“Moo”re Than You Can Handle

Today Americans consume 92 pounds of beef a year. But eating all that beef takes 16 gallons of gasoline just to produce 100 servings of beef. So basically it takes 3407 gallons of gasoline a year to produce that beef. If you look at it a bad way all that gasoline creates a greenhouse affect that is causing Global Warming.

Industrial meat production also has an impact on the health of cows- and in the end the health of humans. The stomachs of cattle are meant to digest grass not grain that requires the cattle to get routine antibiotics- and a growth hormone to speed up weight gain. The antibiotics and growth hormones are still in the meat after the cow has been slaughtered. Also many environmental issues can arouse from mass meat production like greenhouse gasses, deforestation, and water pollution.

There is no easy answer to solve the problems that mass meat production is causing. There are a few things we can do to reduce these problems. We could eat less beef. Plus Nutritionists say we would be better off eating less meat anyway. Buying environmentally friendly products like buying meat, eggs and dairy that are produced in a less harmful-to-the environment way. The number of farmer’s markets has doubled in the past decade and the organic food market is growing fast. Theses products are generally more expensive but are higher in quality and take less of a roll in the clashing environment.

Americans have a heavy consumption of beef and it is destroying the environment. We can put a slow down on the environment crashing just by switching to organic or buying groceries from the farmer’s market. We could also create a stronger public relation emphasizing the down side of cigarettes, compassion for animals, and doing the good for the poor and the planet.