Catalina Wenk

Senior Seminar

11/7/20

A Need For Sustainability

Over the past few years it has really come to my attention that global warming, climate

change, obesity, heart disease, and deforestation are very serious issues. There are many ways

that we can address some of these problems. For example most people assume that taking their

bike to work a few days a week or limiting their time spent in the shower will be enough to

combat things like climate change and global warming; unfortunately that’s not enough. Some

people may think going on a fad diet and trying experimental workout routines or supplements

will help their health and aid them in losing weight. Though oftentimes doing those things will

only lead to unhealthy weight loss or little to no change in their physical appearance or feelings

internally. The one real way that we can combat all of these issues at once is by following a

sustainable plant-based diet.

The first point I’ll bring up is that of sustainability. There are currently about 7.5 billion

people on earth. The demand for meat is growing by 2-3% each year along with the population

(Devenyns). Each day about 50,000 acres of forest are bulldozed to make room to graze cattle

and other common farm animals that people consume. Not only is this harmful to our

environment since we need trees to survive, it’s also harmful to the ecosystems in the areas that

are being deforested. Animals that reside in these forests and in the trees are left with no home

and many have gone extinct due to this process. In fact animal agriculture is the leading cause of

species extinction (Meek). You might be thinking, what about grass fed local meat? It seems like
a better option. I mean you’re not contributing to deforestation and you’re buying local so it must

be sustainable, right? Well one cow requires about 2-5 acres of grazing land. We don’t have

enough land on the planet to feed the world off of grass fed meat. Grazing land for cattle takes

up about 45% of earth’s land. By 2050 it is estimated that the global population will reach about

10 billion! With all these new people on earth and the space we’ll need to build new houses,

schools, businesses etc. We don’t have enough land on earth to feed people how we are now

grass-fed or not and provide them with enough room to live.

Not only is it damaging to our rainforests it also takes a lot of resources to care for

livestock. To make just one pound of beef it requires 2,000-8,000 gallons of water. So taking

shorter showers to be more sustainable to alleviate a water shortage is not doing much if beef is

still a staple in your diet. It also produces more greenhouse gasses per year than cars, trucks,

planes, and boats combined (Hunnes) so switching to an electric vehicle, walking, or biking as

your main mode of transport also isn’t the best thing to combat greenhouse gas issues.

Now that we’ve discussed the aspect of land agriculture it’s a good thing we look at the

fishing industry too. A lot of people are pescitarian which means they don’t consume any land

animals but do eat seafood. This is a good start but is seafood just as bad or is it just as

sustainable as being plant-based? Well commercial fishing is extremely unsustainable. Most of

the time they go out in boats with a huge net and catch anything and everything. The animals that

they catch that aren't going to be sold for meat is called bycatch. Bycatch is usually sea animals

like sharks, dolphins, and turtles. The ecosystem in the ocean is very fragile and the biodiversity

is a part of what keeps it alive. Overfishing like this can lead to species extinction due to the lack

of diversity. Commercial fishing is the leading cause of ocean pollution, and ocean dead zones.
At the rate we’re fishing some species of fish can’t fully reproduce in time for the demand the

world has for seafood, it is estimated that by 2048 we may see fishless oceans (Roach).

The one way to combat the sustainability issue of the consumption of food is to switch to

a plant based diet. The average american that consumes a meat based diet needs about 2.67 acres

of land a year to support their eating habits. On the other hand a person who follows a

plant-based diet only needs about 0.35 acres of land per year (Meyer). It also takes about 500

gallons of water to grow a pound of vegetables, we can produce 20 times more potatoes with that

water than beef! (ZME Science)

As you can see taking a more plant-based approach to eating and consuming is more

sustainable for the environment. It saves us water and other natural resources. While helping to

combat species extinction, climate change, global warming, and overfishing.

Roach, John. Seafood may be gone by 2048, studies say. November 2, 2006. National

Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2006/11/seafood-biodiversity/

Meek, Taylor. Effects of Deforestation: How Does Agriculture Cause Deforestation? September

10, 2016. Sentient media.

https://sentientmedia.org/how-does-agriculture-cause-deforestation/#:~:text=Around%206.7%20

million%20acres%20of,for%20cattle%20production%20each%20year.

Devenyns, Jessi. The meat industry is unsustainable, report finds. March 26, 2020. Food Dive.

https://www.fooddive.com/news/the-meat-industry-is-unsustainable-report-finds/574896/#:~:text

=Meat%20production%20at%20its%20current,the%20environment%2C%20the%20report%20s

aid.

Hunnes, Dana. The case for plant based. UCLA Sustainability.

https://www.sustain.ucla.edu/our-initiatives/food-systems/the-case-for-plant-based/

Meyer Satre, Kristen. Which diet makes best use of farmland? you might be surprised. Ensia.

https://ensia.com/notable/which-diet-makes-best-use-of-farmland-you-might-be-surprised/#:~:te

xt=Land%20requirements%20decreased%20steadily%20as,support%20different%20diets%20va

ries%20widely.

ZME Science, How much water do you save by not eating meat? ZME Science.

https://www.zmescience.com/science/domestic-science/eat-vegetarian-save-water/