The Environmental Effect of the Meat Industry

The Environmental Effect of the Meat Industry unmatchable of the fastest suppuration industries in the existence today is the core group/ line labor. Meat is considered a normal good, which means that demand for aggregate ontogenys as consumer income increases. Tradition ally, shopping mall has been regarded as an expensive fodder item in westbound countries. As instauration population is increase and as economies of the exploitation countries argon bring aboutting stronger, demand for sum of m unmatchabley is to a fault suppuration (Vinnari, 2008). Meat labor is unrivalled of those orbits that be one of the jumbogest contri neverthelessors of orbiculate gas electric discharges and know big surroundingsal and accessible impacts. The rehearse of background, energy, weewee, and various emissions and wastes be all astray recognized by people and g overnments (Vinnari, 2008). According to a report by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, equally known as the FAO, mall end product is accountable for about a fifth of all glasshouse gas emissions. It is astray accepted in the scientific world that babys room gases handle carbon and methane be causing rapid world-wide humour salmagundi, environmental degradation and biodiversity loss. Yet, the core constancy business seems to be still by the state of the environment, beastly interposition of fleshlys, or the unhygienic conditions in which they atomic deed 18 kept which leads to spread of ailments manage bird flu in benevolents. Over the years, sum persistence has removeed practices that atomic number 18 unethical. For example in numerous countries, primarily in the United States, just about of the cattle are caryopsis provide as opposed to grass fed. This is so that the cattle give nonice grow bigger and fatter, faster. While it may very well be profitable for the industry, it is unethical in the sense that it is in servicemane. There are also social implications as a large amount of grain is fed to the cattle when there are people dying from hunger all over the world. Unhygienic conditions of the leadlots question business practices of the industry. As a food industry, it owes a province of care to its customers and has a responsibility of providing lineament food that is free of bacteria or virus which tin can be very distressful to the gentleman health. According to the FAO report, meat usance is estimated to much than than echo by the year 2050 (McMichael, Powles Uauy, 2007). With depleting indwelling resources, much(prenominal) as water and land cover, it testament become sternlyer to meet the demands of the growing populace population. In such(prenominal) a scenario, the industry al execrable most likely adopt practices that are even more than unethical than the existing ones. It is therefore, non and important for businesses to take on sustainable meat end product practices but als o imperative for us, the consumer, to study our meat consumption habits and make true swaps in our lifestyle. Since we utilize resources from this planet, our natural environment is our responsibility. Educating ourselves and changing our meat consumption patterns will definitely slow down and to some extent get rid of the problem that the meat industry has and is creating. In this assignment, I will be discussing the environmental and social implications of the meat industry and therefore disassemble from the perspective of various ethical theories.Environmental Impact analysisAs mentioned above in the introduction, meat payoff and consumption has numerous environmental and social implications. It is imperative for businesses and consumers to recognize the problem and work towards mitigating the impacts. For the purpose of this assessment, I will be considering the environmental impacts i.e. resource practise/depletion and global heating plant as well as the social impacts i.e. unequal distribution of food, inhumane treatment of animals and analyzing them using different ethical theories. I will also be providing recommendations to curtail the growing impact of the industry.Resource DepletionOur natural environment provides important ecosystem services like food, recreational opportunities, disease regulation that human life ultimately depends upon. Overtime, earthly line of work present changed and altered the ecosystem by depleting it in order to meet the growing human demands of freshwater, timber and food. As human population is increasing, per capita demand for ecosystem services is also growing at a fast pace and how these demands are met will determine the time to come of environmental science and economy of our planet. Meat industry poses a major threat to the ecosystem as human activities continue to clear forests in order to grow crops that will be fed to cattle and use water to rear cattle. It is estimated that food production will q uest to double by the year 2030 to feed the projected global human population of around 9 gazillion people. Water scarcity is already a problem in m some(prenominal) countries as around two billion people suffer from the overleap of it and it is estimated that the number of people facing water scarcity will double by the year 2030 (Bennet Balvanera, 2007). Livestock uses about a third of the worlds total land surface which includes pastures and arable land that provides broth feed. As Chinese, European and US farmers are running out of land to rear animals for meat and crop production, demand for meat is forcing intensive land into tropical rainforests of create countries like Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay (McMichael, Powles Uauy, 2007). world-wide WarmingGlobal thaw is a widely accepted phenomenon and most of the impacts of global warming can already be seen across the world. Retreating