Animal Agriculture: Cruelty and Climate Change (By Clara Carter-Klauschie)

In this day and age, it’s likely that the majority of Americans who aren’t Trump-supporting conspiracy theorists accept climate change as a very real and pressing issue. However, acknowledging the existence of an issue and taking action are vastly different animals. While many people undeniably care about saving this earth from the destruction that is well underway, it can be a very difficult task to take the fixing of these problems into one’s own hands. Turning the responsibility from inactive elected officials onto oneself is challenging, but entirely necessary for affecting the world positively. As humans have become so set in their ways, a complete societal shift may be necessary to convince some. If enough people make the choice to change, then it will become easier and easier for those that follow.

In the past, much of climate activism has been centered around reducing use of plastic products and lowering electricity and water use. This sort of activism is palatable for the general public, as it doesn’t ask much of people. Kids may be simply urged to participate in recycling programs, turn off the faucet while brushing their teeth, or turn off the lights when they leave the house. Adults might consider installing solar panels, biking to work or driving an electric car, and purchasing a rain barrel. While there is no issue with this activism, it is often used to divert attention from much more effective solutions, which are framed as extreme or unnecessary. While most of these life changes do require a shift in habits, they seem to be fairly easy to embrace for many who possess proper resources. Naturally, more effective personal activism routes demand far more drastic habit changes.

One very effective and vastly important habit change is going vegan. As veganism requires a massive change to one’s diet, it is very controversial, and often seen as extreme. Many argue against veganism, saying that humans are biologically meant to eat meat. While this statement is difficult to argue, it signifies a specific ignorance. The world we live in today is nothing like the world that early people lived in. Hominids, and even very early civilizations, were not yet affecting the earth’s climate with their food choices. Today, due to rapid population growth over the years, almost every choice we make has some positive or negative impact on the health of our earth. When humans employed a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, they would kill a single animal to feed a family. Nowadays, with industrialized animal agriculture, many see meat as a dietary necessity. It has become a part of every meal of the day, and more importantly, a part of our culture.

While eliminating animal products may be seen as a particularly challenging task, studies have proven that going vegan is one of the most effective strategies for lowering one’s contribution to climate change. According to a report by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), if the world went vegan, food production linked emissions would fall 70% by the year 2050. As of now, it is estimated that vegans only make up about 1% of the world’s population, while vegetarians make up about 11%.

Eating vegan for a single day saves 1,100 gallons of water, 45 pounds of grain, 30 square feet of land, and 20 pounds of CO2. Land use is an especially important factor, as much of deforestation is a product of animal agriculture. Crops like soy and corn are mass produced to feed animals kept for human consumption. Roughly 80% of global deforestation is attributed to animal agriculture. In comparison, if this land was used to feed the hungry, rather than to feed livestock for developed countries, half of the world's population could be fed. Cutting out animal agriculture could effectively wipe out world hunger, and significantly reduce the amount of forest needed for food production. Additionally, the rainforests currently being used for this farming are integral to the survival of humans on Earth.

In order to feed a single vegan for a year, only ⅙ of an acre is required. A vegetarian uses 3 times that land, while an omnivore uses 18 times that amount. A staggering ⅓ of global freshwater use can be attributed to animal agricultural practices, with a single pound of beef requiring 1,847 gallons of water to produce. The dairy industry is another massive contributor to the water crisis. It takes 49 gallons of water to produce 8 ounces of milk, while only 12.6 gallons to produce 8 ounces of oat milk.

Studies show that meat eaters are responsible for 2 and a half times as many diet related greenhouse gas emissions than vegans. According to PETA.org, it takes around 11 times more fossil fuels to produce a calorie of animal protein than it takes to produce a calorie of grain protein. As burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, a plant-based diet is considerably less carbon-emitting. Additionally, large scale animal agriculture produces a substantial amount of methane. Farmed animals’ digestion processes and excretions release enormous amounts of methane, which is 25 times more effective at trapping heat in the Earth's atmosphere compared with carbon dioxide. Nitrous oxide is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and it is estimated that animal agriculture accounts for 65 percent of nitrous oxide emissions.

When confronted with the true effects of our animal-based food system, many propose the switch from large scale factory farming, to smaller scale “sustainable” farming. Although smaller scale farming is seemingly more humane than factory farming, there are logistical issues with this proposed solution. If the world is set on continuing to consume the same amount of meat that it currently does, and continuing to kill 200 million land animals for food each day, it would be impossible to make this transition. “Sustainable” farms take up much more space than factory farms, so there would simply not be enough space for both humans and animals on Earth. As of now, 26 percent of land on earth is used for livestock grazing, and ⅓ of Earth’s farmable land is used to grow food for that livestock. The fact is that there is not enough space for both humans and the amount of “sustainable” farms that it would take to maintain the world's current consumption habits. Consequently, It can be argued that no global animal agriculture practice is truly sustainable.

