However, it is not simply pollution that is a concern in terms of animal agriculture, the meat industry is also harming the planet’s water, too. Editor. Fishcount.org.uk claims that there are up to 2.7 trillion sea animals killed every year by humans plundering the oceans for food. The industrial sector accounts for 19% while only 12% of water withdrawals are destined for households and municipal use.” Truth or Droughtexplains that when we eat plants directly, we are direct consumers of the nutrients. The 3 biggest sources of water pollution related to agriculture being animal waste, aquaculture production and fertilizers used in agricultural fields. “And as the EPA data showed, the vast majority of the facilities repeatedly exceeded legal limits for wastewater discharge. “It is frightening to realize we have lost nearly half of the oceans’ green plants,” Lewis told IPS. These large seines are so big that they can be seen from space. It’d be more economical and efficient for humans to eat grains directly and not expend vast water resources on industry-bred animals. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, “A typical 2,500 cow dairy operation produces more fecal waste than the entire city of Minneapolis.” The only difference is that Minneapolis engages a waste treatment system that the dairy farms and other animal ag farms avoid saving money. This seepage and runoff process is exacerbated during heavy rains, flooding, and hurricanes. Manure lagoons never undergo the same treatment as human sewage, and the quantity of animal manure exceeds human manure by 100-fold in the US. It often leaks out or overflows, causing devastation to both land and waterways. Animal agriculture contributes to water shortages, pollution, climate change, and other environmental problems. This may lead to health issues in herbivorous animals who feed on agricultural plants and leftovers. These pollutants can radically alter the metabolism of a number of soil-dwelling bacteria and insects, making them perish or … Worldwide there are now more than 500 ‘dead zones’ covering 250,000 km2 [96,526 square miles], with the number doubling every ten years since the 1960s. A Jammu and Kashmir State Pollution Control Board report warns that animal waste is chemically similar to domestic sewage but considerably more concentrated and that it pollutes streams and watercourses. As a result, there are accumulating manure lagoons, or cesspools, which endanger the water and nearby communities. Go green. Between pastures and cropland used to produce feed, 41 percent of U.S. land in the contiguous states revolves around livestock. Global temperatures rise as forest cover decreases, and oceans warm as they absorb ever-more carbon dioxide. The average efficiency of livestock converting plant feed to meat is less than 3%. This is the part two of a multi-article series on the connection between animal agriculture and various societal and environmental problems. Tags: acidification, Algae, Bycatch, concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO), dead zones, department of agriculture, EPA, eutrophication, fish, Greenpeace, hypertrophication, Hypoxia, ocean acidification, Oceana, oceans, Overfishing, phytoplankton, red tide, Salmon Confidential, Truth or Drought, water pollution. PETA India is a Charitable Company incorporated under section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956. Apart from the negative environmental impact, using any animals for food is unto itself considered by growing numbers of people to be unethical, plus it is entirely unnecessary, and inefficient. “The increasing pace of diversity loss thus imperils the ‘ecosystems services’ that many human populations depend on for survival, the study says.”. These fishing practices are responsible for bycatch deaths of unintended sea animals. "Costs and Consequences: The Real Price of Livestock Grazing on America's Public Lands". If you believe that fish farming is good, please consider watching the video below, “Salmon Confidential,” about salmon farming in British Columbia. Keeping animals and their waste out of streams keeps nitrogen and phosphorus out of the water and protects stream banks. Water is essential for maintaining an adequate food supply and a productive environment for the human population and for other animals, plants, and microbes worldwide. This article covers animal agriculture’s connection to freshwater use, freshwater quality, water pollution violations, fishes and other sea animals, ocean hypoxia, and declining phytoplankton in the oceans. and large-scale floodplain farming; and (v) scant … 3. According to the US Department of Agriculture, 108,000,000 pounds (49 million kilos) is produced every hour by farmed animals in the US. 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The definition of ocean hypoxia is “Reduced oxygen in the ocean, detrimental to living organisms.” This can cause noxious ocean algae blooms and what is referred to as “fish kills.”