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Jazzlyne Candelario

Mr. Gardner

Grippy Gorillas

Oct 31, 2022

Going Green: Is There Any Truth to it?

There’s a lot of talk about our dying planet. Many debate over the actual cause and if all

the solutions that are provided could really work. In the U.S, the citizens rely heavily on meat

products to get their protein and other nutrients. In fact, the average American consumes about

55 pounds of just beef each year (USDA Food Availability Data, 2019). Many professionals

suggest that going on a meatless diet can help improve the state of our planet but would it really

change anything? The question today is whether or not meat consumption actually affects the

environment.

To answer this question, an article published by FutureLearn [an online news page],

discusses the global impacts of meat consumption. The author explains the pros and cons of

eating meat. Some of the pros being the nutritional value and the culture surrounding it. The

listed cons were animal welfare, health risk, and environmental impacts. The environmental

impacts being water usage, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change. As there are more

listed cons than there are pros, it is evident that the author is biased towards eating less meat. At

the end of the article, the author says that while cutting meat out completely may be unrealistic to

some people, it would still be beneficial to the planet if people reduce the amount being eaten.

An opposing argument comes from a video titled “Eating Less Meat won’t save the

Planet. Here’s Why.” The video places its focus on cows and the problems that many people find

with them. The video discusses the problem people see about the amount of water, land, and food
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that the cows need. This continuous cycle of getting more cows and then the resources that are

needed just for us to use them as food later on, is seen as harmful to some people. This video

thinks differently though. When it comes to water usage, we aren’t really losing that much. Dr.

Mitloehner explains that the water cows get comes from the rain and goes through a

cycle.Another point is that 86% of the food that livestock is eating, is considered toxic or

non-edible for humans. And when talking about land, the video says that the land would not be

used for more crops to be grown and about 2/3rds of that land would go unused and wasted. The

video suggests that wasting less food might be more helpful than going without meat altogether.

An image, illustrated by Joel Pett [a political cartoonist], shows the opinion that people

should not be eating meat. He also expresses, with the image, that people are self-aware about

the harmful impacts their food choices have, yet still don’t do anything to change. [See subject 1]

[Subject 1] Pett, Joel. Cartoonist Group. 4 August, 2008

When the customer is ordering his food, he refers to the burger as a “planet-wrecking

factory-farmed energy-sucking cruelty burger.” This is in reference to the production of meat

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products. The harmful effect to the environment, the amount of energy that is required to

produce, as well as the cruel conditions that the animals are forced into. When the customer

refers to the vegan wrap, it's very simple but uses the word fresh. It eludes that you can have bad

food (the burger) or have fresh healthy food (the wrap). It’s all very telling in the stance the

illustrator has on the problem. It is to believe that Pett thinks that we should not eat meat.

Based on all of the information gathered, I have come to my own conclusion. With the

long lists of cons involved in eating meat, it seems to overtake the pros, leaving me to believe

that meat is harmful for the environment. I don’t think that we need to completely cut out all

meat to try and help the planet but there are small things everyone can do.

To conclude, consuming and producing meat isn’t as harmful as I had originally thought,

but there are some things you can do to better the environment. You can start by controlling your

food waste and reducing the amount of meat being eaten everyday. Meat does have its pros and

it’s not reasonable to expect everyone to be able to go completely meatless so even if it’s

meatless mondays or only having one serving of meat a day it would be beneficial to the planet.
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Works Cited

1. “Is Eating Meat Bad for the Environment? | 6 Global Impacts.” FutureLearn, 30 Dec.

2021, www.futurelearn.com/info/blog/eating-meat-bad-for-environment.

2. What I’ve Learned, “Eating less Meat won’t save the Plant. Here’s Why.” YouTube,

2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGG-A80Tl5g

3. “Joel Pett’s Editorial Cartoons.” Cartoonist Group, illustrated by Joel Pett, 4 Aug. 2008.

https://www.cartoonistgroup.com/cartoon/Joel+Pett%27s+Editorial+Cartoons/2008-08-0

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