I can still feel my heart pounding. Today in class our lecture was on technology and the environment. Of course, we talked about global warming and I was so hopeful that after discussing fossil fuels our professor would mention animal agriculture and its impact on emissions. But of course, our teacher chose to engage in the same rhetoric I've heard so many times before, repeatedly mentioning fossil fuels, nuclear power, and climate change without any mention of industrial agriculture or the potential for a solution.
After biting my tongue for 30 minutes, the teacher began to discuss deforestation. When he mentioned the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, I knew I had to say something. I shot my hand up and asked “Why aren’t we talking about industrial agriculture and its impact on climate change? It’s responsible for 80% of Amazon deforestation and over 50% of greenhouse gas emissions!” My hands started to shake. The whole class looked at me and gasped, and our teacher stood there looking blankly as if he could not believe I said that.
After a minute he responded that while my facts are correct, I have to understand that asking people to stop eating meat just isn’t “practical”. As I looked around the room in outrage, not one of my classmates said anything, they just stared and laughed and shook their heads in agreement with what our teacher had said. One classmate tried to say that vegans and vegetarians live less healthy lives than omnivores. Sadly, I could see that I was alone on this issue, all I could respond with was, "That is just not true."
In my next class all I could think was, is my professor right? Are people really not willing to give up their own self interest in order to save the very planet we exist on? Looking around, it saddened me to think that this injustice is being perpetuated by so many of my peers, completely ignoring the reality of what their lifestyle is doing to not only our planet, but our health and the billions of animals who are subject to the horrors of the industrial agriculture system.
Making a change can be hard, especially one as intimate as our relationship to food. As difficult as it may be to come to terms with this realization, we need to understand that the lifestyle we are living is not sustainable, healthful or justifiable.
Industrial agriculture is the large scale production of meat and dairy products. In the U.S. this takes place primarily in factory farms aka CAFO's (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations). Factory farming contributes to environmental destruction in many ways; including greenhouse gas emissions, land-clearing and deforestation, water consumption and pollution, species extinction, ocean dead zones and habitat destruction. Between the CO2, nitrous oxide and methane produced by the billions of animals themselves, animal agriculture contributes to around 51% of total greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Sources - http://www.worldwatch.org/files/pdf/Livestock an... https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse... http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/
Science and medicine are beginning to understand that the standard American diet is wreacking havoc on our health and we need to return to a whole foods, plant-based diet (WFPBD) to prevent and reverse our top killers, heart disease and cancer. A WFPBD provides the full range of essential nutrients needed for healthy cell functioning, complete proteins for muscle building and DNA repair, antioxidants to prevent disease and a host of other health-producing benefits which make the WFPBD far superior to the standard American diet. Sources - http://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/halt-he... http://nutritionfacts.org/topics/plant-based-diets...
Check out some additional resources to learn more about plant-based diets, health and environmentalism-
Cowspiracy (Netflix documentary)
Forks over Knives (Netflix documentary)
The China Study (largest study ever conducted on nutrition and disease)
Keep it Simple, Keep it Whole by MD’s Matthew Lederman and Alona Pulde
The Food Prescription for Better Health by Baxter D.
