Vegetarianism & The Environment
                  (Reasons for being Vegetarian)

Many people who are deeply concerned with the environmental devastation created by animal agriculture have decided to eliminate animal products from their diets. Mega-farm operations, where thousands of animals are mass produced and await slaughter in confinement, are not only inhumane, but are also are taxing on the environment. Here are some examples:

  • More than 70% of the grain in the U.S. is fed to farm animals.[1]
  • The intense use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer in North America results from the desire to grow feed for livestock. These fertilizers release the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, a molecule of which absorbs about 200 times more outgoing radiation than does a molecule of CO2.[2]
  • Overgrazing has caused extensive topsoil erosion in the Western U.S.[3]
  • Coyotes, bobcats, feral hogs, and mountain lions are killed to reduce livestock predation.[4]
  • The amount of manure produced by livestock each year is 2.74 trillion pounds.[5]
  • Pig farms have made the air unbreathable and require the wearing of masks while outside by people living in some rural communities.[6]
  • Animal waste has polluted many waterways killing over 11 million fish from 1995 to 1997.[7]
  • Poultry and pig waste has caused human illness by fostering the growth of highly pathogenic dinoflagellates in waterways.[8]
  • Commercial fishing is damaging the oceans' ecosystems.[9]
  • Spiking animal feed with antibiotics to promote growth (by manipulating intestinal flora) has contributed to the increase of resistant strains of bacteria in recent years, especially intestinal pathogens.[10]
  • Other issues that have not been quantified are the cutting of forests and the large amounts of fossil fuels needed to grow animal feed.


References:

1. USDA, World Cereals Used for Feed, 4/91 (unpublished printout as reproduced in:
    Worldwatch Paper 103 Taking Stock: Animal Farming and the Environment,
    Durning, A, Brough, H., Worldwatch Institute: Washington, D.C., 1991, p.15)

2. "Global Population and the Nitrogen Cycle," Smil, Vaclav, Scientific American,
    July 1997, p. 76-81.

3. Contemporary Issues in Animal Agriculture, 2nd Edition, Cheeke, Peter PhD,
    Oregon State University, Interstate Publishers: Danville, IL, 1999, p.152.

4. "Despite name change, agency can't shed killer image," Swanson, Doug J., Dallas
    Morning News, Novemeber 4, 1998, p.A23.

5. Animal waste pollution in America: an emerging national problem, Report compiled
    by the Minority Staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, &
    Forestry for Senator Tom Harkin, December 1997.

6. "The empire of the pigs," Barlett, D, Steele, J., Time, November 30, 1998,
    p. 52-64.

7. Op. cit., Animal waste pollution in America.

8. Op. cit., Cheeke, P., p.208.

9. "Overfishing disrupts entire ecosystems," Williams, Nigel, Science, Vol. 279,
    Feb. 6, 1998, p.809.

10. Foundations in Microbiology, 4th Ed., Talaro, K.P, & Talaro, A., McGraw-Hill:
      Boston, 1999. p.370.

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This page last updated 05/22/00