the environment
EATING LESS MEAT IS THE KEY TO STOPPING CLIMATE CHANGE AND MANY OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS. HIDDEN FROM YOU, THESE HORRORS ARE DISGUISED SO YOU DON'T LEARN THE TRUTH.
Producing plant-based meat emits up to 90% fewer greenhouse gases than producing conventional meat. Just eating one plant-based meal can save the same amount of carbon emissions it takes to drive a car across the country.
Animal agriculture, specifically cattle ranching, is responsible for a vast majority of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, the world’s largest tropical forest. Over a fifteen-year period, the meat industry slashed and burned over 111 million acres of forests, the equivalent of 84 million football fields.
Switching to a plant-based diet reduces your individual water footprint up to 55%. It takes over 2000 gallons of water to make 1 lb. of beef.
The UN identifies plant-based diets “as a major opportunity for mitigating and adapting to climate change,” and it recommends that governments around the world adopt policies to reduce meat consumption in their countries and regions.
In fact, a study from Oxford University identified going plant-based as the “single biggest way” we can reduce our carbon footprint, shrinking it up to 73%.
The vast majority of antibiotics produced in the US are administered to animals raised for food. By switching to a plant-based diet and reducing demand for meat, we decrease the meat industry’s dangerous rates of antibiotic consumption and help protect public health.
It takes about 31.5 kilowatt-hours of energy to produce one pound of beef—a little under the amount of energy your fridge uses to run for a whole month.
Meanwhile, growing crops for direct human consumption is a much more straightforward process. It requires less processing, less land, less energy input, and less water than raising and killing animals for food.
When the meat industry clears forests for cattle and cropland, it doesn’t just destroy the trees—it takes away habitat for the thousands of species who call forests home. Deforestation drives an estimated 135 different species of plants, animals, and insects to extinction every day.
Reducing demand for meat and making the switch to plant-based foods give soil the opportunity to heal. By freeing up land that was once used for meat production, we make space for the process of “rewilding”—letting environments get back to their natural rhythms and recover from degradation.
The Animals
Idealized farms are not realistic. 99% of U.S. farmed animals are raised in CAFOs Where they suffer abuse daily and are stuffed indoors in cages, standing in their shit. Driven insane by the torturous conditions where diseases run rampant, all that these animal "units" can do is wait for their slaughter.
In your lifetime, you will have eaten over 7000 animals alone. Don't separate yourself from blame. every time you eat meat, an animal was abused and slaughtered for you.
THE HORRORS OF ANIMAL ABUSE
The People
Our Kids Do Not
Know What Meat Is
Children show a strong bias to sort animals, irrespective of their cultural status as a food source, as “not OK to eat.” Children's misinformation of meat origins can be attributed to the ways in which meat is dissociated from its animal origins. Meat products bear little resemblance to animals when they are offered for sale in most grocery stores in the United States. Adding to this dissociation, meat products and animals are referred to with different labels in English (e.g., pork and pig).
If we want to save the planet and create a better future for our kids, we should start with telling them the truth. Data suggests that kids are ignorant meat eaters but that their ignorance is less entrenched in the web of lies and societal manipulations, meaning they are more likely to become vegetarians. Regardless, your kids should have the choice of whether they want to eat killed animals or not.
We Are Distanced from All Aspects of Meat Production
One reason that children may lack basic food knowledge is because so many of them have very little exposure to how food is grown. With fewer Americans farming, the number of children in the United States who live on working farms has dwindled (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2014). As industrialized food systems gain dominance, both children and adults are becoming increasingly distanced from the plants and animals they eat. This has resulted in an alienation of meat from the abuse and death integral to its production, allowing us to ignore these issues when eating meat.
Environmental Racism and Toxicity
Not only does the meat industry destroy the environment, kill and abuse billions of animals, and lie to and manipulate us and our kids, but it also exploits minority communities. By setting up factory farms in impoverished and BIPOC communities, the CAFOs are able to pollute the air and water without repercussions. Massive toxic lagoons of animal fecal waste are burdened onto these communities without any way for them to fight back. These waste ponds often seep toxins that pollute the air, land, and water around them.