If you're still not convinved that our dietary choices have such an effect on the environment, or you think it's all a conspiracy (although I can't think of anything they would be conspiring for), then the www.platetoplanet.org website should provide you with proof that factory farming is a very real problem. Here are just a few of the scary facts that platetoplanet highlight about the effect of factory farming in the US:
* Agriculture generates 18% of greenhouse gas emissions.
* Animals raised for food in the US produce so much manure that alot of it is stored in lagoons. When the lagoons leak, the maure enters into the environment and threatens water quality across the US.
* Scientists at the Smithsonian Institute say that the equivalent of seven football fields is bulldozed every minute for animal agriculture.
* It takes an average 16 pounds of grain to produce just one pound of beef and takes 11 times as much fossil fuel to make 1 calorie from animal protein as 1 calorie from plant protein.
* It takes an estimated 4,000 gallons of water to produce one day of animal-based food for the average American. In comparison, one day of plant-based food only requires about 300 gallons.
How mad is it that most factory plant farming is fertilised using chemicals, when the factory animal farms are producing tonnes of maure that goes to waste? Before any of my fellow Britons say 'That's America, not the UK', remember that the effects of factory farming are felt all over the world, the focus is just more on the US because they have more space in which to farm. Next time you're about to bite into your McDonalds burger, think about where the meat came from.
You can also pledge to go meat free for a week, a month or forever on the platetoplanet website. So even if you only sign up for a week, please, please make a pledge today. You never know, not eating meat for a week might open up a whole new world of experiences for you.
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