The United States leads the way in a global trend toward increased meat consumption. The average

American consumes almost twice his or her own body weight in meat every year. World meat production has

surged nearly fivefold in the last fifty years, from 44 millions tons in 1950, to 211 million tons in 1997. This

growing manufacturing of meat for food is creating new pressures on land and water resources, contributing to

water pollution, and intensifying global warming (Worldwatch Institute).

The media places emphasis on the environmental damage caused by oil spills, pollutants emitted from

motor vehicles, ozone depletion, and acid rain. The environmental concerns associated with the manufacturing of

nuclear power and paper products are widely-known. Commonly overlooked are the hazardous effects of raising

animals for food. The livestock industry has many negative effects on the environment, including pollution of the

air, land, and water resources. The improvement of management practices in the livestock industry can lead to the

reduction of harmful effects on the environment, and at the same time, i

alternative methods of managing livestock waste. Existing alternative methods include dry bedding, which

pressure on the land, allowing the agricultural resource base to rejuvenate. In addition, consuming less meat, and

people, the approximate number that go hungry in the United States each day. Currently, 36 percent of the world's

overload. This can also spawn algae blooms that strip the waters of oxygen as they decompose, proving fatal for

affect the microbial quality of fresh waters (Environment Agency). Livestock wastes are implicated in waterway

ruminants on low quality feeds produce more than 75 percent of the total livestock methane emissions. In many

involves keeping the animals on straw and then composting the waste-laden straw (National Institute of

Some common words found in the essay are:
Protection Agency, Livestock GLG, Incentive Program, Worldwatch Institute, Global Livestock, Livestock GLG's, Agency Domesticated, EarthSave International, Institute Methane, Land Destruction, global livestock, meat consumption, livestock industry, livestock waste, ruminant livestock, environmental protection agency, environmental protection, protection agency, waste lagoons, livestock efficiency, management strategies, ruminant livestock efficiency, livestock efficiency program, land water resources, quality incentive program,
Approximate Word count = 3063
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)