glaciers, rising sea levels, thawing tundra, hurricanes and extreme weather conditions a re increasing some(prenominal) in frequency and intensity and animals such as penguins, polar bears are struggling to survive. Many species are finding it hard to adapt to changing weather because it is becoming very unpredictable (Koneswaran Nierenberg, 2008 ). close of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide (around 35 office) are due to agriculture practices, primarily animal husbandry and land changes associated with the process of rearing animals for meat. Emissions from this sector are high than the transport sector or the power propagation sector. Two powerful greenhouse gases, methane and nitrous oxide associated with livestock production, contribute more to global warming than carbon dioxide (McMichael, Powles Uauy, 2007). An FAO report on the current and future make of livestock production on the worlds environment and clime states that the livestock sector is growing faster than any other sector and most of this growth is going to happen in developing countries, i.e . in countries with low to middle incomes (McMichael, Powles Uauy, 2007). Livestock production which includes deforestation for grazing land and producing soya bean feed for animals, carbon lost from soil that is grazed, energy utilise for growing feed crops, for processing and transporting grains and meat, nitrous oxide chuck up the sponged from the use of nitrogenous fertilizers, and gases like methane from animal manure and enteric fermentation all contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Nine percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, 30-40 percent of methane emissions and 65 percent of all nitrous oxide emissions come from this sector. Methane and nitrous oxide are known to conduct a greater warming potential than does carbon dioxide (McMichael, Powles Uauy, 2007). Production of fertilizers for feed crops requires burning of fossil open fires which releases about 41 million metric hemorrhoid of carbon dioxide per year. These fertilizers are produced in factories that dep end on fossil fuel energy. Animal populations in large and confined factory like settings film significantly increased and a presbyopic with it has increased methane emissions from both the animals and their manure. These factory like landless facilities produce more manure than can be used as fertilizer on cropland. This manure is distributed to a landmass which unremarkably results in soil accumulation and runoff of pollutants like phosphorous and nitrogen. half(a)(prenominal) of the energy produced from fossil fuel goes into heating, cooling and ventilation of these facilities and the other half goes into producing seeds, herbicides, pesticides and in the operation of farm machinery (Koneswaran Nierenberg, 2008). Majority of the countries in Africa and Asia currently use pasture based methods to raise animals. However this trend is likely to change as countries in Latin America and some countries in Asia are starting to opt intensive farming methods like the one seen in d eveloped counties like the United States (Koneswaran Nierenberg, 2008). Forests and soils act as carbon sinks as they hold much of the carbon dioxide. Deforestation and degradation of land release much of this stored carbon gas back into the atmosphere thus increasing level of the gas in the atmosphere. Animal agriculture is a major reason for conversion of wooded land into cropland for feed production or grazing land, and deforestation emits 2.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. A big prejudicial impact of the meat industry can be seen in Latin America which has seen the largest net loss of forests and greatest emission of stored carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (Koneswaran Nierenberg, 2008). conjecture ApplicationKnowing the impacts of meat production on the environment, various theories can be applied in favor of changing our production and consumption patterns. Utilitarianism, a consequentialist theory, states that an transaction is morally amend if it resul ts in maximum take in for all parties involved. Utilitarianism evaluates right and wrong action by considering costs and harms and weighing them against benefits (Kunkel, 1996). Since this theory advocates maximizing pleasure and minimizing incommode, it would second changing meat consumption patterns to curtail growing ill effects of meat production on the environment. If we compare the costs of meat production to the benefits, we will realize that the cost and harm is much greater than the confine benefits that are achieved. Limited benefits being employment, pleasures of taste, profits for industry, and harm being hurt done to the environment. Intrinsic set of nature holds higher worth than all the benefits of the meat industry combined and it deserves to be protected. Our natural environment provides many important ecosystem services that cannot be replaced if our environment is destroyed or our ecosystems are altered. Everyone on this planet depends on these ecosystem ser vices and any irreversible ravish will affect each and every one of us.Ethics of duty states that in order to be moral every person should bemuse a realization of a sense of duty (Baron, 1985). I retrieve that since we use services provided by the environment and since the ecosystem services are so crucial to our existence and survival, we have a duty towards the natural world and we should preserve it to ensure live continues to flourish. However, the meat industry operates contrary to this belief. It degrades our natural environment by deforestation, water consumption, fossil fuel use, and adding to global warming through greenhouse gas emissions. If we consider the Islamic environmental ethics, it also states that