Vegetarianism, is it truly better for the environment?

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

harmful solutions in farming, it will continue to ravage our planet.

Another negative of the rise of vegetarianism is the increase of transportation of

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

has brought about more air pollution.

The negative effects of vegetarianism have been provided in the prior paragraphs, so now

let’s assess the harmful effects of the meat industry.

 In the production of meat, fossil fuels are used profusely. This accumulates to mass

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

this percentage, with a ginormous 37% land usage worldwide.

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

vegetarianism is truly better for our environment.

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