We’ve all heard moral arguments regarding vegetarianism time and time again, but now it is much more then that. All over the media scientists are arguing about the declining state of our planet, and many conclude that this is due to humans. With populations rising, the world is beginning to panic about our effect on the environment and what we can do to reverse our damage. A report published by the United Nations titled Livestock’s Long Shadow, concludes that livestock emerges as one of the top contributors of some of the most significant and serious environmental issues, “locally and globally” ( Steinfeld 283). We should significantly decrease the production of meat because it wastes grain, wastes water, and produces methane.
The amount of …show more content…
Greenhouse gases are commonly believed to be contributing to the human-induced global warming. According to the article “Want to Have a Real Impact on Climate Change?”, “the #1 contributor of greenhouse gases is not vehicle emissions, but raising livestock”. These greenhouse gases include methane, which is very effective at trapping heat inside our atmosphere. When the heat is trapped, it has no where to go and in time it becomes much hotter creating what is known as the greenhouse effect. Animal agriculture is responsible for a majority of methane in the atmosphere, an astounding 80% (Brummer 2). Methane is produced directly through animal digestion and later indirectly through thousands of acres full of animal feces ("Fight Climate Change by Going Vegan."). Global warming is effecting our planet, and substantially creating a hostile climate, yet we continue to produce livestock. It is only going to get worse as the population increases and in turn the demand for meat will also increase. It is scientifically proven that vegetarians produce substantially small carbon-footprints. In a report published by the Climatic Change, researchers compared the greenhouse gas emissions of 55,000 people and found that the meat-eaters dietary emissions were twice the amount of vegetarians (Scarborough 184). So by increasing vegetarian’s diets and decreasing diets that include meat, the emissions of methane as well as CO2 will decrease. Some may say that there are other causes of global warming and that limiting animal agriculture is far too drastic, but really it is the quickest and most effective way to decrease global warming. According to “Save the Planet; Stop Eating Meat” methane cycles out of the atmosphere in just eight years, as where it takes 100 years to cycle out carbon dioxide (Engelhart and Köhler 7). By reducing methane, in eight years our atmosphere will be cleared of half of all methane
The amount of …show more content…
Greenhouse gases are commonly believed to be contributing to the human-induced global warming. According to the article “Want to Have a Real Impact on Climate Change?”, “the #1 contributor of greenhouse gases is not vehicle emissions, but raising livestock”. These greenhouse gases include methane, which is very effective at trapping heat inside our atmosphere. When the heat is trapped, it has no where to go and in time it becomes much hotter creating what is known as the greenhouse effect. Animal agriculture is responsible for a majority of methane in the atmosphere, an astounding 80% (Brummer 2). Methane is produced directly through animal digestion and later indirectly through thousands of acres full of animal feces ("Fight Climate Change by Going Vegan."). Global warming is effecting our planet, and substantially creating a hostile climate, yet we continue to produce livestock. It is only going to get worse as the population increases and in turn the demand for meat will also increase. It is scientifically proven that vegetarians produce substantially small carbon-footprints. In a report published by the Climatic Change, researchers compared the greenhouse gas emissions of 55,000 people and found that the meat-eaters dietary emissions were twice the amount of vegetarians (Scarborough 184). So by increasing vegetarian’s diets and decreasing diets that include meat, the emissions of methane as well as CO2 will decrease. Some may say that there are other causes of global warming and that limiting animal agriculture is far too drastic, but really it is the quickest and most effective way to decrease global warming. According to “Save the Planet; Stop Eating Meat” methane cycles out of the atmosphere in just eight years, as where it takes 100 years to cycle out carbon dioxide (Engelhart and Köhler 7). By reducing methane, in eight years our atmosphere will be cleared of half of all methane