A vegetarian diet helps to reduce pollution and waste by increasing the efficiency of food production. Humans growing plants to eat for themselves is more efficient than growing plants to feed farm animals in order to harvest their meat. Farmers have learned how to calculate the efficiency of a meat animal at producing food through food conversion rates. A food conversion rate is the mathematical relationship between the feed an animal consumes and the weight that the animal gains by consuming the feed. Feed conversion rate is calculated by dividing kg or pounds of food consumed by weight gained. The lower the feed conversion ratio, the more efficient an animal is in converting feed to hot dogs. The average feed conversion rate for cattle is 12.5, for pigs 3-3.2, for rabbits 2.5-3, and for chickens 2.8-3.2 . When we raise plants to eat it only takes the land occupied by plants and the additional water used to raise the plants, where as livestock eat grain that has to be transported long distances and use more water than any plant. Vegetarianism reduces the amount of water needed for agriculture because vegetables need less water to grow than animals. Pollution caused by eating industrial meat Raising animals for meat generates ocean pollution in two ways, fertilizer runoff and waste runoff. Fertilizer runoff occurs when too much fertilizer is applied on fields as an insurance that heavy feeding crops like corn or alfalfa will succeed. What cannot be absorbed by the soil is washed away by rain and enters the water ways. These chemicals contribute to the degradation of marine environments. Fertilizers in the water fuel algae blooms that are far larger than natural. This alga can grow so thick that it absorbs most of the oxygen in the water suffocating animals and killing marine plants through lack of sunlight. This is a cause of fish kills and contributes to ocean dead zones. The challenges of vegetarianism
Eating vegetarian is challenging for people with low income or who live in remote areas where it takes a long time to ship fresh food. Vegetables and fruits can look about ready for the compost by the time, they reach the store. Studies have found that wealthy districts have three times as many supermarkets as poor ones do. White neighborhoods contain an average of four times as many supermarkets as predominantly black ones do. This makes eating less meat harder and more expensive. Even when easy to access convenience stores have a bunch of bananas or a few apples they sell the fruits individually. Because these items are not priced, the customers are often at the mercy of the person behind the counter who determines the cost. Many people are time poor and have no time to learn new recipes or about vegetarian nutrition and how first time vegetarians can create balanced healthy food. While eating less meat is beneficial for the environment, we must not judge people who do not reduce their consumption of meat as morally inferior, any more than we would judge someone who drives a nonelectric car. Making the environmentally conscious choice is expensive in many situations. Resources https://www.livestocking.net/feed-conversion-ratio https://awellfedworld.org/feed-ratios/ water pollution https://wle.cgiar.org/solutions-and-tools/science-driven-solutions/agricultural-water-pollution/ https://wateractiondecade.org/2017/12/09/water-pollution-from-and-to-agriculture/ https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/algal-blooms/index.cfm https://www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/effects-dead-zones-and-harmful-algal-blooms ocean health importance for climate change https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/why-ocean-so-important-climate-change https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/OceanCarbon https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/water-qa-what-causes-fish-kills?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_cent https://www.elephantjournal.com/2016/09/veganism-is-a-privilege-not-a-cure/ https://foodispower.org/access-health/food-deserts/
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AuthorI am a high school student who is creating her own blog for the first time for school about our food system and environmental issues Archives
May 2022
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