Eating+Up+the+World

=Eating  Up The W o r l d. = n8662185 Rachel Seow Kang Hui Tutor: Judith Meiklejohn =Cultural Artefact: =

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The selected artefact is a 2 minutes long video which is highly relevant to my assessment topic. It is published by People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on the 12 November 2012. This video is easy to understand because the contents are fairly straightforward but it might cause discomforts to some viewers especially people that include meat-based products in their diet. It highlighted some of the key problems linked to meat-eating for example global warming, pollution and habitat destruction. The main purpose is to raise general population's awareness about the ecological problems associated with their food choice. In the last part of this video, PETA encouraged public to try vegan as a solution to this issue.

**Public health issue:**

The public health issue represented by this video is the detriments of meat consumption. It intends to cease meat intake and promote public to practice vegetarianism. In Australia, only 2% of the population is actually vegetarian (The Vegetarian/Vegan Society of Queensland Incorporated (VVSQ), 2010, p.8). A well-planned vegetarian diet grants numerous health benefits. Most importantly, the reduction of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease some cancers (Justin, 2012, p.35) .According to a research, by just switching from current diet to a diet that contains two or three meat meals each week and a small amount of dairy each day would avert 45,361 deaths each year (Friends of the earth, (FOE), 2010, p.8). In short, being a vegetarian is considered to be responsible at nearly all aspects: animal welfare, health and environment.



=Literature Review: =

Livestock sector plays an indispensable part in human existence. It supplies 30 percent of total human needs for food and agricultural production, transforming low-quality biomass such as corn stalks and other crop residue into high-quality meat (Nierenberg, 2005, p. 8). While it provides food and a employment for millions of people, it also act as a major stressor on all levels: On the environment, planet, biodiversity and ourselves.

<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Meat production is a leading cause of many serious ecological problems. However, just over half of the Australians (53%) do not think livestock causes serious environmental harms (VVSQ, 2010, p.8). This significantly proves that the public is not aware of how important their food choice could be to the environment.

<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">In 2006a, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) claimed that the livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global. This shows that livestock sector is unsustainable. It is a major cause of the world's most pressing environmental problems, including global warming, land degradation, air and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2006b, para. 1). Hence, it is clear that meat productions has significant negative impacts on the environment and actions should be taken in urgency. In this literature review, the major environmental impacts associated with the livestock sector which are global warming, deforestation and land degradation will be addressed. The aim is to educate and raise awareness of public in regards of how their dietary habit affect the mother nature.

<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Livestock sector affects the air quality and causes global warming in many ways. It is accountable for 18 precent of greenhouse gas emission measured in Carbon Dioxide (CO2); this significant amount is a higher share than all sorts of transportation combined (FAO, 2006a, p. xxi). However, efforts to combat global warming must not focus exclusively on decreasing carbon dioxide emission because livestock sector is responsible for much greater portion of gases with higher warming potential. Belching, flatulent livestock emit 16 percent of the world's annual production of methane (Nierenberg, 2005,p.24). Animals like cows are ruminant, which indicate they process grasses and crop residue without problems. Grain diet provided in feedlot disturbs their digestive system which causes them to get sick (Nierenberg, 2005,p.25).

<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5;">In addition, livestock sector also emits 65 precent of anthropogenic nitrous oxide which is almost 296 times more global warming potential than CO2, these gases released are mostly from manure (FAO, 2006a, p.xxi). Global warming causes an increase in climate temperature which results in the increase of water levels due to the melting of glaciers. Furthermore, about 80 percent of ammonia emission is from livestock manure (Grace Communications Foundation, 2013, para. 8). This gas contributes significantly to acid rain and acidification of ecosystems (FAO, 2006a, p.xxi).

<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">It is also important to take into account that different meats have varying environmental impacts. A study has been conducted by Environmental Working Group (EWG) partnered with CleanMetrics Corp., a Portland, Ore.-based environmental analysis and consulting firm, to bring out “cradle to grave” life cycle assessments (LCAs) of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for 20 selected protein-rich foods (Hamerschlag, 2011a, p.5). The graph below revealed the outcomes which indicates that lamb and beef have the highest GHG emissions whilst plant-based foods like tomatoes and lentils have the lowest GHG emissions (Hamerschlag, 2011b, para. 2).