macrocosm owe a duty to the natural world. Islamic fair act upon (Shariah) states that conservation of the environment is based on the principle that the environment and everything it consists of is created by God and everything has a function in the natural envir onment. unspoilt because humans make use of various environmental services, it does not mean that human use is the just reason for their creation. It thus states that all humans have a duty to preserve and protect it (Deen, 1990).Social Impact AnalysisEvery business has its share of environmental and social impacts, and meat industry has some obvious impacts on the environment and the society within which it operates. As with the environment, meat industry also has numerous social impacts that are growing with time. Social impacts include humans as well as animals and contemporary methods of meat production tend to overlook these impact. Developing or brusque countries are and will bear the brunt of consequences being brought about by climate change. Environmental degradation is a medium for current conflicts and inst qualification in many areas of Sudan. With rising temperatures, and depleting water resources, farmers and herders are fighting with each other to gain access and c ontrol of these natural commodities. The United Nations Environment create by mental act (UNEP) said that that two of the major problems in Sudan- land degradation and desertification are caused by an explosive growth in livestock numbers( Koneswaran Nierenberg, 2008). United Nations Secretary, superior general Ban Ki-moon also said that natural disasters caused by climate change will trigger war and conflicts around the world. As global temperatures change, morbific diseases spread more quickly and affect more people (Koneswaran Nierenberg, 2008). impartial distribution of food is also a major concern since half the worlds poverty stricken population goes to bed hungry every night. excessive meat production consumes most of the crop production that could have fed millions of people around the world. It takes twenty pounds of grain to feed a terrify which is to be slaughtered to produce one pound of beef protein. It just seems like a waste when those twenty pounds of grain that were fed to the cow could have been used to feed many people in that country (Shaw Newholm, 2002). It is usually the low-down countries that suffer from climactic changes. Majority of human induced global warming is caused by operations of industrialized nations, and it is the poorer nations that suffer from such operations. Global warming most affects areas that are hot and dry. These are also the regions where infectious diseases spread rapidly. When a natural disaster strikes, people in these poor nations suffer the most because they have more difficulty in touching a focus from changes in climate and they also experience difficulties in purchase food incase crop is destroyed or its productivity is impact (Mendelsohn, Dinar Williams, 2006).According to FAOSTAT, around 56 billion animals are reared and slaughtered for human consumption every year and this number is only going to increase over time, primarily in the developing world (Koneswaran Nierenberg, 2008). Inhum ane treatment of animals is also a harsh reality of the meat industry. Thousands of animals are locked up in cramped, confined spaces and kept on high doses of vitamins and antibiotics to reduce the find of diseases. In countries like the US, cattle are grain fed as so it can grow bigger faster. These unnatural conditions not only increase stress for the animal but also leads to higher happening of density-promoted diseases. Studies have found that crowding often includes cannibalistic attacks among poultry and pigs. some other practices that question meat industry practices include inflicting pain by castration, branding, dehorning, eyeshade trimming, and inadequate stunning before slaughter. Deep muscle myopathy, fluid accumulation and skeletal disorders associated with accelerated muscle growth and restricted movement can be seen rather commonly in facilities where animals are mass produced for meat (Smil, 2002). Not only is the treatment of animals inhumane in most of these facilities, but also these facilities are not exactly hygienic and do not ensure that the meat produced is fit for human consumption. Waste water laden with nitrate and animal excrement often seeps into groundwater. Mad cow disease was caused by feeding ground sheep brains to cows and unfortunately it is still widely used practice in animal husbandry. Between the years 1980-1996 over 750,000 head of cattle infected with this disease were slaughtered for human consumption in Britain. Other such cases include H5N1 avian influenza (bird flu) that spread from crybaby and killed many people in Hong Kong (Smil, 2002).Meat packing is United States one of most dangerous occupations. In 2002, about 25 percent of employees in meat packing factories experienced nonfatal occupational injury or illness whereas serious/fatal injuries and illness were five times the depicted object average, and frequency of repeated physical traumas such as back problems and tenonitis is 30 times higher than the private industry mean (Smil, 2002).Theory ApplicationUtilitarianism also justifies changing meat consumption patterns when taking into term the social impacts of the industry. Whether it is the inhumane treatment of animals, exploitation of natural resources which often leads to social unrest in poor countries, impact of human induced global climate change, meat industry both directly and indirectly creates and facilitates a number of problems in the society. . Utilitarianism focuses on creating maximum benefit for maximum number of people. It therefore supports reducing meat consumption as not only does production of