The animal husbandry industry as a whole is responsible for 18 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than the combined exhaust from all transportation
(only 13 percent of emissions) (Steinfeld). This includes the emissions from feed production, livestock rearing, processing and refrigerated transportation. Granted, part of the transportation
overlaps, nevertheless this refocuses our role in decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. Livestock and their byproducts produce 32 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. As for methane, which is
25-100 times more destructive in a 20-year time frame and has a global warming potential of 86 times that of carbon dioxide (IPCC Fourth Assessment, Shindell), cows produce 150 billion gallons
of methane every day (Miller, Ross). Even without fossil fuels, at this rate of emissions from the animal husbandry industry, we will exceed our limit of 565 gigatonnes of CO2 by 2030(Carbon Maths, Oppenlander).
Another environmentally unsustainable aspect of animal husbandry is the use of water. The industry is responsible for about a third of all freshwater consumption in the world today
(Gerbens-Leenes, Mekonnen). Humans drink 5.2 billion gallons of water daily, and the cows that humans raise drink more than seven times that, or 45 billion gallons every day. The controversial
issue among the environmentally conscious, fracking (hydraulic fracturing) only uses from 70-140 billion gallons of water annually (Geetanjali), while animal husbandry consumes from 34-76 trillion gallons of water annually (Jacobson). Growing feed crops for livestock consumes 56 per cent of the water in the US (Pimentel). The production of one pound of beef requires about 2500 gallons of water, one gallon of milk requires about 1000 gallons of water, one pound of eggs requires about 477 gallons and to produce just one pound of cheese nearly 900 gallons of water are needed (Gerbens-Leenes,Mekonnen). Only 5 per cent of water in the US is used domestically while 55 per cent of water is used for animal husbandry(Jacobson).
By cutting meat, dairy and eggs out of our diets, we could save 10 times more water than if we stopped domestic uses like showering and doing dishes (Cowspiracy).
About 7.5 billion people currently inhabit our planet (Current World Population), an alarming number. An even more important number is the 70 billion livestock animals that humans raise.
The land for livestock and their feed takes up to 45 per cent of the earth’s uniced land (Smith, Thorton). This refocuses the issue of overpopulation. Additionally, 1.5 acres can produce 37,000 pounds
of plant-based food compared to only 375 pounds of beef produced on the same amount of land. To prepare for the growing population and generations to come we must re-evaluate our use of land and resources.
The high demand for land from the industry is also one of the largest contributors to mass habitat destruction and is responsible for up to 91 per cent of rainforest destruction to date. Because of
this extreme habitat destruction, animal husbandry is one of the leading causes of species extinctinction (Cowspiracy).
"Free-living animals 10,000 years ago made up 99 per cent of the biomass. And human beings, we only made up one per cent of the biomass. Today only 10,000 years later which is really just a fraction of
time, we human beings, and the animals we own as property make up 98 per cent of the biomass. And wild, free-living animals make up only 2 per cent."(Cowspiracy)
Unfortunately though, it’s not only the species on land that suffer the repercussions of animal husbandry.
"Livestock operations on land have caused more than 500 nitrogen flooded dead zones around the world in our oceans, which comprise more than
95,000 square miles completely devoid of life."(Cowspiracy, Oppenlander)
Because of the massive amount of excrement that animal husbandry produces, many of our waterways are polluted. “Sixteen thousand pounds of animal excrement is produced every second in the
United States alone.” (Cowspiracy) Furthermore, we could see fishless oceans by 2048 (Montaigne, Roach, Worm). Although fishing in oceans is not animal husbandry, it supplies consumers with animal
products, thus is related to the industry. Some 28 billion animals were pulled out of the ocean just last year (Cowspiracy). “For every one pound of fish caught, up to 5 pounds of unintended marine
species are caught and discarded as by-kill” (Cowspiracy, Discard and bycatch). Three-quarters of the world’s fisheries are exploited or depleted (Overfishing).
Infographic by CulinarySchools.org