We are ruining our ecosystem, and it’s not just by cars and airplanes and other transportation. In fact, the farming industry creates most of the pollution in the our world today.
The tactics we use for farming, especially cattle ranching, wastes a lot of our land and resources.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), about 60 percent of the world’s agricultural land is grazing land. If we reduce this we could save a lot of land and water and feed a lot more people. Meat is something that mainly only wealthy people can have. We eat meat not because we need it or wish for it, but rather we are conditioned to by our culture. Precious land is stripped to make room for cow and chicken farms just to keep up with the demand for meat. These animals are crammed in a cages with their own feces their whole lives, never seeing the light of day.
There are so many crops that we can provide what the whole world needs, instead of meat. The food we buy and grow is being fed to cows when those crops could help with starving people all over the world. The FAO also states that Grazing animals supply about 10 percent of the world’s production of beef. We should use the money on food to feed people more than cows.
In addition, cows burps and farts passes methane into the atmosphere. Feeding corn to cows causes more methane than when they eat grass. We don’t have enough trees to soak up the carbon dioxide because we keep cutting them down for the cattle. After 50 years we have already lost 17 percent of our rainforests to cattle ranching, according to the World Wildlife Fund. These fragrant green forests filled with colorful animals are bulldozed over and completely erased just for the sake of cows.
Like World Wildlife Fund, there are many organization trying to keep this from happening any further such as; Mongabay, GreenPeace, Conservation International, Rainforest Action Network. They are providing funds to keep the forests from being destroyed.
But everyone can help by decreasing the demand for meat. Think about what you eat by starting to try out different dishes that are from different parts of the world. Look for different plants, beans, fruits, vegetables, and seasonings. Slowly try to drop meats from your diet. Start with beef and pork. Then, you can transition to a vegan diet. Mainly have a vegan diet, and save meat for special occasions. We want to decrease the demand for meat, so that no more land gets cut down for cows. We want land to be converted back to rainforest.
It’s not really that hard to have less meals with meat, even though it may seem overwhelming at first. By doing this we will regain more land and more water for better things.
Tatum Gehlhausen,
Bothell
