The Meat Industry and its impact on the environment.

It is a well reported fact that the meat industry has a substantial impact on the environment. From pollution in rivers, to deforestation due to farming, the impact is huge. There has been growing call from the vegan Community for people to give up meat simply because of the environmental impact, which highlights the growing knowledge we have of the impact of the meat industry.

It is said that if people gave up beef, it would reduce the carbon footprint more than giving up petrol/diesel cars. This astounding claim was made by environmental experts, who looked across the full agriculture industry to find that reducing the consumption of meat would have a greater impact than fully abandoning cars. The worst contributor was beef producers, meaning that specifically cutting back on red meat would also have a profound effect.

In general, the mention of climate change conjures up images of heavy industry, or long traffic jams, but the agriculture industry is a staple of our lives, and the by-products appeal directly to our basic needs. This shows that the factors influencing the current state of the environment may not be as overt as coal and oil plants.