thevespot: There are a number of reasons why people choose to go vegan. Some are drawn to veganism b

thevespot:

There are a number of reasons why people choose to go vegan. Some are drawn to veganism because they love animals and want their actions to reflect their beliefs. Some choose a vegan lifestyle for the positive health benefits of eating a whole foods, plant based diet. Others gravitate towards veganism because of the positive impact that not eating meat has on the environment and the desire to reduce their carbon footprint on this planet, the only known planet to be inhabitable by human life.

When it comes to the latter, there are innumerable reasons why if you consider yourself to be an environmentalist, or at the very least someone who is mildly concerned with the way we treat the environment and worried about the future of our planet, you should examine the negative environmental effects of consuming and using animals.

“Most simply put, someone who regularly eats factory-farmed animal products cannot call himself an environmentalist without divorcing that word from it’s meaning.”

1. Animals like cows who are used in animal agriculture produce an incredible amount of the greenhouse gas methane and methane is approximately 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide, another destructive heat-trapping gas that causes negative effects to our environment.
2. Deforestation is a huge problem and rain forests around the globe are being depleted at an alarming rate to make room for things like cattle ranching. According to Scientific American, “we are losing upwards of 80,000 acres of tropical rain forest daily” and “losing some 135 plant, animal and insect species every day.”
3. If you believe in water conservation, then you definitely should not be ordering up a cheeseburger the next time you visit a restaurant. Tons of water is used when it comes to eating animals. The LA Times reported that just one 1/3 lb hamburger necessitates 660 gallons of water, and for comparisons’s sake, just one slice of bread necessitates 11 gallons of water.
4. Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations are part of the leading contributor (the agriculture sector) of pollutants to lakes, rivers, and reservoirs. According to the CDC, “It has been found that states with high concentrations of CAFOs experience on average 20 to 30 serious water quality problems per year as a result of manure management problems.”
5. Think emissions from cars, buses, trains, planes, etc. are bad for the environment? They are, but you should see how awful emissions are from farming animals for food. The UN & PEW Commission state that, “… greenhouse gas emissions from all livestock operations account for 18% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, exceeding those from the transportation sector.”
6. Climate change is real and when it comes to animal proteins vs. vegetable proteins, plant based proteins create less green house gas emissions. As voiced in a TIME story, “Many of the EWG’s findings are pretty eye-opening — like some revealing facts about beef, which produces twice the emissions of pork, four times as much as chicken, and 13 times that of vegetable protein such as beans, lentils, and tofu.”
7. Clean drinking water is a necessity to life, but runoff from factory farming infiltrates that water making it hazardous to humans, marine life and other animals. According to the EPA, “Animal agriculture manure is a primary source of nitrogen and phosphorus to surface and groundwater. Manure runoff from cropland and pastures or discharging animal feeding operations and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) often reaches surface and groundwater systems through surface runoff or infiltration.”
8. Marine habitat destruction is caused by natural occurrences like hurricanes and tsunamis, but it’s the destructive activity of humans that is more impactful and incessant on these ecosystems. As stated in National Geographic, “Destructive fishing techniques like bottom trawling, dynamiting, and poisoning destroy habitats near shore as well as in the deep sea.”
9. Due to overfishing, many fishing communities are collapsing. The Marine Conservation Institute figures that, “About 25% of US fish stocks are overfished and 90% of global fish stocks are fully or overfished…”
10. Fishing nets function indiscriminately and are affecting the biodiversity of our oceans. Nets cannot tell the difference between a school of tuna, a dolphin, or turtle. “It is estimated that over 300,000 small whales, dolphins, and porpoises die from entanglement in fishing nets each year, making this the single largest cause of mortality for small cetaceans.” The World Wildlife Fund also found that, “Hundreds of thousands of endangered loggerhead turtles and critically endangered leatherback turtles drown annually on longlines set for tuna, swordfish, and other fish. Incidental capture of turtles by longlines, trawls and gillnets is the single greatest threat to the survival of most populations.”

Photo courtesy of USDA NRCS. Use of this photo does not infer or imply NRCS endorsement of any product, company, or position.

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