Factory Farming and (un)sustainability

Not only is factory farming unethical due to the treatment of animals, but it’s also unethical and unsustainable for the earth. 80% of the total agricultural land is dedicated to pastures and feed production, and nearly 60% of the worlds agricultural land is utilized for beef production. Greenhouse gas emissions from livestock equate to over 7.1 gigatons of carbon. Methane emissions from cattle are about twenty-eight times more effective at trapping heat within Earth’s atmosphere than carbon dioxide (Meat and Animal Feed, 2017). Deforestation also contributes to the rise in global greenhouse gas emissions because trees and plant life naturally absorb carbon dioxide. However, as forests are cleared for commercial buildings and land for livestock, Earth’s natural carbon cycle is impaired. Consuming a vegan diet is one of the most effective ways to combat climate change and the unethical treatment of animals. This is due to the fact that it takes money directly out of the pockets of the meat and dairy industries that lobby against this type of activism. Each day, a person why eats a vegan diet potentially saves 1,100 gallons of water, forty-five pounds of grain, thirty square feet of forest land, twenty pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent, and a life of an innocent animal (Meat and Animal Feed, 2017). Garrett Hardin wrote his essay, The Tragedy of the Commons, about how air, water, other common goods and services we, as humans, rely on have inherent limitations. Hardin basically said that western technology is the destruction of nature. This is apparent in the amount of greenhouse gases the agriculture industry emits into the atmosphere, which is a “common” for every living thing on this planet. Again, this displays the very anthropocentric view humans have.

Sources:

Meat and Animal Feed. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.globalagriculture.org/report-

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