmers are agreeing to give up some of their water, but they will still try to make an effort to save water in order to help decrease further water cuts in the future.

Read More
615 Words | 3 Pages

One of the major pollution problems that affect our drinking water include animal-feeding operations. Within the United States, “animals like cattle, chickens, lambs, are fattened up before slaughter in tens of thousands of pens” (72). As a result, manure builds up because the animals are kept in their pens for such long durations. Even though the manure is moved to other areas for storage or use, rain often causes it to seep into clean waterways and aquifers (72). Our water supply is compromised because “California Central Valley alome is home to 1.4 million cows.

Read More
1054 Words | 5 Pages

The U.S. agricultural industry can now produce unlimited quantities of meat and grains at remarkably cheap prices. But it does so at a high cost to the environment, animals and humans”

Read More
1142 Words | 5 Pages

The NCBA(National Cattlemen's Beef Association)is working very hard to keep that very thing from happening, so the industry can succeed with beef for many more years. The cost of feed has forced both farmers and ranchers to sell more cattle than they would have liked to. The real problem with the cost of feed is the supplements, the supplements are getting more expensive. That is making it hard to produce feed as well for the farmers and ranchers to feed it to their beef. The main supplements that go into feed like corn and grain are so high because of the drought.

Read More
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
1329 Words | 6 Pages

In the United States, according to the North American Meat Institute, the average man will consume about 6.9 oz of meat in a day, while a women will consume about 4.4 oz. Meat companies in America produced 25.8 billion pounds of beef and 38.4 pounds of chicken just in 2013 alone. People walk into grocery stores and purchase meat but never think twice about the environment their food, or the workers that handle the animals, were in. Upton Sinclair exposed the industry with “The Jungle” in 1906, people were now fully aware of what was sometimes in the meat, this lead to the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906. Therefore, once the 1980s came along, companies relocated to rural areas and became a non-union workforce.

Read More
685 Words | 3 Pages

The other day, while I was drinking from a water bottle that advertises its water is directly sourced from springs in Fiji, I thought about the journey that bottle went through to end up in my hand. If the advertising states the truth, then the water was most likely collected, filtered, transported from Fiji to America, shipped to a store, and finally bought. I thought about how it takes so much effort to produce this product and then go to waste when only half of the water bottle is consumed. So much money, resources, and transportation costs are spent on products that harm the earth more with their waste, yet, nothing has been done to fix the problem. In my research paper, I will provide evidence that reducing food waste is possible and improves the environment substantially.

Read More
484 Words | 2 Pages

With climate change and global warming taking a toll on Earth, the environment is deteriorating: Droughts and heat waves are frequent, natural disasters are intensified, and the temperature continues to rise. Thus, the leading causes of climate change need to be examined and changes need to be executed to salvage the Earth and save it from being slowly uninhabitable. While there are many approaches to the issue, promoting a non-beef diet is the best approach in decreasing carbon dioxide that contributes to climate change and global warming. The production of beef requires significantly more resources than other meat such as chicken and pork.

Read More
301 Words | 2 Pages

Furthermore, 51% of total greenhouse gas emissions is derived from animal agriculture. Moreover, red meat is a very inefficient means to produce food because of the amount of

Read More
826 Words | 4 Pages

The operations have raised troubling questions about water quality and threat to public health. “Manure from factory farms often contains majority of heavy metals, lake-choking nutrients and deadly pathogens such as E. coli. In fact, wherever factory farms have concentrated industrial piles of manure in small space, big trouble follows” (Dr. Paul Hasselback). Local citizens are concerned about the amount of untreated waste it creates. According to a U.S. survey, people living downwind from hog farms, where such factories originate experience more headaches, runny noses, sore throats, excessive coughing, diarrhea and burning eyes than residents of communities without hog factories.

Read More
825 Words | 4 Pages

This documentary unfairly stated that cattle is the sole factor of our world’s environmental issues because they emit greenhouse gases and over-consume water. However, in reality they are not the only ones who are using water, creating greenhouse gas, and affecting the land and ocean. Our planet is facing a lack of water, and according to the documentary, the cows are one of the major causes of this. If the problem is water waste, then look at how we, the people, are using it. Almost everybody uses water to shower, wash dishes, and flush toilets everyday.

Read More
524 Words | 3 Pages

Sustainability has become a major issue with the animal production industry due to the unsustainable practices that take place. The current statistics for the percentage of methane produced by livestock is 16% (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2017). The 16% of methane produce by livestock is directly affecting the climate change. This statistic will continue to rise until adequate changes have been made to insure the methane produced from livestock decreases. It is necessary for this change to take place to insure future generations are able to survive using the land and changing environment.

Read More
1325 Words | 6 Pages

Despite the fact that seventy percent of meat is made under the fair trade agreement(Grandin) animal agriculture brings about more greenhouse gases than transport. It also generates sixty five percent of human related nitrous oxide . Nitrous oxide has two hundred sixty five the global warming potential as co2 (Matthews). It also accounts for thirty seven percent of human produced methane (Matthews). Meat-eating brings about many other problems including meat and dairy animals now accounting for twenty percent of biomass (Matthews).

Read More
519 Words | 3 Pages

A little step to making the environment become balanced again would’ve purchasing locally. Greenhouse gas emissions associated with household food consumption from supply chain tears can be reduced by just going local(D). The production of red meat contributes to almost 90% of the 2.5 tons of CO2 it produces. Local farms produce meat efficiently, without the use of large factories and machines unlike Tyson, for example. Greenhouse gas emissions are one of the primary reasons for global warming.

Read More
773 Words | 4 Pages

Big amounts of water are needed for animals and the crops the animals feed. The quantity of water needed for a pound of meat is absolutely greater than the volume needed for a pound of seed and vegetables for human consumption. It was estimated that it needs 2,500 gallons of water to gain one pound of meat which is about 6-9 portions (R. Philip Hammond, 1965). Irrigation for feed crops affects significantly the overuse of water. Soy and corn are highly irrigated crops in the U.S. and are used widely for livestock feed ( Danielle Nierenberg, n.d)

Read More

More about The Water Footprint Of Beef: Industrial Vs. Pasture-Raised

Related Topics

Open Document