Avocados can be accused of having a high environmental impact as they have a total water footprint of 1,981 mᶾ/ton. When looking at animal products, the largest water footprint is from cow's meat (at 15,400 mᶾ/ton), followed by sheep (10,400 mᶾ/ton), pig (6,000 mᶾ/ton), chicken (4,300 mᶾ/ton) and eggs (3,300 mᶾ/ton). So avocados' water footprint is still less than the lowest animal product.
The one trillion pounds of waste produced by factory-farmed animals each year are usually used to fertilize crops, and they subsequently end up running off into waterways—along with the drugs and bacteria that they contain.14 Many tons of waste end up in giant pits in the ground or on crops, polluting the air and groundwater. According to the EPA, agricultural runoff is the number one source of pollution in our waterways.
An average person living in a developed country who is not a vegetarian or vegan will consume approximately 7, 000 animals during his or her lifetime. – That’s 7, 000 lives needlessly ended just for one human.
The Meat, Egg, and Dairy industries produce 65% of worldwide nitrous oxide emissions. Nitrous oxide is 300x more powerful at trapping heat in the earth's atmosphere than carbon dioxide
A farm with 2,500 dairy cows produces the same amount of waste as a city of 411,000 people.
In Brazil alone, the equivalent of 5.6 million acres of land is used to grow soya beans for animals in Europe. This land contributes to developing world malnutrition by driving impoverished populations to grow cash crops for animal feed, rather than food for themselves. |
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