Running Head: THE EFFECTS OF VEGANISM AND THE MEAT INDUSTRY

The Effects of Veganism and the Meat Industry

and How Veganism Helps the Earth

Craig Rappaport

Florid State University

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Introduction

My best friend is the one that inspired me to research this topic. Her name is Stephanie,

and she is vegan. I constantly made fun of her for it, and always called her stupid for choosing

not to eat meat. I never considered eating meat or what it did to the environment. She used to call

me ignorant because I would refuse to listen to the facts that she showed me, and would call her

wrong on the topics I knew nothing about, such as the meat industry. The more information she

shared with me, the more I started to realize that she was right. The meat industry is one of the

main factors that is causing global warming, especially from the United States. I was one of the

many that did not care, until she made me promise that I would do everything I can to help

change the world, and help the future generations by ensuring they will have a world to live on.

She made me promise never to be ignorant again, and to help those around me realize the harm

that is being done to this planet. To keep my promise, and to help the not fully informed (such as

myself), I am trying to find out what would happen if every person went vegan, about the meat

industry, and how they both affect global warming.

What is veganism, and why do people go vegan?

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According to vrg.org, which stands for The Vegetarian Research Group, Vegetarians do

not eat meat, fish, or poultry. Vegans, in addition to being vegetarian, do not use other animal

products and by-products such as eggs, dairy products, honey, leather, fur, silk, wool, cosmetics,

and soaps derived from animal products. Many people find this very extreme, and do not see a

point in having such an extreme diet. Veganism actually awesomely benefits the earth.

Scarborough et al. write for a journal called Climatic Change, which is an international journal

dedicated to informing people about climate change. They show that greenhouse gas emissions

from a person that eats meat are also around 100% higher than that of a vegan (Scarborough et

al., 2014, 183). Not eating meat will literally cut in half the amount of greenhouse gas emissions

per person, which will greatly help the earth. Others, though, also are environmental activists and

find it morally wrong to harm animals, while others do it for health reasons. As shown in the

study conducted by Janssen, Busch, Rdiger, and Hamm (2016) for the Department of

Agricultural and Food Marketing, most vegans questioned chose the lifestyle because of animal

cruelty or health concerns, with less than half mentioning climate change or environmental

protection (646). Many people do not realize that while animal well being and health concerns

are trivial compared to the biggest problem: the meat industrys involvement in global warming.

The meat industry

Many people do not realize the damage the meat industry does to the environment. Tim

Benton, a professor at the University of Leeds, is quoted saying in Carrington, The biggest

intervention people could make towards reducing their footprints would not be to abandon cars,

but to eat significantly less red meat. In 2016 Nuwer, a BBC writer, states that food production

is the cause of about one-third of greenhouse gas emissions, and the majority of that comes from
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the meat industry. Results also indicated that if the world went vegan carbon emissions would

reduce by about 70% (Springmann qtd. in Nuwer, 2016).

Right now, the people living on earth need to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Those

living here are releasing too much carbon dioxide, and killing the planet. Many people do not

think global warming is real because they see it snow or feel cold air, but those people confuse

climate and weather. Climate is long-term, while weather is short-term. Also, even the slightest

change in atmospheric temperature can cause a worldwide crisis. Ecosystems rely on being

constant, and if that constant is changed, they will not react well to the change. If people do not

change their diets or the meat industry, it will cause drastic changes in the environment that will

damage the world and hurt the people living earth, as a result of global warming.

There are two main ways that the meat industry contributes to global warming. One, the

processes taken during meat production release four different kinds of greenhouse gases: carbon

dioxide (CO ), methane (CH ), nitrogen (N), and nitrous oxide (N O).
2
4 2

The main sources of CH are the enteric fermentation of ruminants and releases from
4

stored manure, which also emits N O. The application of manure as well as N fertilizers to
2

agricultural land increases emissions of N O. Furthermore, N O as well as CO are released

2 2 2

during production of chemical N fertilizers. Schwarzer (2012), who wrote the peer reviewed

article for a United Nations organization about bettering the environment, states that some CO is2

also produced on farms from fossil fuels and energy usage and by the exhalation of animals,

which is not taken into account (5).

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Another way the meat industry contributes to global warming is by deforestation.

Deforestation is the cutting down of trees to convert the land into something else, such as

farmland or a ranch. The meat industry uses deforestation to make their farms larger and to

allow their animals to feed on more land. Those in the meat industry are constantly (and stupidly)

cutting down trees to further their own profits. Deforestation takes a lot of energy, and

machinery. That releases a great amount of CO and N O, and the land that was grass is converted
2 2

into agricultural land, which makes the soil release carbon that it was stored inside of it

(Schwarzer, 2012, 5). Deforestation also causes soil erosion, which makes the soil almost

unusable after the trees are taken out, and pollutes waterways. The minor ways in which the

agriculture industry releases greenhouse gases is through things like transportation and energy

usage. It requires technology use to keep up the farm, and this is most likely going to release

greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The meat also needs to be transported after it is ready to

be sold, and this is done through trucks and other transportation methods that use fossil fuels.

