It's irrefutable that man has caused climate change, yet what many don't know is that fossil fuels, and pollution are only a small part of a big issue. Instead, what we eat dominates how we're affecting our climate
Many people around the world are constantly looking for ways to “save our earth” and prevent climate change. Yet, out of those people, thousands, if not millions of them overlook one of the biggest issues surrounding our warming planet: the consumption of animal products.
While browsing the news, people will see countless notifications surrounding one of the biggest new issues: The Amazon Rainforest being on fire. Those people in turn will demand for action, for the protection of the Amazon.
But it’s not as though those fires were just “forest fires.” Some of the worlds biggest beef producers come from Brazil and Southern America. Those fires that plague the news are intentional fires. To match America, and the world’s growing hunger for meat, Brazilian ranches must clear over one acre per every second. Or more than 200,000 acres cleared every day.
It’s easy to overlook the fact that the meat industry is the cause for the loss of so much rainforest in the past years, the ranching business itself keeps everything under tight wraps. Unbelievably, people who have spoken out about the meat industry, such as activist Dorothy Stang, are killed for speaking out. In 2016, the Brazilian government and farmers were responsible for the deaths of 1,200 activists.
In America, those who speak against large dairy corporations and meat industries are put under a security threat by the FBI. Phones are bugged, tweets are monitored, and the activists are often silenced, living in a world of fear.
Most countries, climate articles, and even activists will tell you that the leading cause of the increasing greenhouse gases is transportation. Yet, when you look at the statistics, farming and ranching is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, topping transportation at 12%.
In turn, farming and ranching also requires using thousands of pesticides which will seep into the ground and oftentimes pollute local water sources, killing the natural life in rivers, lakes and in the worst of cases, oceans.
Many will argue that the problem then is with dairy, and meat industries, and many opt to go pescetarian. And yet, that might be even worse.
Every day, millions of fish are hauled out of the ocean and onto the decks of large commercial vessels. These fish are caught using nets, such as trawler and gill nets. Trawler nets are responsible for scooping up precious corals off the sea floor, and oftentimes result in major bycatch - when unintended animals are caught and killed. Keystone species such as sharks are a victim of bycatch, and every day about 140,000 sharks are caught as bycatch.
Humans are also responsible for overfishing the world’s oceans, to the point where no fish will be left. Due to our growing demand for seafood, more and more fish are hauled out of the world’s oceans every day. By 2048 there are expected to be no fish left in the ocean.
With the growing knowledge of the negative impacts of ranching and fishing, many people opt for “Meatless Mondays,” and yet, according to the producers of popular netflix documentary, Cowspiracy, “Meatless Mondays” create a sense of false justification for people.
Yes, the idea of having one day a week being meatless is great, and if that’s something you can do, go for it. But just because you’re meatless one day a week does not mean you’re saving the planet. You’re still consuming meat 6 other days of the week. It doesn’t make you any better.
The only way to truly see impacts from meatless mondays are for a large group, worldwide to be participating in it. But we’d only see slight changes.
Our world needs change, and not small changes. People have to be willing to make sacrifices, big sacrifices to help our planet. We’ve got less than 10 years to do that.
One of the biggest reasons for climate change, and the degradation of our current environment IS agri-business, it’s not the issue you usually see associated with climate change, but it is an issue. And if more people aren’t willing to see that then we will see irreversible effects of climate change in less than a decade. We will see the loss of countless native species of animals, and we will see the loss of the human race itself.
We need to change now. Before it’s too late. The clock is ticking. What choice will you make?