Vegetarianism- A sustainability view.

Vegetarianism or any food habit stems from cultural cues. The culinary habits are so cultural that it tends to evolve along with the community. The cultural effect with respect to food habits stems from availability, taboo, religion, climate, geography, companionship, etc.

In the Globalized world of today, the BIG industries are eliminating the obstacles of availability, taboo and with that rest of the team. This is very much evident in the eating habits of low-income or an ignorant American family. The livestock industry has made the American people love Beef, Hog and chicken like never before and this is slowly spreading to the rest of the world(Evolution of culture).

I am going to concentrate on the ill effects of Non-vegetarianism to vouch for being vegetarian.

Livestock Industry: The livestock industry follows the following path.

First Step

• Arable Land + Water + Petro based Fertilizers and Pesticides + Patented Seeds =Corn + Pollution + no seeds to replant.

Corn is the hero- The Corn is subsidized by the Govt of USA, so the BIG industries buy corn to feed Cows( which cannot digest it without antibiotics, hormones), feed farmed fishes like Tilapia and other livestock. The corn farmer makes no money out of this, but the giant corporations. The subsidized corn makes two important stuff cheap 1)soft drinks 2)Livestock feed, [also this subsidization and mass production followed by export to Latin America throws Mexican farmers out of job forcing them to illegally migrate to US, creating further problems.]

A small list of uses from Corn [LINK]

Also the chemicals used on the farm-field gets washed off to water bodies, bio-accumulating and then poisoning anything that consumes it. Also polluting any organic farms downriver.

The Next step

• Corn + Water + Livestock(Cows, Hogs, Chicken) + Abominable conditions(No sunlight, Standing on feces, Chickens eating chicken remnants~Cannibalism) + Industrial slaughtering[Unsanitary(to meet efficiency) + unethical(for few)] = Cheap (Beef,Chicken,Pepperoni etc.) + Obese consumers with numerous diseases and an unsustainable world.

I mentioned Cheap, but is it really cheap?

In each and every step ‘Petroleum based vehicles’ are used for transfer of seeds, Corn, Fertilizers, Chemicals, Livestock, Animal waste and finally finished industrial food. The costs of water(634 gallons of water is required for a single hamburger), fuel, labor and other transportation costs are hidden as it is stolen from the tax in terms of subsidies which are in fact HUGE. The environmental costs are completely hidden and are unaccounted for. A United Nations report suggests that the efficiency of meat production is low even if it is carried out in an organic manner (considering food produced by consumption), but this unsustainable means of production are unimaginably worse for the environment.

Also, this Livestock industry not only contributes CO₂ but also nitrous oxides and methane (not to mention unclean and unhealthy workplaces).

Once Humans consume it, What then?

The food consumed at a higher level in a food chain is bland, inefficient, and contains higher percentages of toxic metals like cadmium, mercury etc. The fat rich food also consumed along with oil, may be fries and soft drinks result in dumping of huge amount of Fat in human body. A condition widely known as Obesity arises. Read more about it in the Stanford hospital website.

-Fragile Prints

P.S: Nothing written in this post is new or out of the world. Just wanted to celebrate me being a vegetarian.

For further reading : 101 reasons to be a vegetarian.

The Extinction: A simple outline

It is estimated that over 99% of all species that ever lived are extinct.

Extinction occurs by different means, the term ‘Extinction’ referred by governments, conservation groups and NGOs are different from the scientific community. The scientific community even tries to make certain species extinct (Small pox, Polio virus, species of Mosquitoes by genetic coding). So, we have to be careful of the terminology. Ever since, life started on earth, species are evolving and going extinct almost simultaneously. Even then, the term extinction which reaches the board room is of very small percentage of species generally those species which comes under the category of Birds, Mammals and fish.

Let us broadly categorize the whole extinction phenomena,

• Genetic Pollution (A hybrid causing a pure bred species to go extinct)
• Natural disasters
• Extra terrestrial (Meteorites)
• Competition for food, Lack of prey, Too many predators etc (Survival of the fittest, case)

• Human intervention( Global warming, Pollution, Habitat loss, Over exploitation, Nuclear disaster, Genetic accidental experimentation.)

The first four have been happening for millions of years, and the last one, few people in the scientific community call it the Sixth extinction,  is the serious issue here, it has been happening since the industrial revolution and needs check.

What we are interested in is the extinction which are happening with human intervention which can be categorized broadly into two

• Over exploitation
  • Hunting,
  • Fishing
• Habitat loss
  • Toxic pollution
  • Habitat destruction
  • Introduction of new species(predators, food competitors)

When it reaches the boardroom, the advocates of environmental groups face the grave task of intangibility of the effects created by human beings in terms of Global warming, toxic pollution, habitat loss etc.

A Tasmanian tiger, extinct {The photo is under Public domain}

The tangible cases of over exploitation are considered and once the agencies step into action mostly it is too late  for the species to viably bounce back and reproduce and sustain or the habitat is under a different nation’s control which has no concern for environment.

Links:

The following link shows the numbers of extinct species under various category.

http://extinctanimals.petermaas.nl/

Following link shows the list of species which are extinct in the wild and are present only in captivity.

http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/search

Therein is the tragedy. Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit—in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons.”

  -Garret Hardin, 1968.

As I mentioned earlier, the term extinction which reaches the board room is of very small percentage of species generally those species which comes under the category of Birds, Mammals and fish. Where as we should be worried about various fruit, vegetable and other edible plants species as well. The nature should be abundant with diversity. The complexity of nature is its beauty. All the more one tries to simplify our fragile nature, the more trouble one will have to face.

Well, As an individual one cannot stop extinction, let alone mass extinction. However you have the choice of how you live your life in a sustainable, eco-friendly manner.