Myth Busting: Factory Farming and the Environment

This isn't exactly a myth, but more of an interesting topic that most people don't think much about. The vast majority of the meat Americans eat is coming from factory farms. Putting aside the animals for a minute, let's take a look at what that means for the planet. According to the EPA, “A single dairy cow produces about 120 pounds of manure per day, which is equivalent to the waste produced by 20–40 people. That means California’s 1.4 million dairy cows produce as much waste as 28–56 million people.” The reason there are so many dairy cows is simple, demand and subsidies.

Becoming vegetarian is one of the most effective actions we can take to ease the strain on Earth's limited resources, protect the planet from pollution, and help prevent global warming. Did you know that over 70% of grain harvested in the U.S. is fed to farm animals? This wasteful and inefficient practice has forced agribusiness to exploit vast stretches of land. Forests, wetlands, and other natural ecosystems and wildlife habitats have been decimated and turned into grazing land. Agricultural runoff has killed millions of fish, and is the main reason why 60% of America's rivers and streams are "impaired."

Agriculture is responsible for an estimated 14 percent of the world's greenhouse gases. A significant portion of these emissions come from methane, which, in terms of its contribution to global warming, is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. The world's 1.5 billion cows and billions of other grazing animals emit dozens of polluting gases, including lots of methane. (Cows fart a lot!)

According to a 2006 study done by researchers at the University of Chicago, most Americans can reduce more greenhouse gas emissions by becoming vegan than they can by switching to a hybrid electric car. The United Nations said "The livestock section emerges as one of the top 2 or 3 most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global."