The Animal Agriculture Industry and Its Effect on the Planet

The Animal Agriculture Industry and Its Effect on the Planet

Alexander C Pulliam
University of Kentucky

The Animal Agriculture Industry and Its Effect on the Planet

Abstract
This paper takes a look at how the animal agriculture industry is a detriment to the environment,
with the main focus of the industry being cow livestock. For the purposes of this paper they will
be referred to in the same vain. This is because of all the animals in the animal agriculture
industry, cows are the biggest contributors to the negative impacts on the planet. As to the
negative impacts, the devastation to land, air, and water will be the focus of this paper. Along
with a look at the environmental impact of the beef industry, there will also be a look at the
alternatives to the animal agriculture industry and what exactly will be necessary to effect a real
change on the planet.

The Animal Agriculture Industry and Its Effect on the Planet

The global rainforests, which supply 20% of the worlds oxygen (Rainforest Foundation
US, 2015), is being cleared at the rate of 1-2 acres per second (Rainforest Foundation US, 2015).
That means that by the year 2060 (45 years from when this paper is written), there will be no
more rainforests. Thousands of species, be it plants or animals, will go extinct. And the biggest
cause of this rapid destruction is the clearing for animal agricultural land. More specifically land
for cows. Along with being a major cause for deforestation, the bovine livestock industry is a
major detriment to the environment, contributing to water waste, water pollution, exorbitant land
use, and greenhouse emissions. These effects on the environment will be looked at here, along
with a discussion of possible ways these issues can be solved.
There is a common misconception that water is an unlimited resource. While this may be
true in the sense of total global amounts of water, this is not true in terms of clean, drinkable
water. According to The Water Project, only 2.5% of the worlds water is fresh water, and only
1% of that is suitable for human use (The Water Project, Inc., n.d.). That is a very small amount
of water that humanity must share amongst all of its population, plus the animals who also
consume it. Which brings up the cows that are raised for meat and dairy products. It takes close
to 972 gallons to produce 1 kilogram (about 2 pounds) of beef protein (Beckett & Oltjen, 2014).
Now of course, that is not just the water that the cows are consuming, but the water used for the
grain that they are fed and the actual processing of the beef. Then there are dairy products, such
as milk, which take 1,000 gallons of water to produce per gallon (Mekonnen & Hoekstra, 2012).
So, that is 1,972 gallons of water for 2 pounds of beef and 1 gallon of milk. These numbers are
part of the 37 trillion gallons of water used in the United States per year, 56% of which is used
for irrigation toward feed crops (Jacobson, 2006). These numbers are very telling at how much
pressure the animal agriculture industry is putting on clean water supplies in the form of waste.

The Animal Agriculture Industry and Its Effect on the Planet

And it is not just the waste of the industry, but the pollution of the clean water that is
putting a strain on the earths supply. According to the EPA, about 70% of water quality issues in
rivers and streams are caused by animal agriculture irrigation (Jacobson, 2006). This irrigation
causes erosion, which is where sediment from the land erodes from the crop dirt and runs off into
the water ways. This sediment is considered one of the largest pollutants of surface water, and
contains grand amounts of nasty chemicals that are harmful to wildlife, such fertilizers. This
fertilizer, when introduced into water ways such as streams, causes increased aquatic plant
growth that then causes oxygen depletion in the water, delivering havoc to the sensitive
ecosystem.
On the subject of ecosystems, the previously mentioned deforestation of the worlds
rainforests is a process that bears mentioning. Now, some people might argue that there is still
plenty of rainforest left in the world, but that is not the issue that is pressing on the world. It soon
will be though, with the speed of 1 acre per second being the standard rate of deforestation. As
said in the beginning, 45 years is about the timeline for rainforests to disappear. And animal
agriculture is the main cause for the deforestation with 91% of the clearing activity being
attributed to the practice (Margulis, 2003). That means hundreds of thousands of species are
being expelled from their habitats, which are not easily reproduced, just because of cattle and the
food it takes to feed them. There are no signs of this slowing down either. The fact that in 1970
only 3% of the Amazonian rainforest was used for cattle and its feed (Margulis, 2003) highlights
this.
With such a huge amount of land being used for cattle, one must assume that a large
amount of cattle is being placed to graze. And it is that large amount of cattle that is a major
cause for greenhouse emissions, a major detriment to our future as a planet. Currently there are

