Why should we care about emissions?

Informative Speech

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There is something big on all American’s plates, and something needs to be done. Yet  it is not a leading issue or at the apex of discussion. Raising and killing animals for human consumption is killing our planet, there is no denying it, but we still raise animals. No one wants to talk yet it  is the number one leading cause of environmental destruction. “Beef production, or agriculture, uses more land, and freshwater, it also generates more greenhouse gas emissions per unit of protein than any other commonly consumed food” (Magill). Stop blaming the cars, the plastic bottles, and the dead dinosaurs when we are the problem.

 

 

 

Breakfast--Every single egg takes 53 gallons of water to produce (J.L), that is your breakfast, and that is 848 cups of water. Lunch--Every quarter pounder from mcdonald's takes 52.8 gallons of water to make (J.L), that is your lunch, and that is 846 cups of water Dinner--Every steak takes about 1,799 gallons of water per pound to produce (J.L), that is your dinner, and that is 28,784 cups of water. Add up the amount of water you used for just for protein from animal products in your meals for that day that is  1,904 gallons. If we were to take those gallons of precious water and times it by 20 that is 609,280 cups of water. that is enough to give one cup of water to every person in Wyoming. One cup of water to almost every person in Vermont. And One cup of water to almost every person in the District of Columbia.

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Animal product at breakfast, animal product at lunch, and animal product at dinner. A majority of us eat somewhat like this, though it's ruining our environment, everyday. People argue that we need to have meat in every meal to be satisfied and sustained, but do we really need this? Do we need to exploit our water supply to points of obvious depletions?  “Cows produce 150 billion gallons of methane per day. Over 160 thousand livestock excrements are produced every second that calculated per year would cover every square foot of San Francisco, New york City, Tokyo, Paris, New Delhi, Berlin, Hong Kong, London, Rio de Janeiro, Delaware, Costa Rica, Denmark, Combined” (Miller).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Animal agriculture is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the combined exhaust from all transportation” (Livestock's).  In the Us alone there are an estimated 253 million cars used. So just imagine in all of the world all the cars, all the buses, all the trains, all the planes, and anything which gives of emissions for transportation. Most people can afford a big mac for lunch but none of us can afford this environmental disaster. The demand for livestock pasture space is a major driver of deforestation. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has estimated that “70 percent of land formerly supporting Amazon rainforests has been turned over to grazing”. “The biggest contributing factor to food-related deforestation is eating meat” says the global federation, “Farm Sanctuary” in Farm Sanctuary. We are not only killing off other species by stealing the rainforest from them but we are destroying one our earth's greatest supply of oxygen. McDonald's is one of the big name corporations who in the past has been a part of the destruction caused to the Amazonian rainforests. Most people can afford a Big Mac for lunch (anaphora)but none of us can afford to lose fresh air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emissions for agriculture projected to increase 80% by 2050 says Tilman in “Global diets link environmental sustainability and human health.” Energy related emissions are expected to increase 20% by 2040 as recorded "Carbon Dioxide Emissions to 2040." By Energy Global. These statistics of Energy emissions is slim compared to the projected increase of Carbon Dioxide Emissions . Use less coal, ride bikes, turn off the tap, we are told this over and over to help save our planet but we aren't told to put down the hamburger, not buy the steak, or stay away from eggs. There is an elephant in the room… or should I say cow, and it's going to keep growing and growing at an alarming rate and pretty soon it'll break through the walls of the room, known as our ozone layer, leaving us with irreplaceable and unfixable damage unless we act now. Most people can afford a Big Mac for lunch but can we really afford all this?