Eat Lower on the Food Chain

The meat industry has a big footprint

The animal industry consumes massive amounts of resources and produces massive amounts of waste. Cows excrete tons of methane, a greenhouse gas. Runoff from factory farms finds its way into waterways.

The animal industry also uses massive amounts of water and land. Roughly 70 percent of the grains grown in the United States go to feed animals, who eventually become food. This takes up much of the arable land that could be used to feed people directly. It takes ten times the fossil fuels to produce a calorie of animal food as it does to produce plant food.

The United Nations determined that animal agriculture contributes more to global warming than all transportation sources combined. And the U.S. EPA determined that animal waste causes more pollution than other industrial resources.

How to mitigate this? Reduce (or preferably eliminate) your consumption of animal foods.

Veggietart

COMMENTS ()