. A significant percentage of these animals are bycatch, meaning they are not the intended fish. (USDA via Bloomberg)”, Truth or Drought: “Despite its monopoly on farmland and frequent greenwashing to try to justify it, animal agriculture will always be inherently less sustainable than plant-based. … Agricultural practices are not necessarily at fault here – but our choice of food is.” — Bojana Bajzelj, University of Cambridge researcher. Of that 1.9 billion acres: 778 million acres of private land are used for livestock grazing (for… A Jammu and Kashmir State Pollution Control Board report warns that animal waste is chemically similar to domestic sewage but considerably more concentrated and that it … What about the effects of water pollution on animals? By signing up here and giving us your contact details, you're acknowledging that you've read and you agree to our. In many parts of the world, particularly in drylands, overgrazing has caused land degradation and erosion, which has in turn increased sediment loads in water. Animal Waste Causes Harmful Air Pollution. While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has programs to reduce bycatch, it remains a serious problem for the sustainability of many species in the oceans. Manure lagoon liquid is commonly sprayed onto crop fields, which quickly gets into the groundwater and rivers. “As EIP Executive Director Eric Schaeffer reportedly described the disheartening findings, ‘This water pollution is really an environmental justice issue, because many of these slaughterhouses are owned by wealthy international companies, and they are contaminating the rivers and drinking water supplies of rural, often lower-income, minority communities.'”. The buildup of Animal Agriculture is a great destruction to our planet and our species. In addition to the sea animals killed every year, fishing nets make up about 46% of the great Pacific garbage patch, according to National Geographic. Zoonotic waterborne pathogens are another major concern (WHO, 2012). Eutrophication, also known as hypertrophication, is when a body of water becomes overly enriched with minerals and nutrients that induce excessive growth of waterborne plants and/or algae. miles] dead zone every spring due to run-off from the Mississippi River.” It should be noted that the hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico is contributed to in a significant way by the animal ag upstream in the Midwestern states. Extensive plowing and other practices also have eroded the soil on many farms, reducing its “spongy” qualities and allowing more soil, nutrients, and chemicals to be washed away. Once in … On the Truth or Drought facts overview page, you have a clear statement explaining clearly: “There are basic laws of biophysics that we cannot evade. They produce half of the oxygen we breathe, draw down surface CO2, and ultimately support all of our fisheries,” said Boris Worm of Canada’s Dalhousie University and one of the world’s leading experts on the global oceans. Glaser, Christine, et al. Credit: Joshua Stevens, NASA. Fact from Oceana. A fact from Oceana.”. The aquifer and rivers have become polluted in some areas due to animal agriculture. Crop spraying is the backdoor legal method for animal ag to dump toxic waste. The economic costs to fisheries, tourism and other coastal livelihoods are already in the many tens of billions of dollars annually and will only continue to increase in the ‘business as usual’ scenario.”. UNESCO claims that around 80% of the world’s wastewater is discharged back in the environment without adequate treatment, and since agriculture withdraws the maximum freshwater, it’s also the biggest source of water pollution [6,17].. This equates to around 7% of the population that is drinking contaminated groundwater. In a May 2018 story on avoiding meat and dairy to help the environment, The Guardian states: “Scientists behind the most comprehensive analysis to date of the damage farming does to the planet found that while meat and dairy provide just 18% of calories and 37% of protein globally, it uses the vast majority – 83% – of farmland and produces 60% of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions. … Climate change may also lead to wars over limited natural resources. Other sources include soil erosion and animal waste [1]. Truth or Drought claims that a plant-based dieter only uses 400 gallons (1514 liters) of water per day. Continuing to exploit animals for food in the absence of necessity is outdated, inefficient, and cruel.”, As for water efficiency, a BioScience abstract of “Water Resources: Agricultural and Environmental Issues,” published on the Oxford Academic site, states: “Agriculture consumes about 70% of fresh water worldwide; for example, approximately 1000 liters [265 gallons] of water are required to produce 1 kilogram [2.2 pounds] of cereal grain, and 43,000 L [11,359 gallons] to produce 1 kg of beef.”, National Geographic water tips claim that the average animal-eating American uses 1,000 gallons (3785 liters) of water for her or his diet and other use per day. Animal farms may produce food, but they also produce … Practically all forms of technology exact a certain price in environmental damage; agriculture is no exception. As the aquaculture industry continues to expand, prey fish are depleted at alarming and unsustainable rates. It is difficult to determine the precise number of sea animals killed, as they are weighed, not counted. In fact, over half of the plants (50 of 98) had five violations, and about one-third (32 of 98) had at least 10 violations. Prestage Swine Farms with manure lagoons, Harrells, NC. If we did not have water life would not exist. Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Agricultural runoff represents a major threat to rivers and lakes. 1998, Postel 1999, Rosegrant et al. According to National Geographic: “Unless humans act now, seafood may disappear by 2048, concludes the lead author of a new study that paints a grim picture for the ocean and human health. 2. The following is an overview video on the state of the oceans. If the long-term trend continues, in 30 years there will be little or no seafood available for sustainable harvest. We can all help conserve resources, prevent pollution, and combat climate change and other environmental problems simply by going vegan. Sometimes these bycatch fish are discarded back into the sea, dead. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Appreciate CleanTechnica’s originality? Advertise with CleanTechnica to get your company in front of millions of monthly readers. In order to accommodate the 70 billion animals raised annually for human consumption, a third of the planet’s ice-free land surface, as well as nearly sixteen percent of global freshwater, is devoted to growing livestock. Future articles will cover wildlife habitat encroachment and extinctions, concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) odors, financially marginalized communities, antibiotics produced in the US, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, veganic food production, world hunger, tax subsidies for animal agriculture, hidden costs of animal agriculture including subsidized fast foods, slaughterhouse PTSD and alcohol/drug abuse, domestic abuse, human rights issues, and more. In light of the serious water shortage in Chennai, PETA India erected a billboard calling on people to go vegan in order to help conserve water. “According to the study, the loss of ocean biodiversity is accelerating, and 29 percent of the seafood species humans consume have already crashed. By 2050, consumption of meat and dairy prod… In a section about the apex predators disappearing fast: “In just 55 years, humans have managed to wipe out 90 percent of the ocean’s top predators. The sign points out that raising animals for meat, eggs, and dairy accounts for a third of the world’s freshwater consumption – a finding from a paper published by the American National Academy of Sciences. In the US, there are over 9 billion farmed animals killed per year, and globally, the number is over 55 billion animals who are killed. Animal agriculture takes a toll on the land: The meat, egg, and dairy industries use a third of the world’s cropland, which could be used to feed hungry humans. The industrial sector accounts for 19% while only 12% of water withdrawals are destined for households and municipal use.”. January 2015 The US lower 48 states represents 1.9 billion acres. As human populations and economies grow, global freshwater demand has been increasing rapidly (Hinrichsen et al. What do they carry that is so harmful for humans and environment? Truth or Drought draws from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) states: “The highly disproportionate scale of animal agriculture is far bigger than most people realize. A NASA satellite is tracking flooding in the Carolinas after Hurricane Florence and its images show that rivers and streams near the coast and spilling dark, discolored water into the ocean. Sign up for our free daily newsletter to never miss a story. There are two primary sources of pollution for nitrogen: agriculture and septic systems. How animal agriculture impacts our water: The world is moving towards increasing problems of freshwater shortage, scarcity and depletion. Truth or Drought explains that when we eat plants directly, we are direct consumers of the nutrients. News is published on CleanTechnica.com, while reports are published on Future-Trends.CleanTechnica.com/Reports/ and buying guides are here. Using incredibly advanced and aggressive technology [such as sonar] to meet demands for seafood, we’re waging a war on our oceans.”, In another article from One Green Planet entitled “10 Alarming Facts about Overfishing,” the writer states: “Modern fishing ships use technologically advanced fish-finding sonar that can find a school of fish with almost military precision. The oceans provide us with 70 percent of the world’s oxygen and absorb 30 percent of the greenhouse gases that we release into the atmosphere.