Eating Towards Global Warming Global warming has been a topic of debate for many years now. A more recent argument is that food production is a key contributing factor to the global warming epidemic. In the article “A Carnivore’s Dilemma”, Nicolette Niman provides an insight to the logistics being said in these statements. The article was written in response to the statement farming and food production is leading to climate change. Niman, being a rancher who raises cattle, goats, and turkeys, effectively frames the situation logically by providing credible statistics and examples to help the reader better understand the impacts of different methods of food production. She does this by providing specific information regarding the greenhouse gases involved, being carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides. Niman, the rhetor, has written this article to try and inform the readers about the differences between traditional style and industrial style methods of food production. She has directed the article towards those concerned about the carbon footprint, we as individuals, are leaving …show more content…
She goes paragraph by paragraph comparing the different worlds of food production, proving her point that not all meat is created equal. She goes through each of the three greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides, which are a result of food production. She provides you a comparison of how each method impacts the environment in terms of greenhouse emissions and the level of extremity respectively. “Niman claims that industrial farming produces markedly more carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides than traditional farming and ranching” (173). She manages to keep the reader involved by keeping each comparison short and to the point. Her argument is backed with sources she states, and with the statistical figures she has
Even through things might not happen as bad as once was but still it happens today where and how we slaughter the animals are not always done in a sanitary way. In the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan also talks about slaughterhouse in the United States in chapter twelve. He mentions how the slaughterhouse that he visited made sure that there killing was clean because the buyer could come and watch them kill the animal. They then discuss that they how most factories don’t have people that allow to see them kill the animals.
Is eating meat a detrimental threat to the environment? This debate over meat’s involvement in the global warming crisis was what inspired Nicolette Hahn Niman to write, “The Carnivore’s Dilemma.” Niman hoped writing, “The Carnivore’s Dilemma,” would cause her audience to understand that eating meat, raised on traditional farms, was a superior alternative to vegetarianism. Niman supported her claim by explaining how industrialized farms and vegetarians produce more of the three greenhouse gases that caused global warming, than that produced by traditional farms. Niman’s article fell short of being effective due to flaws in her supporting evidence and conclusion.
One of the main goals of the locavore in supporting eating locally is to improve their carbon footprint. They believe that transporting food emits an increasing amount of greenhouse gases. However, in document D, it shows that production such as water usage, fertilizer types, processing
In the article, “Is It Possible to be a Conscientious Meat Eater”, the authors argue that processed meat can greatly affect the many things in our everyday life. Sunaura and Alexander’s argument is significantly unreliable because of the certain professions both authors yield. As stated in the article “Sunaura is an artist, writer, and activist in Oakland.” “Alexander’s profession is studying philosophy, and ethics in Athens, Georgia.” This shows that neither of them are qualified to argue in the subject of conscientious meat eaters.
In Blake Hurst’s “The Omnivore’s Delusion: Against the Agri-Intellectuals,” he opposes the accusations made by tofu-eating, recycled-toilet-paper-using, self-starving Michael Pollan and his followers. Throughout “The Omnivore’s Delusion…,” Hurst mentions how methods of farming have evolved to match demands of produce. The author states that “Only ‘Industrial farming’ can possibly meet the demands of an increasing population and increased demand for food as a result of growing incomes” (Hurst 4). This quote essentially means that “Industrial Farming” is the most efficient way to farm for today’s population level. A second point that is made by Hurst is that changes made by today’s farming are necessary.
Due to McWilliams’ strong claim, evidence, warrant, backing, and rebuttal to counter arguments, his argument is therefore an effective one, according to the Toulmin method. The most important and key components, that are vital to an argument, are the argument’s claim, qualifiers, as well as the evidence the author uses to support their argument. If there were no claim, then the author has no firm stance or basis for their argument, because they would have nothing to defend or persuade their readers of. The claim James E. McWilliams makes in the article “The Locavore movement: Why Buying from Nearby Farmers Won’t Save the Planet” is that since there are so many factors that are attributed to the destruction of the earth and the waste of tons of energy ,that the locavore movement is not quite saving the planet simply by focusing
Also, overweight people have more health problems. So, the readers may try and eat less meat in order to live healthier and prevent climate change. The article contrasts the others because it provides statistics regarding human health and meat’s and dairy’s effects. It does not discuss the farmers’ effects on animals. This is important because it connects the audience more to the article and creates a stronger case in the reader’s eye.
