The Crippling Effects Of Meat Consumption

Eating meat has become so trivial that humans usually don’t regard meat free meals as a main meal. Only a few decades ago, meat was a luxury product; nonetheless, today everybody can easily consume it. Paradoxically, meat is the most inefficient way of feeding humans. When we analyze it on a global scale, it is noticed that our meat filled diet is literally eating up the planet. In that case, it might be a good idea to consider the environmental effects of meat consumption.

First of all, there are numerous environmental effects of meat consumption. Humans keep many animals for food. Currently, about 23 billion chickens, 1,5 billion cattle, and 1 billion pigs and sheep are being raising across the globe. Thus, we have transformed earth into a giant feeding ground. 83% of the world’s farmland is used for livestock. That’s 26% of earth’s total land area. If we include the water needed for plants such as pasture, meat and dairy production accounts for 27% of global freshwater consumption. For instance, about 85% of the water consumed in the USA is used for the livestock industry. Another intriguing example is that 2500 liters of water is used to produce a hamburger. Unfortunately, meat production is like a black hole for resources. As animals are living things, most of their food is used to keep them alive. Apart from these, meat contains only a fraction of the nutrients from fodder crops. Cows, for example, convert only about 4% of the proteins and %3 of the calories of plants. More than 97% of the calories are lost. To create one kilogram of steak, a cow needs to eat up to 25 kilos of grain and uses about 15000 liters of water. Animal products are guzzling up tons of food but they only make up 18% of the calories humans eat. According to projections, we could nourish another 3,5 billion people if we just ate the stuff we feed to animals. About 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans are created by the meat industry, as much as by all ships, planes, trucks, and cars combined. As far as only cows are concerned, everyday, they emit 567 billion liters of methane, a kind of gas causing 86 times more global warming than CO₂. There is also an indirect effect of meat consumption on the environment in that humans destroy rainforests to create pastures, which causes erosion and thereby floods. Moreover, the level of CO₂ in the atmosphere increases because of this.

There is another aspect to meat consumption: ethical problems. Globally, we kill about 200 million animals every day and about 74 billion a year. Furthermore, more than 6 billion animals are slaughtered hourly for meat production. After all, it could be argued that we’re doing them a favor. They cannot exist without us. We might eat them in the end but we also provide food, shelter, and the gift of existence to them. Unfortunately, we aren’t very compassionate gods. A lot of our meat comes from factory farms which are huge industrial systems housing thousands of animals. The factory farms are engineered to be as efficient as possible, and therefore, they have little regard for the quality of life. Most pigs are raised in gigantic windowless sheds and thereby never get to see the sun. Sows are kept in pens too small to turn around. Dairy cows are forced to breed continually to ensure thir milk supply but they are separated from their calves after birth. To fatten up beef cattle for slaughter, they are put in feedlots and confined to pens where they can’t roam to make it possible to keep them  tightly together without dying of diseases. As a result, they put on weight more quickly. The majority of antibiotics we use - up to 80% in the USA -   are for livestock. That helps in the short term but fuels antibiotic resistances. As for chickens, we can say that they are the most unfortunate animals in the context of this matter. They are kept in such vast numbers and so close to each other that they can’t form the social structures they have in nature, so they start attacking each other. To stop that, their beaks and claws are cut. Cockrels  are deemed worthless since they can’t lay eggs and aren’t suitable for meat production. For this reason, within minutes after birth, they’re usually gassed and shredded in grinders. Several hundred million chicks are killed this way each year.

All things considered, the obvious conclusion to be drawn is that meat production has deleterious effects on the environment. Most of them can be ameliorated through technology. However, only if we don’t take action to solve ethical problems will they be likely to continue for along time. It shouldn’t be said that we cannot do anything to eradicate them. For example, the waste of 4164 liters of water, 20,5 kilos of cereal, and 25 m² built-up area is hindered by a vegan every day. The final decision is yours.

                                                                           CEM KOCA