Announcing New Collaboration
A Meat and Dairy Industries Article from All-Creatures.org

All of God's creatures have rights, a fact that most people don't seem to recognize. This includes both human and non-human animals, but not all of them can speak for themselves. As we continue to disregard the value of the lives of the billions of animals we eat, we also are destroying our air, land and water.

FROM

Katie Cantrell, Factory Farming Awareness Coalition (FFAC)
November 2014

FFAC is excited to announce a new partnership with the Center for Biological Diversity to highlight the effects of industrial animal agriculture on wildlife and natural ecosystems.

From deforestation to water pollution to pesticide use, animal agriculture affects more than just farmed animals. FFAC is excited to announce a new partnership with the Center for Biological Diversity to highlight the effects of industrial animal agriculture on wildlife and natural ecosystems.

collaboration farmed animals

There are 9 billion animals raised for food every year in the U.S., and 75 billion worldwide [1, 2]. The food and water required to sustain all of those animals, and the waste that they generate, contribute to resource shortages, pollution, and habitat destruction both locally and globally.

Animal agriculture is a leading driver of deforestation and habitat destruction worldwide. In the Amazon, 70% of deforestation is due to animal agriculture [3]. In the U.S., over 260 million acres of forest have been clear-cut for animal agriculture.

Meat production accounts for 1/3 of all pesticide use in the United States, which can cause acute, chronic, and secondary poisoning of animals at all levels of the ecosystem [4].

Manure runoff from factory farms has polluted over 35,000 miles of river in 22 states, destroying riparian ecosystems and killing millions of fish [5].

Climate change could drive as many as a million species extinct worldwide, and animal agriculture is one of the largest human-driven sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Consumption of animal products accounts for nearly 60% of the average U.S. household's carbon footprint [6].

Luckily, simple (and tasty!) changes in our diet can help farmed animals, wildlife, the Earth, and our own health. Visit Take Extinction Off Your Plate to learn more.

Are you part of a wildlife or environmental group that would be interested in learning more about the connection between our food choices and protecting natural ecosystems? Email [email protected] to schedule a free presentation.


  1. USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service
  2. Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N., Faostat.fao.org
  3. U.N.Food and Agriculture Organization, Livestock's Long Shadow ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a0701e/a0701e.pdf
  4. U.N.Food and Agriculture Organization, livestock impacts on the environment http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0612sp1.htm
  5. Congressional Legislative Information (OCIR) 1998. Legislative Hearings and Testimony: Statement of Michael Cook before the subcommittee on livestock, dairy, and poultry and the subcommittee on forestry, resource conservation, and research of the committee on agriculture U.S. House of Representatives. http://www.epa.gov/ocirpage/hearings/testimony/105_1997_1998/051398.htm
  6. Shrink That Footprint http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/food-carbon-footprint-diet

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