Climate Change
Deforestation, Biodiversity Loss, and Pollution
Photo Source: Waterkeeper Alliance
Americans eat 3x more meat than the average of the rest of the world, contribution not only to health problems but also to deforestation and biodiversity loss worldwide. The largest driver of deforestation is animal agriculture: Clearing land to graze cattle, or to grow crops to feed to cattle.
Animal agriculture also contributes to deadly air pollution and water pollution, and is a leading cause of emerging infectious diseases.
Watch the documentaries Eating our Way to Extinction, Cowspiracy, and Seaspiracy for an eye-opening look at the impact of animal agriculture on climate change.
The Smell of Money traces how the largest factory pig farm in the world, located in a historically black, rural community in North Carolina, has poisoned the water, soil and air of an entire community. The picture above shows lagoons of pig manure outside of a large factory pig farm in North Carolina.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Photo Source: Charlie Litchfield / AP
Most climate activism focuses on the burning of fossil fuels, but the impact of human consumption of meat and dairy on climate change is often overlooked. Raising animals for food is a major driver of climate change: Greenhouse gas emissions from livestock make up between 11 and 20% of the global total, and climate scientists have been warning for years that we are unlikely to meet our goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius without reducing consumption of meat and dairy. That’s because cows emit methane, and methane is 80 times more powerful in warming the atmosphere than carbon dioxide for the first 20 years after it produced. Phasing out animal agriculture over the next 15 years could give us the best chance to avoid surpassing the levels that will create disastrous climate change.