The companies that bring you meat and dairy are on their way to destroying many of the resources that we depend on to exist as a species: our air quality, our soil quality, our water quality, our water supply. If we were to focus on just one of those resources-- let’s say water, then this should put it into perspective: One pound of beef requires 1,799 gallons of water to produce, and a pound of cheese requires 700 gallons; whereas one pound of wheat only requires 132 gallons. As far as water usage goes, cutting out beef and dairy for just one year is equivalent to not showering for over 50 years! In fact, according to National Geographic, a plant based eater will indirectly consume 600 less gallons of water PER DAY than someone eating the standard American diet. Wow! Even if you don't care about animals at all, you have to admit that's some serious environmental impact.

And that’s just the fresh water. The current fishing practices are so unsustainable that it is predicted that all edible species of marine life will be extinct by 2048. So that means we might be one of the last generations in all of humanity to have tasted fish. I don’t like to think about what kind of repercussions that could have on the eco-system in general.

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According to scientists at the Smithsonian Institute, the equivalent of seven football fields of land is bulldozed every minute to create more room for farm animals, that includes the rain forests. 

At the human level, the employees who have to work at factory farms, or CAFOS (concentrated animal feed operations) are regularly mistreated, injured, and work in unspeakable conditions. The companies that bring you mass produced meat are not farmers, they are mega-corporations with mistreated workers. Working at one of these corporate factories is one of the most dangerous jobs in the country, due to the pressure to ‘process’ thousands of frightened animals everyday at unsafe speeds of operation. These employees are often undocumented migrants, and thus feel that they have no way of asking for a better work environment. They have a high rate of respiratory illness from the manure particles, and a high rate of substance abuse because of the daily horrors they are carrying out. Factory farms use antibiotics so regularly, that they are creating antibiotic-resistant bacteria, posing an alarming threat to our human population. 

Billions of taxpayers’ dollars go to subsidize these industries, making animal products much cheaper and more available than they should be, which in turn is making us an incredibly sick nation. These companies produce more carbon emissions than the ENTIRE transportation industry combined, making them a fundamental cause of climate change. They do all of this with no regard for the future or health of anyone or thing involved. 99% of meat and dairy in America comes from these factory farms. Don’t support jerks like that. It just makes them act like bigger jerks.