Four Reasons to Make Every Day Earth Day
An Environmental Article from All-Creatures.org

From

Marji Beach, Animal Place
April 2015

You may be surprised to learn – this is the short list of animal agriculture’s negative impact on the planet. Exploiting nonhumans for food is responsible for turning arable land into deserts, causing species extinction, increasing the risk of antibiotic resistant bacteria, creating dead zones in our lakes and oceans, reducing fish populations to the brink of collapse.

Animal Place is proud to participate in One Green Planet’s #EatForThePlanet campaign. Make every day Earth Day by adopting a vegan lifestyle. One Green Planet’s campaign is vital in connecting consumers to the choices they make. Our planet needs change and it needs it now. You can make it happen.

Here are 4 Reasons Why!

Water Wasters

With California and several western states facing a severe drought, now is not the time to grow water intensive crops only to turn around and feed those crops to thirsty animals. Cut the middle animal out of the equation! Animal agriculture is water intensive. In California, a million acres of arable land is used to grow 6 million tons of alfalfa. The US grows around 49 million tons of alfalfa, 12% of which is exported (the #1 importer of alfalfa is the United Arab Emirates). Alfalfa is, by far, the thirstiest crop grown in California, followed by almonds and pistachios, and then pasture (food for farmed animals).

Manure Murders

Animals exploited for farming poop. A lot. Farmed animals produce more than 500 million tons of feces, three times more than humans. The photo below shows a 20-acre manure lagoon from a dairy in Oregon. Unlike human waster, nonhuman feces and urine do not need to processed. They sit beneath sheds or in manure pits or lagoons and are then sprayed upon crops. The run-off of the excess manure causes dead zones and fish kills. In some cases farms will allow raw sewage to leak into groundwater, rivers, and other Millions of fish have been killed by manure run-off.

manure lagoon
This is not water. It is a lagoon of manure.
Photo by: Friends of Family Farmers

Climate Changers

According to experts, animal agriculture contributes more to climate change than the transportation sector. One study estimated 18% of warming gases are produced by the livestock sector, including nearly 40% of methane emissions. Methane is a far harsher gas than carbon dioxide but also dissipates from the environment quicker than carbon dioxide.

Rainforest Ruin

The rainforests are our planet’s lungs and they are being crushed at an alarming rate…for animal agriculture. In Brazil, the number one contributor to deforestation is animal farming – forests are being cleared to graze cattle and grow soy. The soy is shipped across the globe to be used as feed for farmed animals. Entire ecosystems can be destroyed.

You may be surprised to learn – this is the short list of animal agriculture’s negative impact on the planet. Exploiting nonhumans for food is responsible for turning arable land into deserts, causing species extinction, increasing the risk of antibiotic resistant bacteria, creating dead zones in our lakes and oceans, reducing fish populations to the brink of collapse.

Want to help? Make every day an Earth Day and #EatForThePlanet. Join our Sanctuary Sweets email list and we’ll email you a vegan breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert recipe each week!

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