8 Reasons Why Eating Animals Is Destroying Our Environment

Many people adopt a plant-based diet for the selfish purpose of achieving good health (I certainly have). But there are other, selfless reasons to adopt a plant-based diet. Animal welfare is one reason (I don't know how meat can be "humanely raised" if the animal still has to die prematurely). Human welfare is another selfless reason to eat plant-based (3 million children die from poor nutrition each year, yet livestock never go hungry). But in terms of the future of our planet, the most important reason to adopt a plant-based diet is for the environment. The following eight statements explain why eating animals is destroying our environment.  

1. One pound of beef requires up to 5,000 gallons of water to produce (1).

That's the same amount of water used to flush your average toilet 3,125 times, fill a bathtub 100 times, or take a 33 hour-long shower! Raising livestock for human consumption requires massive amounts fresh water. Besides being consumed directly by the animals, water is used to grow feed crops, to clean and sanitize slaughterhouses and dairy operations, to manage waste, and to cool and refrigerate the end products (meat and dairy). With the future of fresh water becoming a major public health concern, we should take steps to reduce, or better yet eliminate, these inefficient and unnecessary uses of water.

2. Raising livestock is a leading cause of deforestation and loss of natural habitat.

Whether it's used directly for grazing, or to grow feed crops, an immense amount of land is required for animal agriculture. In the United States alone, grazing livestock demand an area that is three times the size of Texas (528 million acres) (2). In the Amazon rainforest, one of the most biologically diverse places on Earth, cattle ranching has become the leading cause of deforestation (3-5). When livestock move in, or when feed crops are planted, natural habitat is lost, biodiversity simplifies, and an added pressure is put on native species - many of which may already be endangered.

Cattle grazing and animal feed crops are the leading
cause of deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest. 

3. Livestock produce an estimated 51% of total greenhouse gas emissions (6).

Animal agriculture is the leading producer of methane gas worldwide (7). Methane gas is a by-product of ruminant metabolism and is emitted through burping and flatulence. It is also produced when animal manure is held in waste lagoons or holding tanks. Compared to carbon dioxide, methane is 30 times more effective at trapping heat, making it a far more dangerous greenhouse gas (8). However, that doesn't mean carbon dioxide is off the hook. Large amounts of carbon dioxide are also produced through animal agriculture. Carbon dioxide is produced directly by livestock through respiration, and continues to be produced throughout the farm-to-fork process (slaughtering, transportation, refrigeration, etc.). With over 9 billion farting, burping, and pooping domestic livestock in the United States alone, animal agriculture has become a leading producer of greenhouse gases, which are directly contributing to climate change (9).

4. Animals raised for slaughter produce 130 times more waste than the entire human population (10).

As mentioned above, there are over 9 billion domestic livestock maintained in the United States at any given time. That's 28 times the current human population of the United States. With such enormous livestock numbers, waste management (or lack thereof) is a big issue, especially on concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). CAFOs often "manage" their livestock waste by spraying it onto nearby fields. This has a negative impact on local air quality and pollutes streams, ponds, lakes, and groundwater. If not sprayed onto fields, livestock waste may also be stored in "waste lagoons" (see picture). These lakes of excrement frequently overflow, once again polluting nearby waterways. And unlike human waste, animal waste is often untreated and may contain any of the following: antibiotic-resistant bacteria, hormones, various chemicals used in livestock care, contaminated milk, cleaning agents, ammonia, and heavy metals (11). As pleasant as all of that sounds, I doubt anyone would want this toxic waste polluting the air they breathe or the water they drink.

Aerial view of a CAFO and it's waste lagoon. 

5. Over 76% of wild fish species are either fully exploited, or depleted.

This is according to a United Nations Food and Agricultural report, which also found that 96% of all wild fish species are moderately exploited, or worse (12). Our appetite for fish is the driving force behind these numbers and it's simply unsustainable. For more on why fish consumption is unsustainable, click here.

Current fishing practices are depleting our oceans at an alarming rate.

6. For every pound of wild shrimp caught, ten pounds of "bycatch" is caught as well. 

When fishing for a "target" species, many non-target species are unintentionally caught. This is referred to as "bycatch," and frequently includes: sea turtles, sharks, dolphins, rays, and many other non-target fish species. Once caught, these animals usually suffocate in the nets, or on board the ship. Then, these dead or dying animals are often dumped right back in the ocean. Up to 80 million pounds of marine animals are caught and killed each year, simply as a byproduct of fishing - and that's a conservative number, as it only takes into account reported bycatch (13).

Sea turtles are often victims of bycatch. 

7. Many common fishing practices damage ocean ecosystems. 

Bottow trawling (dragging nets along the ocean floor) damages sea beds, coral reefs, other seafloor habitats, and is notorious for the amount of bycatch captured. The purse seine method (large net fishing) also results in enormous amounts of bycatch. Undercover footage from Greenpeace highlights the numerous species unintentionally caught by tuna fishing boats that uses purse seine nets. Lost or abandoned fishing gear (nets, longlines, traps, etc.) that continue to catch fish, called "ghost fishing", is an increasing problem (14). And although banned, fishing with poison and dynamite are still common in parts of Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and South Pacific (15). Besides killing the target species, all of these methods harm other non-target species and damage local ecosystems.

 8. Farmed fish are not the solution to our depleted oceans.

With most wild fish species dwindling, the industry has turned to farmed fish. As of 2010, the top six types of fish eaten in the United States have been farmed. Yet farmed fish continue to put pressure on wild ocean species. This is because many farmed fish are carnivores and still require a diet of fish or fishmeal. So wild fish are being caught to feed farmed fish, who are being farmed because their numbers in the wild have plummeted. In some cases, up to five pounds of wild fishmeal are required to produce just one pound of farmed fish (a feed conversion ratio of 5:1) (16). In addition, farmed fish may be exposed to any of the following: antibiotics, hormones, anesthetics, and even pesticides. Many farmed fish have undergone genetic engineering, to make them grow faster and bigger. While it may benefit the industry's bottom line, farming fish could have numerous, long-term, negative environmental consequences (17-18).

Summary

At it's current rate, animal agriculture is one of the greatest insults to the wellbeing of our environment. Livestock exhaust precious resources, such as fresh water, land, and crops, while emitting staggering amounts of greenhouse gases and toxic waste. Our demand for meat and dairy is the driving force behind this, so we must reduce or eliminate our demand for these products. It's empowering to know that the solution to these issues is in our hands...literally, as it's our fork.

On a similar level, we are currently overfishing the oceans at an unsustainable rate. The majority of wild fish species are either fully exploited, or depleted. Transitioning to farmed fish may prove sufficient in the future, but current practices continue to put pressure on wild species and are environmentally irresponsible. Since the main driving force behind these issues is our demand to eat fish, the most logical and effective solution would be to not consume fish.


"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world". - John Muir



References:
1. Water Resources: Agricultural and Environmental Issues
2. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
3. Interactions among Amazon land use, forests and climate: prospects for a near-term forest tipping point
4. Greenpeace.org
5. Causes of Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon
6. Livestock and Climate Change
7. EPA Methane Gas Emissions
8. Methane Gas
9. Am J Clin Nutr September 2003 vol. 78 no. 3 660S-663S
10. Animal Agriculture: Waste Management Practices
11. Facts About CAFOs
12. General Situation of World Fish Stocks
13. A Global Assessment of Fisheries Bycatch and Discards
14. Ghost Fishing
15. Fisheries Impact on the Ecosystem
16. Global overview on the use of fish meal and fish oil in industrially compounded aquafeeds: Trends and future prospects
17. Oceana.org
18. Foodandwaterwatch.org