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By Adrian Antonescu
Recently, vegetarianism has been growing in popularity. The main cause of this rise to in
large part due to the demonization of the meat industry. Reports and statistics illuminate the
industry in a terrible light. Whether it be the issue of morality when breeding animals for death,
the terrible living conditions, or even the effect on the environment, the meat industry is not
looking impressive right now. With all this news coming out about meat, is becoming a
vegetarian truly that much better? Let’s do an in-depth analysis on the effects of vegetarianism
on our world.
First let’s start with agriculture and its effect on our world. Farming has always been an
important part in sustaining life on earth, but it has its fair share of consequences. One such
negative effect is the releasing of methane gas into our atmosphere. Methane gas acts as a
greenhouse gas, it pollutes our sky when it leaves the plants that are grown in farming. Methane
gas traps heat inside our atmosphere and keeps it there. It has a profound effect on climate
change due to its inclusion in the atmosphere. Other gases released from farming include nitrous
oxide, and carbon dioxide. All these gases effect our environment and assist the change of our
climate. Another harmful consequence of agriculture is the mass of pesticides used on farm
crops. Pesticides are used on crops to protect them from being eaten and destroyed by bugs. The
side effect from this method is that the pesticides also harm the nearby environment. Pesticides
are toxic to all types of animals; this can cause the death of many animals and ruin food chains in
regions. Pesticides also pollute rivers and lakes and can cause chronic diseases to affected
animals. Another impact of agriculture is the deteriorating of topsoil. Farming loosens the top
layer of soil, and because of its vulnerability, the soil can be blown away by wind, effectively
destroying the topsoil. This makes the land lose nutrients and become unfarmable for years to
come. This also contributes to higher rates of erosion, which ruins plan life in regions.
These are some of the many effects that agriculture has towards our environment, but this
lacks to explain the good farming supplies us as a race. Farming allows us humans to settle down
into towns and cities across the globe. It keeps us fed and healthy with a variety of healthy and
unique foods. We would not have been able to advance and grow nearly as massive without the
important support of our farms. The new trend of vegetarianism has put a larger strain on
farming, and the agriculture industry. The sale of meat has decreased, and more fruits and
vegetables are being produced. This is allowing the consequences of agriculture to fester and
grow and harm our environment savagely. Until we discover and implement less wasteful and
vegetarian products. Local produce can not support a vegetarian community, there are not nearly
enough different types of vegetables and fruits grown locally to meet the standards of
vegetarians. People want a variety of foods, and there is nothing wrong with that. Due to the lust
for different tastes, the trading industry boomed. The transportation of vegetarian products
overseas and over land influences our atmosphere. The pollution accumulated by said
transportation is harmful for our planet’s atmosphere. Instead of local industries being able to
provide for a population, the increased importation and exportation of vegetarian friendly foods
The negative effects of vegetarianism have been provided in the prior paragraphs, so now
pollution of the nearby atmosphere. Fossil fuels are not nearly as environmentally friendly as
their renewable energy counterparts. The fossil fuels can cause damage to humans and animals,
as well as contribute to the climate change of the earth. Furthermore, animals also release
methane during their time in farms and barns. This methane, as explained earlier in the essay, is a
greenhouse gas which traps carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This brings up the global
temperature. To accurately represent the amount of fossil fuels used in the animal industry, a
quote from One Green Planet conveys, “More than a third of all raw materials and fossil fuels
consumed in the United States are used in animal production.” That’s a staggering amount, and
really accentuates the degree of waste the animal industry contributes to the world. A quote from
John Robbins’ Food Revolution indicates that even a single hamburger has a large effect.
“Producing a single hamburger uses enough fuel to drive 20 miles.” Creating meat for
consumption has many damaging effects on our environment. Another negative effect is the
water consumption. Nearly half the water of the United States goes towards raising animals.
Considering the size of the United States, that’s a massive amount. Animals raised for
consumption release larger amounts of excrement than humans and other animals. Lastly, land
consumption for meat production is nothing to scoff at either. A whooping 30% of the earths
land is used in the meat industry. Although this is staggering, the agricultural industry exceeds
The pollution caused by both methods of food production discussed in this article amount
to most of the pollution present in our world. Both the meat and agricultural industry greatly
pollute and harm our environment. Meat focuses more on pollution, while agriculture contributes
to pollution, but also harms ecosystems and the animals in them. To measure the consequences
and compare them, I have to asses the statistics for farming, and add them into this essay, since I
only truly have statistics for the meat industry so far. I will try to incorporate this after the peer
review.
Based on the results from both industries and their effects, I can conclude on whether
comments: MLA formatting, it’d probably be better to write in the format even if you’re just
doing a draft (that way us peers can catch citation mistakes or things of that nature). The last
sentence in the first paragraph should be changed from “Let’s do an in-depth analysis” to
something less personal or direct. Maybe just cut the sentence out and end with the question?
I wasn’t sure what the sentence ‘These are some of the many effects that agriculture has towards
our environment, but this lacks to explain the good farming supplies us as a race’ meant. Certain
words are overused, through re-reading you’ll probably catch it yourself. ‘Atmosphere’ is used
over and over in one of the beginning paragraphs, and ‘healthy’ is used twice in one sentence.
Parts of the paper read as a fact-dump: as in short sentences in a series with little length variation
and a few statistics or facts listed off. (ex: first sentences on fossil fuels paragraph)
https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/facts-on-animal-farming-and-the-environment/
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.AGRI.ZS