While impact on climate is a large part of the reasoning behind a plant based diet, it is also of great importance to recognize the innate cruelty of the world's animal-based food system. Without the space for many smaller scale farms, in which animals may live in slightly better conditions, factory farms continue to profit off their own cruelty. As of 2020, about 1.6 billion animals are kept on 25,000 factory farms in the US. The factory farm system is designed to raise as many animals as possible, as quickly as possible, using the smallest amount of land and resources possible. Animals living on factory farms are confined to extremely small spaces, often indoors, and are made to live in their own filth. They are injected with growth hormones, and are extremely susceptible to the spread of disease.

According to the United Nations food and agriculture organization, the majority of animals slaughtered are not even safe for human consumption. Only 55% of pigs and chickens slaughtered are “edible,” and only 40% of cow carcasses are “edible.” The cramped conditions that farmed animals live in leads to the spread of infection, resulting in a decline in the amount of slaughtered animals that are safe for humans to consume. The quality of life for these animals is terrible, and the disregard for their livelihood is unacceptable. Female pigs are used for reproductive purposes, and are kept in 2 by 7 ft metal cages called gestation crates. They have no space to move around, and must eat, sleep, and urinate in confinement.

The egg industry is infected with comparable corruption. Male chicks, who cannot be used to produce eggs, are shredded into pieces shortly after their birth. Chickens are kept in very small spaces, and bred to grow rapidly, so as to increase the amount of meat that can be produced in a short period of time. In 1920, the average chicken was slaughtered at 112 days old, weighing 2.2 pounds. As of 2012, the average chicken was slaughtered after 47 days, weighing 5.39 pounds.

Similarly, cows are slaughtered after very short lives, with most dairy cows' potential lifespan around 20 years, but age at slaughter around 5. With age comes declining levels of milk production, and at 5 years most cow’s milk production has dropped enough for the cow to no longer be deemed “valuable” to a large dairy farm. The iniquity of the dairy industry seems clear, as cows are forcibly inseminated in order for them to produce milk, and calves are separated from their mothers only an hour after birth.

The fact that farmed animals are living beings on Earth should be enough for them to deserve better treatment. However, it seems that the ability to empathize with these creatures remains elusive in spite of our likeness to them being increasingly common knowledge. Pigs are extremely intelligent animals, who enjoy playing, and can connect with one another. Chickens are thought to have long lasting relationships with one another, and are sensitive to others’ feelings. Fish have emotions, memories, and can feel pain (many argue that fish are not sentient beings.) Cows care about their families, love to play, and build friendships. Despite the fact that all of these animals have the ability to feel pain and stress, we continue to take advantage of them for our own convenience and pleasure.

As the animal agriculture industry continues to find ways to more “efficiently,” and subsequently more cruelly raise large numbers of animals, working conditions for animal agricultural workers continue to decline.

The majority of animal agriculture slaughter workers come from marginalized communities, and struggle with mental health issues and injuries as a result of their jobs. Slaughterhouse workers act as shields for the general public, bearing the weight of killing many animals daily so that the general public doesn't have to face the reality of the animal agriculture system. Those who work on the kill floor have 38% higher rates of severe psychological distress than the general population. This is just one example of intersectionality between environmentalism and human rights issues.

With extensive evidence of the effect of animal agriculture on climate change and the cruelty of these practices towards humans and farmed animals alike, it seems counterintuitive that more of the population isn't vegan or vegetarian. To fully understand the impact of animal agriculture, one must look beyond their dinner plate.

Nevertheless, it can be easy to write off the choice of veganism as an out of reach path of climate change activism. However, at this moment the food industry is changing in massively important ways. New vegan products are becoming available, which can make the switch far easier. While unprocessed foods are ideal, and have a lesser effect on climate than heavily processed vegan products, meat and dairy alternatives can make switching over more convenient. It cannot be denied that in nearly all modern day food industries there are glaring human and animal rights violations. Living in current society, many seemingly positive choices can have devastating outcomes beyond our control. Although it would be ideal and very impactful for society to suddenly switch over to a plant-based diet, this may be an unrealistic aim. The ability to choose to follow a vegan diet is undeniably a privilege that is not afforded to many. Hopefully, in the coming years the accessibility of plant-based products will lead to a spike in the number of people becoming vegans, vegetarians, or even just striving towards lowering their consumption of animal products. However, the question remains: will it be enough? The truth is that it is impossible to be perfectly environmentally friendly and entirely moral. Nevertheless, it remains crucial to make an effort.

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Animal Agriculture: Cruelty and Climate Change (By Clara Carter-Klauschie)

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