The Florida League of Conservation Voters Opposes Animal - TopicsExpress



          

The Florida League of Conservation Voters Opposes Animal Agriculture Gainesville Sun Op Ed December 23, 2014 Dan Hendrickson: Animal agriculture is environmentally destructive To comment on the FLCV column, click here: gainesville/…/…/OPINION/141229882/-1/opinion… Dan Hendrickson is an officer of The Florida League of Conservation Voters Dans bio: savethemanatee.org/smc_info_board_bios.html Dan Hendrickson: Animal agriculture is environmentally destructive Animal agriculture is the most destructive industry on earth. However the cattle industry denies it (“Farms have little impact on climate,” Nov. 24 column), it behooves the rest of us to learn the truth and act upon it right away or we won’t have a habitable planet. Animal agriculture is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, more than all transportation combined. Livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, or 51 percent of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. Methane has a global warming power 86 times that of CO2. Cows produce 150 billion gallons of methane per day. Livestock is responsible for 65 percent of all emissions of nitrous oxide — a greenhouse gas 296 times more destructive than carbon dioxide and which stays in the atmosphere for 150 years. Animal agriculture water use ranges from 34-76 trillion gallons of water annually. Growing feed crops for livestock consumes 56 percent of water in the US. One hamburger requires 660 gallons of water to produce — the equivalent of two months’ worth of showers. About 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of beef, 477 gallons for 1 pound of eggs, 900 gallons for cheese and 1,000 gallons for 1 gallon of milk. The meat and dairy industries combined use 29 percent of all the fresh water in the world today. Throughout the world, humans drink 5.2 billion gallons of water and eat 21 billion pounds of food each day. Worldwide, cows drink 45 billion gallons of water and eat 135 billion pounds of food each day. About 1.5 acres can produce 37,000 pounds of plant-based food or 375 pounds of meat. Animal agriculture is the leading cause of species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution and habitat destruction. About 130 times more animal waste than human waste is produced in the U.S. — 1.4 billion tons from the meat industry annually. Five tons of animal waste is produced for every person. A farm with 2,500 dairy cows produces the same amount of waste as a city of 411,000 people. Animal agriculture is responsible for 91 percent of Amazon destruction. These statistics are well documented (cowspiracy/facts/) and becoming more known every day. As more people become aware of the facts, the more the powerful animal agriculture industry will amplify their disinformation campaigns and lobby for more “ag gag” laws to keep the public in the dark. Our situation is dire but we can choose to not be complicit in the torture of billions of animals for food we don’t need and we can pull back from future tipping points by immediately shifting to a plant based diet. Each day, a person who eats a vegan diet saves 1,100 gallons of water, 45 pounds of grain, 30 square feet of forested land, 20 pounds of CO2 equivalent and one animal’s life. If we change our diet, we can begin to heal the planet but we need to start right now. Dan Hendrickson is an environmental activist living in Tallahassee
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 11:45:41 +0000

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