Marine Monday, Episode 4, March 13, 2017

I really like steak and a good burger. The ironic thing is that I was a vegetarian for 7 years before I drifted back into the realm of carnivores. I don't eat it often...and I will be eating it less now that I know the cattle industry is responsible for 14.5 % of all greenhouse emission gasses, which include methane and carbon dioxide.

Here are some facts to consider.
1. Cows belong to a family of animals called ruminants, which means along with their 4 stomachs, they have a rumen within their digestive tract. The rumen is essentially a large fermentation vat for mixing their food(the plants the cows eat, mainly grass). Sheep and goats are also ruminants.

2. As cows digest, they emit (fart!) a gas called methane. Methane is 30 times more potent as a heat-trapping gas than carbon dioxide, thus it is a powerful greenhouse gas.

3. More than 1/3 of all fossil fuel use in the United States is used for raising animals for our consumption, and nearly half of our water use goes towards this. In addition, cows produce a lot of waste (poop) which pollutes our waterways. Cows must have grazing land, and up to 30% of the Earth's land mass has been cleared of its trees so that cows can eat. Not to mention that 70% of the grain grown in the US goes to feeding cattle! The raising of cows for food is not only inefficient and polluting, it is unsustainable for feeding a growing population of people on the planet.

ACTION STEP: Go to http://racingextinction.com/ and sign up for their Diet Challenge under the 'Challenge Yourself" tab.  The challenge is to cut out meat (including fish) one day per week. 
If everyone did that just one day per week, the effects would be dramatic!