WATERWAYS,
STREAMS, RIVERS
& LAKES

NOTE. Source for data: Cowspiracy

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), also known as factory farms, have a significantly damaging impact on the water we use. In North Carolina, where hogs outnumber the human population, the threat to human health has become so severe that the state has banned any further production. We examine the danger of unchecked corporate power.

This documentary exposes a huge health and environmental scandal in our modern industrial system of meat and poultry production. Some scientists have gone so far as to call the condemned current factory farm practices as “mini Chernobyls.” In the U.S. and elsewhere, the meat and poultry industry is dominated by dangerous uses of arsenic, antibiotics, growth hormones and by the dumping of massive amounts of sewage in fragile waterways and environments. The film documents the vast catastrophic impact on the environment and public health as well as focuses on the individual lives damaged and destroyed.
“I am a fourth-generation dairy farmer and cattle rancher. I grew up on a dairy farm in Montana, and I ran a feedlot operation there for twenty years. I know firsthand how cattle are raised and how meat is produced. Today I am president of Earth Save International, an organization promoting organic farming and the vegetarian diet. Sure, I used to enjoy my steaks as much as the next guy. But if you knew what I know about what goes into them and what they can to do you, you’d probably be a vegetarian like me. And, believe it or not, as a pure vegetarian now who consumes no animal products at all, I can tell you these days I enjoy eating more than ever.” Howard Lyman

What effect is animal agriculture having on the waterways, streams, rivers & lakes?

(The following facts and resources are taken directly from the Cowspiracy.com/facts page. All credit goes to Filmmakers Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn).

2-5 acres of land are used per cow

The Diverse Structure and Organization of U.S. Beef Cow-Calf Farms / EIB-73: study by USDA – Economic Research Service ( for acres/cow- pages 12 and 13)

1/3 of the planet is desertified, with livestock as the leading driver

UWC, “Desertification”. The Encyclopedia of Earth, “Overgrazing”. UN, “Desertification, Drought Affect One Third of Planet, World’s Poorest People, Second Committee Told as It Continues Debate on Sustainable Development”. An article that explains desertification and livestock’s role:

Every minute, 7 million pounds of excrement are produced by animals raised for food just in the US alone. A farm with 2,500 dairy cows produces the same amount of waste as a city of 411,000 people

“Risk Assessment Evaluation for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations.” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – Office of Research and Development. 2004..

130 times more animal waste than human waste is produced in the US – 1.4 billion tons from the meat industry annually

Animal agriculture: waste management practices. United States General Accounting Office.

5 tons of animal waste is produced per person in the US. In the U.S. livestock produce 116,000 lbs of waste per second:

-Dairy Cows, 120lbs of waste per day x 9 million cows. -Cattle, 63lbs of waste per day, x 90 million cattle. -Pigs, 14lbs. of waste per day, x 67 million pigs. -Sheep/Goats. 5lbs of waste per day, x 9 million sheep/goats. -Poultry, .25-1lbs of waste per day, x 9 billion birds.

Every minute, 7 million pounds of excrement are produced by animals raised for food just in the US alone.

We are appealing to all environmentalists to become vegan and all people who have any care for our precious planet to also become vegan. The top environmental organizations and environmentalists should be fighting against the top threat to the environment, right? Well, they’re not. In this fact-packed, fast-paced video we’ll tally up everything wrong with environmentalism in 12 minutes or less.

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