Hi Guys!
One of my all-time favorite documentaries is Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret. This film is about a man who is on a journey to discover why environmental organizations aren’t talking about the biggest cause of environmental deterioration, animal agriculture.
This documentary hits close to my heart, not only because I live a vegan lifestyle, but also because I love animals so much. It is very informative, as well as eye-opening and inspirational. There are many different reasons why I switched over to a vegan lifestyle, but one of the main reasons is because of how sustainable a vegan diet is. Every single day I am saving 1,100 gallons of water, 45 pounds of grain, 30 square feet of forest, 10 pounds of carbon dioxide gas and one animal’s life by eating an 100% plant based vegan diet. That’s incredible!!
The sad part is that animal agriculture is not only harmful to the animals trapped inside, but also extremely harmful to our planet. Raising livestock plays a major role in global warming as well as is the leading cause of resource consumption in the US. Raising animals for food is responsible for 30% of the world’s water consumption, occupies up to 45% of the Earth’s land, is responsible for 91% of Brazilian amazon destruction, and is the leading cause of ocean “dead zones”, habitat destruction, and species extinction. Really think about that for one moment.
Almost everybody believes that the main cause to all of these issues is the increase in global population. The more people there are, the more food and water there needs to be. However, the human population drinks approximately 5.2 billion gallons of water and eats 21 billion pounds of food per day, while 1.5 billion farm animals drink 45 billion gallons of water and eat 135 billion pounds of food per day. The problem isn’t the increase in population, but what each of these individuals is consuming on a daily basis. These environmental organizations are telling people to take shorter showers, water the lawn less, ride a bike to work instead of driving a car, when really, none of these actions are going to reduce your carbon footprint if you are still consuming a diet that is mainly made up of meat and dairy. Cows and other farmed animals produce methane gas from their digestive process, which is 86 times more destructive than carbon dioxide from vehicles. An incredible 150 billion gallons of methane gas is produced per day, and not only is this a big deal for our atmosphere, but the one of the leading causes of deforestation and ocean contamination is from the waste of all of these animals. Not to mention the global rainforests are our planet’s lungs, breathing in carbon dioxide and exhaling oxygen, yet one acre of forest is cleared every second for animal agriculture.
If you are truly looking to reduce your carbon footprint and help save our planet, please, look at all of this data and think about what you are contributing to this Earth. I promise you, transitioning over to an 100% plant based vegan diet will not only allow you to begin to see the world from a new perspective, but also give you a sense of freedom and empowerment knowing that you are doing something great for yourself, our planet, and the animals that inhabit the planet with us. The Earth has given so much to us for so long, it’s important to start giving back.
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
To read or learn more about Cowspiracy, visit their website at http://www.cowspiracy.com.
Photo credits: google.com
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With love and happiness,
Bri