Going vegan benefits everyone because the politics...

Going vegan benefits everyone because the politics of eating meat is not just about animal welfare, it’s a global issue.

Factory farming is one of the biggest contributor to global warming. Livestock are typically fed corn, soybean meal and other grains which have to first be grown using large amounts of fertilizer, fuel, pesticides, water and land. Growing livestock feed in the U.S. alone requires 167 million pounds of pesticides and 17 billion pounds of nitrogen fertilizer each year across some 149 million acres of cropland. The process generates copious amounts of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide, while the output of methane—another potent greenhouse gas—from cattle is estimated to generate some 20 percent of overall U.S. methane emissions. {Scientific American}

Growing feed crops, for cattle and pigs, produces more of those emissions than crops that go directly into the human food chain. Eating less meat would reduce demand for fertiliser as well as reduce the amount of manure produced. Raising animals for human consumption accounts for approximately 40% of the total amount of agricultural output in industrialized countries. Grazing occupies 26% of the earth’s ice-free terrestrial surface, and feed crop production uses about one third of all arable land.

Given how much manure is being produced by livestock, we are literally in some deep shit. So if you want to claim that you’ve climbed to the top of the food chains, whilst you drive to Walmart to stock up on sirloin steaks, you’ve got to accept the consequences of those actions because man has also managed to destroy the planet in very short amount of time. Well done!

If your diet makes you sick, guess who pays? Everyone. Almost 95% of all heart disease is preventable. Yet it’s the number one killer in the US. Guess how much healthcare costs us? $2.5 TRILLION. It’s simple science, if you adopt a whole food, plant based diet —> everyone benefits.

Let’s pretend meat is good for you, (it’s not) the environmental impact of eating meat alone, is enough a reason to stop eating meat. #vegansofig

http://instagram.com/p/Pr6sn6mifz/