<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5;">The explanations provided for the high emissions of GHG in meat- based products are firstly, because a significant quantity of fertilizer is necessary to raise the animals. Fertilizers applied to soil create nitrous oxide (N20) which has 300 times warming effect of carbon dioxide. Secondly, manure releases nitrous dioxide and methane which pollutes the air. In just 18 years, there is a 60% increase in methane discharged basically just from manure (Hamerschlag, 2011c, para. 5). However, the limitation of this study is that it only focuses on 20 selected typical, conventional food production systems rather than organic production systems or those based on best managed agricultural practices that might result in lower emissions (Hamerschlag, 2011a, p.5).

<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5;">Livestock sector is also known as the major drivers of deforestation. The reason to this is because of the expansion of pastureland for grazing and the arable land for feed crops. From year 2000 to 2010, the world’s forests reduced in size by 1.3 percent or 520,000 square kilometres which area is about the dimension of France and this cleared land was primarily used as agricultural land (Normander, 2011, para. 1). Human should be aware that deforestation takes a severe toll on the planet; the damages associated with it are almost immeasurable. The main environmental problem linked with the clearing of forest for livestock sector is the habitat destruction which causes extinction in wildlife. In Australia, the number of animal species is declining at a higher rate than any other country except the United States of America (sustainable table, n.d., para. 8). 1249 plant species and 347 animal species are considered endangered at some level and deforestation emerged as the biggest contributor to habitat destruction which is the main factor for extinction of species (Justin, 2012, p.9).The loss of biodiversity is irreversible and it affects directly the ecosystem by destroying the natural web of life.



<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5;">Another unpleasant side effect of livestock sector is the land degradation. Overgrazing which can be simply explained as inappropriate grazing implies that the number of animals surpass the productive capability of the grazing land or pasture (FAO, 1999, para. 2). Over a long period of time, livestock can overgraze vegetation, disrupting it's role of stabilizing soil which aggravate erosion, desertification and pollution (FAO, 2006a, p.67).



<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">There is no doubt that livestock sector causes immense, permanent harm to the planet by driving deforestation and pollutions. Readers should be aware that this literacy review as stated earlier, focuses only in problems like global warming, deforestation, air pollution and land degradation. There are more environmental issue associated with livestock sectors such as water depletion, water pollution, waste and diseases which are not covered in this literature review. If human population can be healthier, the earth can be greener, animal can have a better life, does not it make sense to stop abusing, killing and eating animals for their flesh?



<span style="color: #808000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5;">**Cultural And Social Analysis:**

<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The social theory that best fit to this topic is globalization. As the world population increases, it is understandable that livestock production will grow more industrialized to meet the global demand for meat. This exponential growth can be seen from a report presented by Friends of the Earth (FOE), (2010, P.6) the total meat consumption quadrupled and poultry consumption increased 10-fold as the world population increased by a factor of 2.2 between year 1961 and 2008. Also, the volume of livestock and livestock products entering worldwide trade has risen from four percent in the early 1980s to about 13 percent of total consumption (FAO, 2005, para. 5). This remarkable increase in the meat consumption worth public attentions as it will lead to many serious problems.

<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">There are a lot of groups that are believed to raise public awareness of the impact of meat consumption. Firstly, the two major stakeholders in this issue which are the FOC and Livestock, Environment and Development (LEAD) work together to present a highly inclusive report (2006a) entitle "livestock's long shadow: environmental issues and options". This assessment provides in-depth information of ecological impacts related to global livestock sector. The aim is correspondent to this report which is help in raising the attention of both the technical and general public about the contribution of animal agriculture to the environment. Besides, the healthy living pyramid provided by Nutrition Australia (2013) encourages public to consume plant-based food and emphasises in reducing meat-based products like cheese, milk and meat. This in turn will reduce the global meat demand by introducing low meat diet to general public.



<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The group of people that are affected most by the increase of global meat consumption is the poor. 80 percent of the soybean harvested is consumed by farm animal instead of human (Nierenberg, 2005, p.23). And in today's world, we grow enough edible grain to provide 50% more than is required for every person in the world, yet 27,000 children under the age of 5 die of starvation every day (sustainable table, n.d., para. 9). 12 million children die annually of nutrition-related diseases (Viva!, 2006, p.6). Starvation clearly does not occurred due to food scarcity. If everybody consumed a vegetarian, or better still, a vegan diet there would be enough food for everyone (Viva!,2006, p.7). Thus, it is obvious that meat consumption is unsustainable in today's world; human prioritize their own satisfaction, in this case meat consumption, over the other's people welfare and survival needs. Besides waiting for a better solution that takes years of research like the In vitro meat, general population should start off by adapting Altruism, which definition is " selfless concern for the well-being of others" (The free dictionary, 2009, para. 1).

