Meat, meat, meat
story by Melanie Reese
Americans consume meat on a day-to-day basis. In Eudora, meat is consumed everywhere: schools, games, restaurants and at homes. The meat industry provides income for 1.3 billion families worldwide and all the while has the biggest impact on the environment than any other industry, according to Science Time.
Science Time also found that growing livestock in traditional and non-traditional ways are causing vast amounts of pollution to the air, water and soil. Scientific American has found that half of the freshwater consumed in America is used for livestock. To produce one pound of beef, it requires 2,500 gallons of water.
The meat industry thrives in the U.S. with 96.3% of Americans eating meat on a regular basis and roughly 322 grams of meat per day. Those daily American meat based diets contribute 2.1 tons of CO2 in a year versus a vegan diet that contributes 0.1 tons of CO2 yearly. The meat industry causes more greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane than the transportation industry, according to Scientific American.
Globally, Science Time found that we produce roughly 124 million tons of poultry, 91 million tons of pork, 59 million tons of cattle meat and 11 million tons of meat from sheep and goats. That is 285 million tons of meat altogether and an exponential amount of resources used up in the process.
“We are always going to have animals so it shouldn’t hurt the environment very much,” said senior Victoria Male. “Technically we need our protein and it is harder to get protein without eating meat.”
To raise livestock, they are fed corn and other grains that are grown using large amounts of fertilizer, water, land and pesticides. In the United States alone, the amount of grain fed to animals could feed 800 million people, according to Scientific American. NAMI found that the meat industry is only feeding 318 million instead of the 800 million people it could be feeding with grains. The food produced for animals is grown using a combination of untreated animal waste and synthetic fertilizers. The fertilizers contain excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus that benefit the crops, but the industrial farmers overuse the fertilizers. The ground cannot absorb all of the nutrients and rain can carry them to contaminate bodies of water. Food is Power found that US farmers use 750 million pounds of some 20000 different ag chemicals every year to kill insects and weeds, but end up poisoning natural ecosystems.have developed resistance over time, and chemists have continued to create ever more powerfully toxic pesticides that are even worse for the environment.
Another very common way the meat industry pollutes soil and water is from manure. According to the EPA, a single dairy cow produces 120 pounds of manure per day which is equivalent to the waste produced by 20-40 people. Compare the thousands of dairy cows in the U.S. and consider that the farms produce far more waste than the land can absorb. Animal waste is not processed like human sewage, leaving it more toxic for the environment around it.
The meat industry shows no signs of slowing down in the near future. Scientific American found that meat consumption is expected to double by 2020 due to increased per capita global consumption of meat and population growth.
“I think the industry is incredibly inhumane,” said senior Taylor Huff. “I feel that it should be changed. I’ve actually been wanting to become vegetarian and cut out a lot of my dairy intake also.”
