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Skipping that hamburger does make a difference. Producing 1 pound
of feedlot beef requires 7 pounds of feed grain, which takes 7000
pounds of water to grow. (5) And one hamburger causes 55 square
feet of rain forest destruction (for tropically raised beef) and
12 pounds of livestock feces and other pollutants. (6) Plus, that
one hamburger uses more water than you would use by taking 40 showers
with a low-flow showerhead. (7)
Livestock now produce 130 times as much waste as people do. (8)
Un-fortunately, that waste doesn’t just disappear into t h i n a
i r. I t has been responsible for massive fish kills and out-breaks
of disease such as pfisteria. Almost 80% of all U.S. farms drain
into one single body of water—the Mississippi River. (9)
The disposal of animal waste often goes unregulated. And that’s
no small matter when you consider the magnitude of some of our country’s
factory farms. One farm in Utah produces as much waste as the entire
city of Los Angeles!
What about seafood? Our current means of fishing have changed
dramatically since our ancestors used poles and small nets. Today,
long lines can span 80 miles, with thousands of hooks and huge nets.
These “fishing” techniques destroy the ocean floor and drown everything
in their way— including birds and mammals such as seals and dolphins.
About a quarter of everything caught is thrown away, left to rot,
or ground into meal and fertilizer. (10) These factory trawlers
are wreaking havoc on our ecosystems, and causing extinction of
certain species—more than 100 species of food fish have been driven
to full or near extinction— and irreparable harm to others, including
the marine life that depend upon these species for their survival.
And fish “farms” aren’t much better. Their often unnatural locations
and heavy use of antibiotics cause a whole different set of e n
v i r o n m e n ta l problems, including habitat destruction and
water pollution.
End Notes: Works Cited
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