Animal meat is eaten worldwide, so the amount of meat transported globally per year is

extremely high.

In 2013, global meat production rose by about 100 million since 1995, with an average

growth rate of 2.3% per year (Revell, 2015, 576). Meat consumption has been rising over the

years. The meat industry is at an all time high of production. This is because meat is now being

mass produced using technology and techniques that increase greenhouse gas emissions, but

make it cheaper, easier, and more profitable than ever to be a meat farmer. These two facts are

correlated to each other. As more people want to eat meat, the supply will rise along with the

demand, because the greater demand means a higher profit margin for the meat suppliers. The

meat industry will continue to produce more meat as long as the demand remains extremely high.
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The estimates for how much meat demand will rise are about 65% for pork, 170% for poultry

meat, and 80% for beef and sheep meat (Guinot, Huang, and Legg, 2015, 52). Guinot et al.

(2015) states that this growth will be caused by the estimated population increase by 2050: 3

billion people (51). The only way this can be lowered is for more people to go vegan to help

drive down the profits of the meat industry, which will then lower the amount of meat. Unless

there is found to be another way to lower the emissions from the meat industry, the only way to

help fight global warming is for people to decrease the demand for meat, to reduce the amount of

meat supplied. It will be difficult to convince enough people to stop eating meat, but it is the only

affordable way for each individual to help treat global warming. It is feasible, but will require a

great deal of unity and hard work to put enough pressure on the meat industry to make changes.

There is not much that can be done to change the emissions of the meat industry. As

shown by Gilpin (2016), most solutions fall under two categories: stop eating meat or find more

advancements in technology for farming. He also shows that a big issue that is causing farmers

to not use certain tools and resources to help lower greenhouse gas emissions is money (2016).

There is not that much money in farming, and there is little incentive to put time and money into

trying to help reduce greenhouse gases (Gilpin, 2016). One advancement, Gilpin (2016) states,

that has been made in the industry recently is a change in the cows diet to lower the release of

methane from the manure and bodies of cattle, by lowering the amount of microbes in the animal

(2016). As Ermias Kebreab, director of the Agricultural Sustainability Institute at University of

California Davis, is quoted saying in Gilpin (2016), We have to realize animal biology and

microbes have evolved together for millions of years. You can only do so much. The cows

bodies have been constantly evolving, and will eventually evolve to the point where the tricks
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being used by the industry will no longer work. The only reliable way to ensure change, is again,

a drastic increase in the amount of people that are vegan.

Issues Caused by Global Warming

Global warming has been regarded by scientists as the biggest global health threat of the

21 century (Denchak, 2016). It not only affects humans, but also animals, the air, the weather,
st

and everything around the world. According to for the National Resources Defense Council,

which is a government funded organization dedicated to protecting the United States,

But for the world in which we live, climate experts project will be at least eight degrees

warmer by 2100 should global emissions continue on their current path, this small rise will

have grave consequences, ones that are already becoming apparent, for every ecosystem

and living thingincluding us.

The National Defense Resources Council has a main section dedicated to climate change, along

with other topics it deems major threats, such as water shortages and ocean pollution. It is

important to realize that a government funded group thinks global warming is as important, if not

more important, than issues as extreme as water shortages and ocean pollution.

Weather events such as droughts, intense rain events, and heat waves have increased in

frequency over the last 50 years, and global warming contributed to this. As shown in the BBC

article (2013), which uses information stated by the United Nations panel on climate change

report, the temperature is supposed to increase by 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the 21st

century (McGrath). Now, though, this change in temperature is causing a dramatic change in the

polar ice caps. Sea levels are greatly rising around the world, and much of that is because of
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global warming melting the polar ice caps. The article found on a website sponsored by NASA,

found under the Featured section in 2010, under the name Global Warming on page six titled

How Will Global Warming Change the Earth, exceptionally describes the consequences of the

polar ice caps melting. According to How Will Global Warming Change Earth? (2010), the ice

sheets in the Antarctic are melting by about 125 billion tons of ice per year. The sea levels have

risen at about 3 millimeters per year, for a total of 48 millimeters between 1993 and 2009 (How

Will, 2010). That may not seem like a high amount, but the rising sea levels have eroded coasts,

caused more frequent coastal flooding, and will even cause some inhabited island nations to sink

in the near future if nothing is done (How Will, 2010). The National Geographic Society states

in the article What Would Happen if All the Ice On Earth Melted, that the average temperature

would also be 80 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 58 when all the ice melts, which it eventually will

if nothing is changed. The entire eastern seaboard, along with Florida, would be underwater and

will no longer exist when this happens (National Geographic Society).

Besides death, despair, and worldwide famine caused by the melting ice caps, ecosystems

will also be high effected. Warmer weather raises the amount of water used by the agriculture

industry (How Will, 2010). The growing season is extended due to the weather, and this causes

farmers to need more water, or the plants will dry out, also increasing the chance of failed crops

and wildfire (How Will, 2010). Some animal species also rely on the ice to survive, or just

simply cannot adapt to the warmer weather, and will go extinct (How Will, 2010). If the

temperature climbs another 1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius, the International Panel on Climate Change

estimates that around 20-30 percent of plant and animal species will be at risk of going extinct

(How Will, 2010).