Kip Anderson of the movie documentary “Cowspiracy” shares a UN study states that the meat and dairy industries, and factory farming currently taking place on the planet emit more fossil fuels into the atmosphere than our entire transportation sector, including cars, boats, trains, planes. The study claims that as much as 18% of greenhouse gas emissions come from animal agriculture, while transportation exhaust totals 13% of all emissions. These emissions are split between three main contributors: carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide, and methane gases. With each gas, animals emissions comes out as a leading contributors with 51%, 32 billion tons, of CO2, 65% of nitrous oxide, and 26% of methane gas emissions directly or indirectly from our
In the article, “The Omnivore’s Delusion” Blake Hurst expresses his idea that agri- intellectuals, people who claim that industrial farming is inhuman, have a warped perspective on the reality of modern day farming. Essentially, Hurst proposes that there are both positive and negative aspects to both industrial farming and organic farming. Hurst states that during organic farming when farmers do not use unnatural additives, the whole process becomes more troublesome due to the increase of molds, fungus, and bugs. The author writes, “… some of the largest farms in the country are organic—and are giant organizations dependent upon lots of hired stoop labor doing the most backbreaking of tasks in order to save the sensitive conscience of my fellow
The consumption of red meat has increased significantly in recent years. The link between red meat consumption and climate change is greatly evident. Therefore, this issue may be considered positive for various stakeholders, while also having a negative impact on others. Not only is the consumption of meat a major contributor to climate change, but the production of the meat consumed influences the climate as well. Livestock produces a considerable amount of greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide, which accounts for more than 18% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Following, Pollan addresses the issue of monocultures in the food system. Because farmers strive to increase productivity, the creation of monoculture has increased. Therefore, many farm products are artificial, cheap, and detrimental to the human body. Additionally, monoculture results in the mass slaughtering of animals, thus harming the environment and animals. Michael Pollan looks forward to “reregionalizing the food system” by changing the public perception of food through proper education.
Veganism is a foolproof method to provide the answers the Earth needs, especially as the world’s population continues its inefficient and environmentally damaging methods of energy usage. People tend to focus on the political sides of climate change, however, the biggest problem the world faces in energy consumption is not transportation emissions but is how we go about out food systems and daily food choices. Evidence has surfaced about how daily food choices impact the climate severely. According to an assessment by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the livestock sector of global greenhouse gases surpassed that of transportation.
This food wastage represents a missed opportunity to improve global food security in a world where one in 8 is hungry. Producing this food also uses up precious natural resources that we need to feed the planet. Each year, food that is produced but not eaten guzzles up a volume of water equivalent to the annual flow of Russia 's Volga River. Producing this food also adds 3.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, with consequences for the climate and, ultimately, for food production. About 800 million people in the world suffer from hunger.
Over the past years, the average global temperature on Earth has increased significantly due to gas emissions. The demand for fruits, meats and other sources of food has been rising rapidly and respectively with the increase in Earth’s temperature due to increase in gas emissions in the atmosphere and the expanding global population. More significantly, countries with huge amounts of population growth, such as the United States, China, India, and the European Union have greater demand for food, which has higher carbon footprints. For example, China with 9040.74 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, and is number for fuel combustion. 1 The problem is that people do not know that switching to vegetarianism can help reduce the causes of global warming, which means what you eat can affect how the world will be in the future.
Cattle are by far the biggest source of emissions from animal agriculture, with one recent study showing that in an average American diet, beef consumption creates 1,984 pounds of CO2e annually. Replacing beef with plants would reduce that figure 96 percent, bringing it down to just 73 pounds of CO2e. ” This is showing that animal agriculture is destroying our planet, but the only problem is many don't know of the impacts animal agriculture has. Strange that many don't know of this problem when it takes up huge amounts of land, water and energy that destroys our world. Though animal agriculture is a way many americans get food today in the U.S. it is killing our planet, but it can easily be solved if the people start to help save this would now and not later when it's too