Essay

This is my final project for my English class -



How Becoming Vegan Can Make a Difference For Animals and our Planet

According to the Live Earth foundation becoming vegetarian is the “single most effective thing that you can do to reduce your carbon footprint,” (“Fight Climate Change with Diet Change”). The meat, dairy, and egg industries have been noted as some of the most prominent contributers to pollution and global warming, as well as animal suffering. Many people are not willing to accept that the meat industry is hurting the environment. However, one thing is clear. By adopting a vegan lifestyle people can help save not only animals, but our planet as well.
Becoming vegan may seem difficult, but I have found it relatively easy. Veganism consists of not purchasing or supporting the purchase of, wearing, eating, or abusing animals or animal byproducts. Mainly, vegans do not eat meat, dairy, eggs, honey, or any other animal products, such as animal-based dyes, gelatin, and amino acids. Also vegans do not wear leather, wool, lanolin, or any other animal clothing products. As a vegan, most people will also refuse to attend circuses or zoos wherein animals are being mistreated.
The animal farming industries are a major contributing factor to global warming. Greenhouse gas emissions from the meat, dairy, and egg industries are some of the most significant in the world. The emissions from food animal farms exceed those of all transportation vehicles in the world combined. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most commonly known greenhouse gas. However, it is far from the most harmful. More detrimental are Nitrous Oxide (N2O) and Methane gas (CH4). A significant part of these gases are produced by the animal and animal product industries. In fact, 65 percent of Nitrous Oxide, which is close to 300 times more effective at causing global warming than CO2, emissions worldwide can be traced back to the meat, dairy, and egg industries (“Fight Climate Change with Diet Change”).
Another way that the livestock industries contribute to global warming is by destroying forests. In the U.S. alone over 260 million acres of forest have been demolished for cropland to feed farm animals (“Wasted Resources : Land”). The retired plant life in these formerly flourishing ecosystems had the ability to work wonders against global warming. During photosynthesis plants remove CO2 from the air so that it is no longer included in the greenhouse effect, and does not harm the environment further. Without the trees and other plants that once grew in these regions more and more CO2 collects in our atmosphere. Slowly this CO2 and other greenhouse gases begin to allow less of the sun's heat out of our atmosphere, raising the temperature of our planet. However, climate change is not the only environmental threat extended by the meat, dairy, and egg industries.
The pollution that the animal farm industry creates is extremely significant. Water pollution from all of the non-animal industries combined cannot compare to the pollution caused by run-off from factory farms (“Pollution”). Animals in these farms excrete the feces that may be the leading cause of water pollution in the world, and a very significant cause of air pollution. One reason that the livestock industry is so destructive is that no law exists about what these companies do with the excrement from their animals. Because of this, a large part of this waste ends up being stored in lagoons, which occasionally flood and spill over into lakes and rivers, where it becomes very hazardous (“The Water We Drink”). This flood-induced contamination causes large amounts of fatal illness for the wildlife ,especially fish, that thrives in the polluted area.
Air pollution from factory farming is mainly caused by what is called particulate dust or particulate smog. Mold, bacteria, and virus particles occupy, and make up a large part of, this dust. This dust accounts for widespread illness in the people and other animals forced to breathe it. Some companies in the livestock industry spray untreated animal excrement into the air, so that they will have less in their waste storage lagoons. There are no laws or regulations telling the companies not to do this, so they get away with creating far more pollution than laws allow other industries to create.
The final, and frequently considered most important, reason not to eat meat, dairy, or eggs is the cruelty that comes to animals raised for livestock. Animals in livestock farms have no rights, and are treated inhumanely by workers on these farms. Food animals are raised to produce the maximum amount of meat, eggs, or milk. In order to do this, the animals are given hormone injections and fed diets which make them sick. It is common that animals will grow so unnaturally overweight that their legs will not be able to hold up their bodies, and they will not be able to stand.
Many companies portray an image of happy animals grazing in open pastures. This is simply not the case. Animals in these farms are constricted to tiny cages or pens, often containing many animals in one cage such that the animals cannot comfortably turn around or even lie down. Poultry and egg laying birds have their sensitive beak seared off, so that they will not peck each other. Pigs in these conditions never in their entire lives see the sun. This is all before facing the horrors of transportation to slaughter houses. These animals are transported in terrible weather conditions, wherein the animals are miserable and in pain. Sometimes the animals even freeze to the sides of the vehicles they are being transported in.
Once these animals reach the slaughterhouses they see some of the most torturous conditions in existence. Animals experience extreme pain, while being “stunned” by either a pistol or electricity. Frequently the pistol misses its mark, or the electric current is not strong enough. Because of this many animals are still alive and aware when either their throats are cut or they are lowered into scalding water and boiled to death. In the slaughterhouses employees frequently beat and throw these animals, causing great distress and agony from injuries like broken bones. Chickens are sometimes left on the ground in convulsions for hours before being killed. Animals are hung by one leg upside down, and often bleed to death entirely conscious hanging this way. As long as people still consider animals as objects and not living beings, these cruelties will not cease.
The livestock industry is incredibly harmful. It contributes a large part to global warming, pollution, and animal cruelty. These companies create both water pollution and air pollution. Employees of these companies are horribly cruel to the animals used for food, and likely don't consider the animals as living beings with feeling and emotions. These animals can feel emotions, they can feel pain and rejection. Becoming vegan is a very large step that you can take for the environment and animals. Making a difference can be as easy as changing your diet.

Tea...

GREEN TEA IS AMAZING!!!!