Animal agriculture is possibly one of the least known about industries but certainly one of the most dangerous. 18% of greenhouse gases are due to animal agriculture which is more than the whole of the transportation combined which is 13% which has been confirmed by the Food and agriculture organization of the United Nations. Global Warming is the main reason for rising sea levels and rising temperatures through the world. Naturally as the temperature rises, there is more heat on earth and rain cannot combat the heat effectively; thus in already hot areas drought is introduced which leads to famine. Human suffering could be greatly reduced if those of us who are privileged decrease or stop our intake of animals and animal products.
Greenhouse gases such as Methane and Carbon Dioxide are rooted in the animal agriculture industry. Methane is produced in the emissions of cows who are overfed in order to fatten them up for slaughter and when trees are cut down they release great amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Furthermore when great areas of forest are burnt down the emissions from the fires also contribute to global warming.
As well as global warming and climate change fuelled by animal agriculture, destroying the planet, there is another human factor to consider. Health is naturally essential to human life and the animal agriculture industry is greatly harming human health. Firstly we must understand rainforest deforestation. The leading cause of rainforest destruction is animal agriculture and this is backed up by the Food and Agriculture UN committee as well as the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies: Global Forest Atlas. With this amount of biodiversity being destroyed everyday, great numbers of plant and animal species are disappearing before they have even been discovered. Who knows how many medicines and scientific discoveries are being left uncovered due to human greediness and ego. This wider impact could be destroying the world’s health. More obviously, we have the fact that battery farming means that great numbers of animals are packed into tiny spaces which increases the spread of disease greatly and in fact 80% of antibiotics produced are given to farmed animals.
Finally, further to saving the environment and our health in one respect, there is the issue of world hunger. UNICEF themselves have said that 82% of starving children live in countries where food is fed to animals, and we are potentially growing enough food to feed 10 billion people. Instead, this grain which is being fed to animals who are being reared for slaughter, supplies meat to mainly the wealthy.
However this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the animal agriculture industry. To learn more about the environment go to http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/.

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