Salt, Sugar, And Fat, Moss, By Michael Moss

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.

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

However, the majority of people, even meat-eaters, will agree that livestock is generally not treated well. Most people who do consume meat do so either because they believe a meat-inclusive diet has greater health benefits over a plant-based diet, or because they believe that a plant-based diet would be “too hard” and that they would give up anyway. In addition to the moral damage What are you referencing that you just wrote which explains this? meat consumption can cause, the environmental damage caused by factory farming is substantial, especially in the northern midwest region of the United States, where most of the water is sourced from the Great Lakes. Add illustrations to support these examples. Citations

When his book was published many people were shocked by what was in their food, the companies had to make a change, and it had to be a fast one, they took better precautions and made it a lot more

Intro: When people eat food they do not think about what is in it, or how it is made. The only thing people care about is what the food tastes like and how much they get. During the 1900’s the meat packing industry had not regulations of any kind. All that mattered to the industry was that they made as much money as possible with as little expenditure as possible. During this times people were often made sick and died either from working conditions or poor food quality.

In “How Junk Food Can End Obesity,” by David H. Freedman, he claims that processed foods can help fix the obesity crisis in a more realistic manner, rather than whole-some foods. The popular opinion emphasizes whole-some foods because they aren’t informed about the similitude between processed and unprocessed foods. The essence of the essay is that people believe processed foods are bad and unhealthy for us, therefore whole-some foods are highly recommended for the health of an individual. Freedman mentions many prominent authors who wrote books on food processing, but the most influential voice in the food culture Freedman makes a point of is, American journalist, Michael Pollan. The media and Michael Pollan indicate that everything should be replaced with real, fresh, and unprocessed foods, instead of engineering in as much sugar, salt, and fat as possible into industrialized foods.

The production of meat and dairy is ultimately killing the environment. The majority of land today is being used to produce meats and dairy. The production of plant based foods on 2.5 acres of land would feed 30 vegans a year, while the same amount of land would feed only five to ten omnivorous people (“Going Vegetarian is Good for Environment”). Producing meat, dairy, and eggs take up about three times the amount of land than plant based foods such as fruits, vegetables, and grains. If there were no longer meat and dairy industries taking up so much land, there would be much more space for producing healthy and ethical foods.

Processed food is causing some kind of illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, and cancer. Freedman and Pollan addressed gave some solutions of how processed food should improve in our society. Pollan states we should make everything natural and

Author of the essay “Eat Food: Food Defined” Michael Pollan, states that everything that pretends to be a food really isn’t a food. Michael persuaded me into agreeing with his argument by talking about how people shouldn’t eat anything their great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food and avoid food products containing ingredients that are unpronounceable, lists more than five, and contains high fructose corn syrup. He opened my eyes to information I wouldn’t have thought about or researched myself. He got into depth about a type of Sara Lee bread that contains way more ingredients than needed to make the bread, including high fructose corn syrup that isn’t good for you. Marketers are doing this to sell more of their product by making it taste

Action must be taken by the food industry in order to start eliminating the problems that are causing the society to deteriorate. There are countless health issues within America that continue to grow due to the fact that the food industry is not regulating the food being provided and sole enough. Obesity and being overweight are one of the many social issues that can be linked back to the food industry. While it is true that there are cases of obesity and being overweight due to lack of exercise or genetics, it is primarily the food that cause people to gain excess weight. So many foods nowadays contain surplus amounts of calories, fats, and sugar which have a direct correlation to weight gain.

Should Americans be eating beef? This question is being considered now more than ever as more the effects of the meat industry on the environment are revealed. Studies have found approximately 20% of the United States methane emissions come from the meat industry, as well contributing to a number of other problems. With over 900,000 total heads of cattle farmed in the United States, the problem is not only the emissions, it’s the allocation of resources. The industry demands copious amounts land and water be devoted to producing feed for cattle.

World hunger, pollution, soil depletion, species extinction, and disease all have one common factor, a culprit who has left its smudgy fingerprints on so many aspects of society today. It is said that " the US food production system uses about 50% of the total U.S. land area, approximately 80% of the freshwater, and 17% of the fossil energy used in the country.(Pimentel and Pimentel,2003)" That has only increased since the population continuously and exponentially keeps growing. Animals must be fed, then their meat must be cut, processed, and packed or kept alive for dairy, which only serves to deplete more of the resources needed elsewhere in America. This current method of dietary habits in America specifically is creating huge burdens on

The negative impact of fast food on our health is well-known. However, it is cheap and tasty; therefore, its huge market has no boundaries. Consequently it has a negative environmental effect. In this regard, I would like to remind of Marc Bekoff (2007) who argued in his book Animals Matter that “A reduction of meat consumption by only 10% would result in about 12 million more tons of grain for human consumption. This additional grain could feed all of the humans across the world who starve to death each year- about 60 million

Food and environmental sciences contain many sources with opinions to aid in this exploration, and consumers should be looking towards these sources to gain better insight to our current environmental, economic, and nutritional crisis’. Before we can understand the current direction nutrition is working towards, we need background on the beginnings of diet shifting for societal gain. In 1945 when George Stigler was working, he strove to find an economical, but still nutrition rich diet, for the American population. His findings pointed to an average cost of about 40 dollars per year per individual (G.Dantzig 1990 “ Stigler finally settled on a model...a diet that cost only 39.93 per year (by 1939 prices)”). Other researches have reexamined, tested, and attempted to fit Stigler’s findings into the more contemporary scene ( G.Dantzig 1990,

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