The Environmental Impact Of Eating Beef And Dairy Products

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a month.
Without plants to anchor the soil, absorb the water, and recycle the nutrients,
the land has become increasingly vulnerable to wind and water erosion. More
than 60 percent of the world's rangeland has been damaged by overgrazing during
the past half century.

Cattle ranching has also been linked to Global Warming.
The grain-fed-cattle complex is now a significant factor in the emission of
three of the gases that cause the greenhouse effect- methane, carbon dioxide,
and nitrous oxides- and is likely to play an even larger role in Global Warming
in the coming decades. The burning of fossil fuels accounted for nearly two-
thirds of the 815 billion tons of carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere in 1987.
The other third came from the increased burning of the forests and grasslands.
When the trees are cleared and burned to make room for cattle pastures, they
emit a massive volume of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Commercial cattle
ranching also contributes to ...

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of the larger feedlots,
thousands of cattle are crowded together side by side in severely cramped
quarters. To obtain the optimum weight gain in the minimum time, feedlot
managers administer a variety of pharmaceuticals to their cattle, including
growth-stimulating hormones and feed additives. Anabolic steroids, in the form
of small time-release pellets, are implanted in the animals' ears. cattle are
given estradiol, testosterone, and progesterone. The hormones stimulate the
cells to produce additional protein, adding muscle and fat tissue more rapidly.
Today 80 percent of all the herbicides used in the United States are sprayed on
corn and soybeans. After being consumed by the ...

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