There’s Always Consequences:
There seems to be a lot of misinformation surrounding agriculture. As more information is disseminated to the public regarding the hidden costs of the Meat Industry, we’re seeing the effects. Recently, there has been a decline in the production of Meat’s biggest impact culprit: Beef. In many places, especially on the West Coast, there is huge community of people stepping away from including meat in their diets. There are MANY different reasons as to why.
While there are certainly compelling ethical arguments, we will focus on the environmental and global impact of the Meat Industry. For example, a quick google search shows us that it take nearly 1,800 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. This includes the amount of water needed to raise a cow and grow the food it eats for its lifetime. To slaughter and process the cow and then to transport the meat to wherever in the world demands beef, also requires vast amounts of energy. This alone should raise an eyebrow, given 1 in 3 people don’t have access to safe water, globally. Growing plant agriculture doesn’t require anywhere near this amount of water to energy.
More concerning still is the destruction of forested land, like of the rain forest in South America and specifically in Brazil where there is a high demand for beef. Its estimated that 6.7 million acres of tropical forest are burned each year for the specific purpose of pastureland for raising cows. This should be alarming since we know that about 20% of the earth’s air supply comes directly from the Amazon rain forest. This method of food production is simply not sustainable for the planet long-term.
There’s A Better Way:
As these hidden cost become less hidden we also see a push toward protein alternatives (Don’t think Blade Runner style just yet). Specifically, we are seeing a trend toward vegetable based proteins, which are just as nutritionally valuable (if not more so) to the human body. Don’t forget, it’s also less expensive to produce overall. It’s become a well documented fact that meat, specifically the consumption of Industry raised beef, can contribute to human morbidity and disease. That’s because industry meat almost exclusively includes a poor diet, antibiotics and growth hormones. The resulting health problems include obesity, heart problems, early menses in young girls, antibiotic resistance, and so on. Not to mention that as we age it becomes increasingly difficult to digest meat. You can look forward to projects we’re co-producing that meet the demand for vegetable protein and calories by providing access to fresh grown produce. Right now we’re working with a California local who is in the process of creating a prototype “Farm Box” which could allow communities to grow many tons of veggies.
So maybe its not a surprise when we say these declining meat consumption statistics are very relieving to us, as a company that values the abundance of natural resources and the health of every individual on this planet. We think every human and creature on the planet deserves to have clean air to breath, clean water to drink, safe food to eat and a habitat to call home. Suffice it to say the evidence shows the Beef Industry to be a red-handed culprit in the loss of these resources. To learn more about reasons to quit the meat industry, click here.
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