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As shown throughout human history, the only thing people care about is themselves. All

of these scientific facts and statistics are constantly ignored by businesses and people alike to

help keep money in their pockets, or because they are too comfortable with the current standard

of living. I already mentioned the flooding and death that will be caused by the polar ice caps,

but even more death will be caused by disease. As a result of the earth being warmer, some

species will now be able to move into places that were previously not available to them, such as

mosquitos, which will cause diseases such as malaria to be able to expand their reach around the

world (How Will, 2010). The rising temperature will cause summers to be hotter, which will

lead to more heat strokes and deaths, along with more frequent fires (How Will, 2010). As the

summers are hotter, the number and frequency of droughts will rise. Cook et al. (2014), in their

peer reviewed article, state that, Global warming is expected to increase the frequency and

intensity of droughts in the twenty-first century (1). Also, Dai, in his peer reviewed article

(2011), states that the recent droughts in Africa are related to the rise in droughts because of the

heating up of the ocean due to greenhouse gases, and that droughts will also occur much more

frequently in the future because of global warming (55,56).

Fresh water will become less and less available as the ice caps melt, as a great deal of

fresh water is received from the ice caps (How Will, 2010). The list goes on, but in the end it

comes down to two things: death and extinction.

Conclusion

Now is the time to help the future generations. The world needs global veganism now

more than ever. It is the only easy, and affordable way to help ensure that our kids and grandkids

have a healthy earth to live on. Mass veganism would be the first giant step in the plan that is
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needed to save the world. If nothing is done about the meat industry in the coming years, it will

be too late for earth. The first step would be to start informing those that buy meat about the

damage being done, by putting a warning on the label. This will maybe change the way some

people feel about meat, and maybe help contribute to solving the problem. Another feasible first

step is for people to start limiting the amount of meat they eat. As aforementioned, this will put

pressure on the meat industry, and if the industry is pressured enough to change their ways by

consumers, they will. These steps will provide a reasonable start to correcting the problem, so the

earth will be safe enough to live on in the future. I want my kids to be able to thrive in a world

where the air they breathe is not toxic, and so should you.

References

Cook, B. I., Smerdon, J. E., Seager, R., & Coats, S. (2014). Global warming and 21st century

drying.Climate Dynamics,43(9-10), 2607-2627. doi:10.1007/s00382-014-2075-y

Dai, A. (2011). Drought under global warming: a review.Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews:

Climate Change,2(1), 45-65. doi:10.1002/wcc.81

Denchak, M. (March 15, 2016). Are the Effects of Global Warming Really that Bad? Retrieved

February 26, 2017, from

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https://www.nrdc.org/stories/are-effects-global-warming-really-bad

Gilpin, L. (2016, May 20). How the livestock industry can help cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Retrieved from

http://www.hcn.org/articles/how-the-livestock-industry-can-help-cut-greenhouse-gas-emissions

Guinot, C., Huang, H., & Legg, W. (2015). What is the Meat and Livestock Industry Doing to

Reduce its Impact on Climate Change? EuroChoices,14(2), 48-53. doi:10.1111/1746-

692x.12091

How Will Global Warming Change Earth? (2010). Retrieved from

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/page6.php

IPCC report: Humans are "dominant cause" of global warming since 1950s. . Retrieved from

http://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.5.027380/full/

Janssen, M., Busch, C., Rdiger, M., & Hamm, U. (2016). Motives of consumers following a

vegan diet and their attitudes towards animal agriculture.Appetite,105, 643-651.

doi:10.1016/j.appet.2016.06.039

McGrath, M. (2013, September 27). IPCC climate report: humans 'dominant cause' of warming.

Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-24292615

National Geographic Society. (2017, March 22). What the World Would Look Like if All the Ice

Melted. Retrieved from

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http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2013/09/rising-seas-ice-melt-new-

shoreline-maps/

Nuwer, R. (2016, September 27). What would happen if the world suddenly went vegetarian?.

Retrieved from

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160926-what-would-happen-if-the-world-suddenly-

went-vegetarian

Revell, B. J. (2015). One Man's Meat 2050? Ruminations on Future Meat Demand in the

Context of Global Warming.Journal of Agricultural Economics,66(3), 573-614.

doi:10.1111/1477-9552.12121

Scarborough, P., Appleby, P. N., Mizdrak, A., Briggs, A. D., Travis, R. C., Bradbury, K. E., &

Key, T. J. (2014). Dietary greenhouse gas emissions of meat-eaters, fish-eaters,

vegetarians and vegans in the UK.Climatic Change,125(2), 179-192.

doi:10.1007/s10584-014-1169-1

Schwarzer, S. (2012, October). Growing Greenhouse Gas Emissions Due to Meat Production.

Retrieved from

https://na.unep.net/geas/getuneppagewitharticleidscript.php?article_id=92

Veganism in a Nutshell. Retrieved from

http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/vegan.htm
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