What We Eat
When people think of Global Warming, they think maybe cars, cruise ships, planes, and oil are to blame for these issues. What they don’t think of could have almost as much of an impact than all of the transportation industry combined- what we eat. As someone who has lived throughout the south my whole life, I have come across many animal farms. What I observed-animals eat a great deal, fart a great deal, and excrete in copious amounts-much more than humans ever could. Where does this all go? Could this have any impact on the climate? The short answer-yes. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the animal agriculture sector makes up roughly 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions cause by human activity.
Most Americans eat a carnivorous diet. As time goes on and more countries are starting to become industrialized, they seem to look at America as a model to follow. This means more of the world’s agriculture is focusing on animals. As hard as it is to believe, 9 billion animals are killed yearly in order to keep up with this world-wide demand. Purely from an environmental standpoint- this is terrible for our world.
What people fail to realize is that animal agriculture isn’t simply the huge barns animals are stuffed into. Animals must eat, and they eat so much more than humans do. Most of the food grown in America isn’t even used to feed humans. 260 million acres out of 330 are used to feed animals. As the world population climbs higher and higher, more land will continue to be used to farm and feed animals, versus simply growing the plants for us to consume directly. This takes a huge toll on our resources such as water, air, land, and forests.
One of the major causes of deforestation is agriculture. Turning the land into space to raise and feed animals. We are quite literally burning down forests, which lets off tons of emissions, in order to farm animals, which in turn will let off methane. Methane warms our planet much faster than carbon does.
After animals are done eating, they will produce waste. Roughly around 500 million tons of manure are produced each year. Where does this go? Based on personal observations, into waterways.
How does this relate to business?
As new information comes to light about how much the Standard American Diet affects our world, more people choose to consume more of a plant-based diet. While most people choose to go plant-based for environmental or ethical reasons, meat is still tasty. This leaves a large market for mock meats and other animal products. In the last few years companies like Gardein, Fieldroast, and Morningstar have come out with such good alternatives, many people can’t tell the difference or would choose the alternatives over the real thing. Just walk into a Wegmans and you’ll see a whole section of the store dedicated to the growing market. The future of grocery stores will look much different if we truly care about our warming planet.