meat require more land, water and energy usage than production of crops, it leads to inequitable distribution of food around the world. Utilitarianism can be argued on the grounds of animal welfare because we dont have a need for animal products and we can survive without. Our penchant for meat is only a matter of taste. Our interests in animals and animal product s hold lesser value and cannot be more important than animals interest in life and freedom from detriment (George, 1994). When we compare the benefits of the industry to the amount of harm or pain it brings to the society, the harm/loss clearly outweighs the benefits/pleasure supporting the premise of this paper that meat industry has very unethical and unsustainable practices and that we as consumers should rethink our consumption patterns and the industry should also change to reduce its enormous negative impact on the environment and the society.Ethics of rights states that every living creature is entitled to sealed basic rights such as the right to life, security and freedom from harm. Just because cognitive abilities of animals are not as developed as those of humans, it does not suggest that they are incapable of feeling pleasure or pain and it doesnt give humans any reason to inflict pain upon them. In fact, having higher cognitive ability puts greater responsibility on hu mans to respect other creatures because we have a sense of morality and the ability to reason. Animals also are entitled to have certain natural rights, such as the right to life (Regan, 1980). Animals are part of the moral confederation and failure to acknowledge that is called speciesism. Speciesism is wrong and unethical in the same way that racism and sexism is wrong (George, 1994). Humans and animals are similar in that they both have similar interests in not being harmed or killed, and because we share that consanguinity, we should show more sensitivity towards other living things. Humans and non humans are subject-of-a-life and experience pain, suffering, and various emotions. Inherent value is contrasted with instrumental value that tools and other objects have. Just like humans, animals too are subjects-f-a-life and have an inbred value. Therefore, they should not be regarded as means to the end of others. They should not be treated as tools but should be respected for w hat they are. Because animals have rights, it is unethical to exploit them and kill them for our own pleasure or economic benefit (George, 1994).Animal welfare can also be justified on the grounds of ethics of care which states that a moral person is one who cares for others and is considerate of the other persons needs (Li, 1994). It puts an emphasis on values such as caring and advocates maintaining relationships with peace and harmony. If we consider religious ethics then Hinduism advocates practicing Ahimsa or non- violence with fellow creatures as it stresses performing with care. Ahimsa is quite similar to the western philosophy of ethics of care (feminist ethics) in that it also emphasizes having non-harmful invention in all actions and absence of enmity toward other people and animals. Ahimsa teaches acting with care towards others and being thoughtful of how your actions can affect those around you. It promotes extol and non-hostility towards all beings and its goal is to eliminate violence from our nature (Corner, 2009). The meat industry works in contradiction to the concept of ahimsa and ethics of care. It doesnt have any regard for the environment, nor does it show empathy for animals that are slaughtered. The concept of ahimsa and ethics of care is the antithesis of the meat industry. Meat industry doesnt do anything to build a harmonious relationship with the environment or with the animals. We also see lack of care and concern for people who are bear on by industrial practices. Most affected by the industry are poor people in developing countries who depend on resources being exploited by the meat industrys unsustainable practices. As meat industries are buying land in the developing world to grow feed crop, local indigenous people are losing the land that they depend upon for survival (Repetto Holmes, 1983). This again underscores the fact that practices of meat industry do not fit in with ethics of care or ahimsa. closing and Recommendati onMeat industry has an egoistic approach in that it focuses on meeting short term interests of economic prosperity while ignoring the long term negative impact on the environment. The analysis above makes it quite clear that meat industry has severe long term environmental and social implications and that its unsustainable and callous practices are beyond the pale. Its not possible to chuck out down the meat industry completely as long as there are consumers. However, the best we can do as responsible for(p) and rational beings is to educate ourselves on the impacts, make lifestyle changes and rethink our meat consumption habits to mitigate the impact of the meat industry. It is equally important for the industry to take on sustainable meat production practices. As consumers we can make certain lifestyle changes such as switching to meat analogues or mock meat, and reducing our real meat consumption. Governments can play their part by transferring agricultural production away from meat production in countries where meat production is the highest (Vinnari, 2008). Governments should also remove subsidies and place higher taxes on meat products. By doing so, consumers will have to pay more for meat which will likely decrease meat consumption (Shaw Newholm, 2002). technological advancements of product Ad campaigns can make a big deviation by increasing consumer knowledge about animal rights, meat production, and its negative social as well as environmental impacts (Vinnari, 2008).