I was recommended The Meatrix by a friend and thought it deserved being shared. The Meatrix is an organization that discusses issues related to food, factory farming and sustainable agriculture. Factory farming has become a major environmental concern because it produces 20 per cent of all carbon emissions (compared with transportation’s 18 per cent figure). Therefore, what goes on our plate is extremely significant in terms of environmental impact. The millions of pounds of waste produced by grain-fed livestock on industrial farms releases massive amounts of methane into the air. Some scientists believe that methane is among the most important greenhouse gasses contributing to global warming today.
Get the picture: factory farms concentrate an unnatural number of animals in one place, which creates an unmanageable amount of waste. Nutrients and heavy metals present in animal feed are also excreted by livestock, and so end up being applied to cropland. These include zinc, copper, chromium, arsenic, cadmium and even lead. In balanced amounts, some of these elements can be good for soil and promote plant growth. But as factory farms over-apply manure to fields, a significant quantity of nutrients builds up in the soil and can actually reduce the soil’s fertility. This damage is difficult to reverse, and ultimately puts fertile cropland out of use.
It sounds terrifying and it may get worse. Currently there are 60 billion animals on farms and a recent report by the U.N. concluded that meat production may double by 2050 when we would reach a 120 billion farm animal population. The impact to the environment will be devastating and as production intensifies animal welfare tends to be ignored by pressured workers and greedy businessmen.
Check out the Meatrix for films and lots of information on sustainable food to find out how your table habits can be as important to climate change as your choice of vehicle, use and source of energy. Have a great weekend and go easy on the meat.
“unnatural number of animals in one place” – like in a large city? I think that it takes an unnatural number of animals in one place to feed an unnatural number of humans in one place. Overpopulation may do us in before we run out of oil. On the other hand, if we could capture all that methane, we could kill two birds with one stone!