Eating Red Meat Helps Destroy Our Environment

Traditionally, “red meat” livestock refers to mammals—cows, sheep, goats, pigs and rabbits—but it can also include ducks and geese. A recent report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN called “Livestock’s Long Shadow” concludes that worldwide, raising livestock for food contributes 18% to global warming, a higher percentage than transportation emissions. It contributes 37% of the methane, 65% of the nitrous oxide and 64% of the ammonia to the total emissions. Raising livestock also leads to deforestation, less biodiversity, water shortages and pollution, and land degradation.

Curiously, Nobel Prize winner Al Gore, in his much-touted Oscar-winning film about global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth”, mentions only in passing that corporate livestock raising, also known as factory farming, is bad for the planet. Gore merely points out that the manure created by cattle at feedlots produces significant amounts of the greenhouse gases mentioned above.

But it gets worse. More than two-thirds of our original American topsoil is now gone, with 85% of this loss attributed to livestock production. To create a meat-centered economy, 260 million acres of forest have been cleared for cropland. Seventy-eight calories of fossil fuel are required to produce only one calorie of beef protein; in contrast, only two calories are needed to produce one calorie of soybean protein. Almost half of total annual water use is to grow feed and provide drinking water for cattle and other livestock.

According to the General Accounting Office, more plant species have been eliminated or threatened by livestock grazing than any other activity, and cattle grazing harms about 20% of endangered and threatened species. Some $37 million of taxpayer money is used to trap, poison, gas, and gun down almost one million wild animals and birds each year for livestock protection and pest control.

Forty million cows and calves are killed annually. Cows have a life span of up to 25 years, but a factory-farmed cow is used up by the time it is three to four years old and is sent to slaughter. The organic waste from giant feedlots is tremendous. Cattle alone are responsible for almost one billion tons of it, much of which finds its way into our groundwater.

Approximately 100 million pigs are killed every year for food. Most pork, bacon, and ham comes from pigs who spend their short lives indoors in stacked crates or barren cement pens with iron bars. Hog farms are a major contributor to pollution in this country, creating thousands of tons of waste that foul the air and infiltrate groundwater.

If you think that merely avoiding factory-farmed red meat can protect the environment, you should know that many of the so-called animal-friendly, eco-friendly, organic animal products that have appeared on the market in the last few years are basically the same old story charmingly re-packaged by creative advertising departments. You should also be aware that the typical Western diet high in animal consumption—particularly red meat—has been shown to lead to a myriad of diseases, including cancer, obesity and heart disease. In his book, “Healthy at 100”, author John Robbins discusses how drastically cutting down on animal products can improve health and increase life span.

What’s the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones from the horrors of the livestock industry and protect the environment? Switch to a plant-based diet.

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