So this is my seventh blog post concerning the environmental impacts of intensive cattle farming, and I just wanted to say that the inspiration for this blog and what really triggered my interest in this topic was a documentary called ‘Cowspiracy' that I watched a couple of weeks before beginning and In my opinion, it is a fantastic documentary, and well worth a watch.

Now, since watching this film I have been aware of the fact, that cattle - and more specifically the huge human hankering for meat - is ruining our environment. That is why, for now just under two months I have been attempting to become vegetarian - however, this has been harder than I thought, and I have surrendered to the odd burger when out with friends, and found it exceptionally difficult to stay within the rules when shopping on a student budget.

Nevertheless, it has been estimated that each day, a person who eats a vegan diet saves 1,100 gallons of water, 45 pounds of grain, 30sq ft of forested land, 20lbs CO2 equivalent, and one animal’s life (Scarborough et al. 2014). This is a startling set of figures, and if this can be achieved by cutting out our meat consumption it is something I believe we should all sincerely attempt to adopt.

Figures 1 & 2 from 'Shrink that footprint'

  These figures from ‘Shrink that footprint’ illustrate the carbon footprints of various diet choices, the FAO published the fact that 18% of greenhouse gas emissions result from livestock, so it is clear that cutting meat (especially beef), from ones diet can really alleviate the environmental ramifications that are associated.

But, it is not only the impacts on the earth that need to be evaluated when considering a meat free diet. ‘Hunger is caused by poverty and inequality, not scarcity’. With the human population expected to peak at 10 billion in 2050, it is going to be necessary to bridge the growing dichotomy between food and the poverty stricken.

Source: http://food-inequality.weebly.com

It is widely accepted that we currently produce over one and a half times enough food to feed everyone on the planet (Seufert et al. 2010), but unfortunately most of this food is being fed to cattle which are not then consumed by the people who are going hungry but the glutinous and greedy developed citizens of the world which is totally unjust to anyone I discuss this topic with, and something that is not normally considered.

This is why a shift to agroecology has been championed by the UN (Eric Holt-Giménez. 2012), to enable poor famers with the tools required to sustainably produce the required resources in areas of poverty.

Agroecology in Burkina Faso. Source: http://www.amurt.net/agroecology-in-burkina-faso/

I think it is going to be important in the future to therefore assess the agricultural yield in terms of 'humans nourished' rather than the current feed to edible food conversion ratios favoured by the 'developed' world. This is tackled successfully in this report by Cassidy et al. (2013).

Source: http://africanleadership.co.uk/blog/?p=3023

So, to conclude, eliminating meat and primarily beef from your diet will undoubtedly have a positive effect on the environment, and would even relieve human poverty. So why doesn't everyone do something about it. Ignorance, laziness or greed? To solve these environmental and social dilemmas we must educate, end inequality and begin to adopt the lifestyles we advocate rather than continually ignoring what has been, and continues to be, so clearly indicated to us.