“The earth has enough for everyone’s needs, but not for some people’s greed.” <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">~ Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)(1)

=<span style="color: #808000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Analysis of Artefact And Own Learning Reflections: =

<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">This video addressed that many people were conscious about the environment and were taking action to reduce their individual impact, for example, recycling and reducing car usage. While these innovations provide some benefits, they fail to address one of the biggest causes of environmental problems after all, which is what we eat.

<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">According to PETA(n.d., para.2), Switching from a standard diet to a vegan diet is more effective in combating climate change than switching from a standard car to a hybrid. It also states that a meat-eater's diet is in charge for more than seven times as much GHG emissions as a vegan's diet is. This shows how greatly an individual can contribute to the planet by just eliminating animal products from their diet.

<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Before doing this research, I always considered transportation and the oil productions as the underlying causes of global warming. However, livestock sector has a higher emission than all sorts of transportation combined (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2006a, p.xxi). This assessment notably affects my dietary habit, I successfully reduce my meat intake by making Monday Meatless. Due to the lack of experience and knowledge in cooking healthy yet tasty vegetarian food, my meal preparation solely depends on Meatless Monday website (2013) where clear cooking instruction and nutrition information are provided.

<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">I gained a lot of valuable knowledge by doing this assessment and it appears to be useful in study since I am currently taking a bachelor of nutritionist and dietetics.Finally and most importantly, t <span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">his assessment has really made me appreciate lives- animal, human and mother nature. It is such an unpleasant event that billions of animal had to went through all those intolerable tortures before they got slaughtered just for the sake of human's desire. Also, While the rich nations struggle in reducing population's obesity rate, people from another part of the world die due to starvation. How much more ironic could this be?



**Reference List:**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department. (2005). Globalization and livestock. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0504sp1.htm

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (1999). Excessive Grazing and Browsing. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/programmes/en/lead/toolbox/Grazing/overgraz.htm

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2006a).Livestock's long shadow: environmental issues and options. Retrieved from ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a0701e/a0701e.pdf

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2006b). Livestock impacts on the environment. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0612sp1.htm

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Friends of the Earth. (2010). Healthy planet eating. Retrieved from http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/healthy_planet_eating.pdf

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Grace communications foundation. (2013). Air Quality. Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Hamerschlag, K. (2011a). Meat eater’s guide to climate change + health, Lifestyle assessments: methodology & results. Retrieved from http://static.ewg.org/reports/2011/meateaters/pdf/methodology_ewg_meat_eaters_guide_to_health_and_climate_2011.pdf

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Hamerschlag, K. (2011b). What you eat matters. Retrieved from http://www.ewg.org/meateatersguide/a-meat-eaters-guide-to-climate-change-health-what-you-eat-matters/

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Hamerschlag, K. (2011c). Climate and environmental impacts. Retrieved from http://www.ewg.org/meateatersguide/a-meat-eaters-guide-to-climate-change-health-what-you-eat-matters/climate-and-environmental-impacts/

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Justin, H. (2012). Vegetarianism. retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/qut/docDetail.action?docID=10524473

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Meatless Monday. (2013). This week's featured recipe. Retrieved October 31, 2013, from []

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Nierenberg, D. (2005). //Happier meals: rethinking the global meat industry//. Danver, MA: Worldwatch Institute.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Normander, B. (2011). World's forests continue to shrink. Retrieved from http://vitalsigns.worldwatch.org/vs-trend/worlds-forests-continue-shrink

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Nutrition Australia. (2013). The Healthy Living Pyramid. Retrieved from http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/national/resource/healthy-living-pyramid

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals. (n.d.). Meat and the environment. Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Sustainable table. (n.d.). Meet your meat. Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The free dictionary.(2009). Altruism. Retrieved October 31, 2013 from []

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The Vegetarian/Vegan Society of Queensland Incorporated. (2010). A Pound of Flesh. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/26880337/APF-VVSQ

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Viva!. (2006). Feed The World. Retrieved from http://www.viva.org.uk/sites/default/files/feed-the-world-06.pdf

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em;">Reflection Task:
<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">1. Inequality at it's most basic- a billion of hungry people.

<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[]

<span style="color: #014f01; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">2. Sweat in your shopping bag []