Why you should become a Weekday Vegetarian Exploring
Why you should become a Weekday Vegetarian Exploring Meat Consumption and Production
What we’ve already learned… • Largely because of the two green revolutions… – World grain production more than tripled between 1961 -2011 – Per capita food production increased by 31% between 1961 -1985, but since then it has generally declined
World Grain Production… • People directly consume 46% of the world’s grain production • About 34% is used to feed livestock – In the U. S. they consume 70% of our grain production • Remaining 20% used for biofuels
Amount of feed needed (input) to produce 1 kg edible weight (output) Cattle 2 x’s pork Cattle 4 x’s chickens 10_19. JPG 7 4 2. 2
To eat beef rather than chicken, a consumer is using _____ as much total energy to gain the calories they need. • • • A. four times B. twenty times C. equally D. one-half E. one-fourth
To eat beef rather than grain, a consumer is using _____ as much total energy to gain the calories they need • • • A. sixteen times B. fifty times C. twice D. one-fourth E. one-sixteenth
The concern… • Between 1950 & 2010 world meat production increased more than sixfold & is projected to double again by 2050
Developing Countries • As a country’s income grows, more of its people tend to eat more meat. – The resulting demand for grain, often accompanied by a loss of cropland to urban development, can lead to a greater reliance on grain imports • The developing country can go from producing all the grain it needs to importing most of its grain – China & India are likely to follow this trend
China consumes 25% of all meat produced in the world
Developing Countries • China has about 20% of the world’s population but only 7% of the world’s total arable land – If they were to import just 1/5 of the grain it uses, its imports would equal the amount of grain the U. S. typically exports each year– roughly ½ the world’s grain exports • This is why China, South Korea, S. Arabia, India, Egypt & the United Arab Emirates are currently buying or leasing cropland in a number of other countries
50% of the world’s meat comes from livestock grazing on grass in unfenced rangelands/enclosed pastures & the other 50% is produced through industrialized factory farm systems
Grazing livestock can cause… • Habitat destruction – Forest are cut down or burned for cattle ranches – Occurs in Brazil’s Amazon forests • Overgrazing, soil compaction & soil erosion – Degrades about 20% of the world’s grasslands & pastures (causes desertification) – Soil compaction causes plant roots to die – Causes about 55% of all topsoil erosion & sediment pollution – Causes about 1/3 of the water pollution (eutrophication) resulting from runoff from synthetic fertilizers
Impacts of Raising Cattle
Industrialized factory farm systems • Animals are raised in large numbers & bred to gain weight quickly, mostly in… – Crowded feedlots – Very crowded pens & cages in huge buildings called concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) • Most veal calves, pigs, chickens & turkeys that are raised in more-developed countries spend their lives in CAFOs
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Animal health problems due to factory farming • Animals are fed grain, soybeans, fishmeal or fish oil • Some of this food is doctored with growth hormones and antibiotics to accelerate growth
Trade-offs of Animal Feedlots & CAFOs Advantages • • • Increased meat production Higher profits Less land use Reduced overgrazing Reduced soil erosion Protection of biodiversity (less land use so less habitat destruction) Disadvantages • Animals unnaturally confined & crowded • Large inputs of grain, fishmeal, water & fossil fuels • Greenhouse gas emissions • Eutrophication • Use of antibiotics that can increase genetic resistance to microbes in humans • Odor
Environmental Problems due to Industrialized Livestock Production…
Greenhouse Gases • Globally generates about 18% of the world’s greenhouse gases – More than the world’s cars, trucks, buses & planes emit • Cattle and dairy cows release the g. gas methane, CH 4, mostly through belching – Methane captures 25 x more heat than CO 2 – Methane is also produced by liquid animal manure stored in feedlot waste lagoons • Nitrous Oxide, N 2 O, is released in huge quantities by synthetic inorganic fertilizers, as well as by livestock manure – N 2 O captures 300 x more heat than CO 2 • Uses large amounts of fossil fuel energy (mostly from oil) – Produces CO 2
Impacts of Diet on Global Warming
“If all Americans picked 1 day per week to have no meat, the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions would be equivalent to taking 30 to 40 million cars off the road for a year. ”
Manure Lagoons
Livestock create a huge amount of waste • In the U. S. animal waste produced by animals is 21 x’s the amount of waste produced by humans • Only about half of all manure is returned to the land as nutrient-rich fertilizer
Water Pollution • Run-off of animal waste can cause eutrophication • Eutrophication – Nutrients fertilizes algae & aquatic plants, increasing their growth rates & populations (algal bloom) – They provide O 2 & food for other organisms, but at the same time they can cover the water’s surface, blocking out sunlight to deeper-water plants – As algae die, they provide food for decomposing bacteria – Decomposition requires oxygen, so the increase in bacterial activity decreases levels of dissolved oxygen – These levels can drop too low to support fish & shellfish
Creates dead zones that threaten our seafood yields
High Water Use • “You’d save more water by not eating a pound of California beef than you would by not showering for a year” -John Robbins, Food Revolution
High Water Use • Large amounts of water are used to grow feed for livestock and to wash away their wastes
Chronic vs. Infectious Disease
Meat Eating versus Disease
Comparative Ecological Footprints
Sustainable solutions • Shifting from less grain-efficient forms of animal protein (beef, pork & carnivorous fish) to more grain-efficient forms (poultry & planteating fish) • People need to regularly have meatless days, even if it’s just 1 -2 days.
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