The Animal Agriculture Industry and Its Effect on the Planet

about 70 billion cows on earth being used for animal agriculture (Compassion in World Farming,
2012). Those cows are producing greenhouse gas emissions that have been proposed to take up
18% of the worlds emissions, though a more recent study has found that they could actually be
making up 51% (Goodland & Anhang, 2009). Now most people would assume that this is just
CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions, but there is a more sinister gas that cows are involved with;
nitrous oxide (NO). Nitrous oxide is 296 times more efficient at trapping heat than carbon
dioxide and cows are the cause of 65% of human nitrous oxide release (Steinfeld, et al., 2006).
And these numbers are only expected to increase.
Now one might be looking at these numbers with a sort of awe and perhaps some
helplessness. The animal agricultural industry is absolutely enormous and very influential. It has
even killed people who have protested their activities. But there is hope. The answer is to cut
down on meat consumption and focus more on plant based agriculture. This would ideally lead
to a diet for the average person that is vegan, meaning that there would be absolutely no animal
based food consumed. The amount of land this would save would be enormous. It only takes
1/6th of an acre to feed a vegan for one year, compared to the 3 and 1/4ths of an acre that is
required to feed a meat eater (Earthsave International, 2006). Furthermore, it would only take
300 gallons of water to feed a vegan for a day, about a third of the cost to produce that kilogram
of beef (Earthsave International, 2006). If one looks at the amount of hamburgers that are
purchased on a daily basis, it is obvious the better option is veganism.
Of course, a vegan diet is a drastic change, especially for Americans. People are averse to
change and veganism has its own bad image. Many people view vegans as weak or that they do
not get enough protein, but this is simply not the case. If one consumes the proper grains,
vegetables, and legumes there is no shortage of protein. In fact, many body builders are vegan

The Animal Agriculture Industry and Its Effect on the Planet

and are able to make great gains on the diet. People also need to be shown that a vegan diet is not
a difficult nor unappetizing goal. But this information needs to get spread and the misconceptions
need to be overthrown. There also must be incentives for people to change, meaning government
programs that give benefits to a vegan diet beyond the ones of environmental and health. The
government would also have to work to limit the power of the beef industry due to the fact that,
as previously mentioned, it is powerful and will go to extreme lengths to achieve its goals.
Essentially, an equally extreme change in culture of the world would be necessary.
And an extreme cultural change may not be far off, if people see the numbers. The
numbers make it obvious that our current practices are destroying the planet. The animal
agriculture industry is gulping down fresh water, which is not an infinite resource because
humanity is consuming it much faster than the planet can replenish its supply. While consuming
the water, the industry is also pushing pollutants into the worlds fresh water, which is hurting the
sensitive ecosystems inside the water sources. And the industry is also grinding up huge amounts
of land, land that could be used to feed humans more effectively. Along with this destruction of
land, the animal agriculture industry is also ejecting terrifying amounts of greenhouse emissions
into the atmosphere. To stop these atrocities from continuing, it is going to take the people to rise
up, demand action from the government, and change from themselves. And as they say, to
change oneself is to start to change the world.

The Animal Agriculture Industry and Its Effect on the Planet

Works Cited
Beckett, J. L., & Oltjen, J. W. (2014, December 11). Estimation of the Water
Requirement for Beef. Journal of Animal Sciences, 818.
Compassion in World Farming. (2012). Strategic Plan for 2013-2017. Compassion in
World Farming.
Earthsave International. (2006). Myth Vs. Reality. Retrieved from EarthSave:
http://www.earthsave.org
Goodland, R., & Anhang, J. (2009). Livestock and Climate Change: What if the key
actors in climate change were pigs, chickens and cows? Washington, D.C.:
Worldwatch Institute.
Jacobson, M. F. (2006). More and Cleaner Water. In M. F. Jacobson, Six Arguments for
a Greener Diet (pp. 86-101). Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Margulis, S. (2003). Causes of Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon. Washington,
D.C.: The World Bank.
Mekonnen, M. M., & Hoekstra, A. Y. (2012). A Global Assessment of the Water
Footprint of Animal Products. Enschede: Department of Water Engineering
and Management.
Rainforest Foundation US. (2015). Commonly Asked Questions and Facts. Retrieved
from Rainforest Foundation US: http://www.rainforestfoundation.org
Steinfeld, H., Gerber, P., Wassenaar, T., Castel, V., Rosales, M., & Haan, C. d. (2006).
Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options. Rome: Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
The Water Project, Inc. (n.d.). Water Conservation. Retrieved from The Water Project:
http://thewaterproject.org/water_conservation