By most accounts, climate change is the single greatest existential threat, not only to human life but also to all life on Earth. We are already seeing the impact in the form of rising sea levels, catastrophic wildfires and water shortages. Animals and our policies toward them are at the very heart of both the causes of climate change and its devastating effects. Our massive factory farming of animals to feed our enormous appetite for meat is a major cause of climate change. And many species of animals living in the wild will suffer and die out in the near future as a direct result of the effects of global warming.

Animal Use as a Cause of Climate Change

Global appetite for meat is growing with rising populations and increasing affluence. Factory farming is the dominant method of food animal production used to meet that need. Factory farming involves not only crowded, polluted feedlots where animals are kept before slaughter but the process also consumes massive amounts of fossil fuels. Producing billions of animals for us to eat necessitates massive production of corn and soybeans for feed resulting in increased emissions from fertilizing (monoculture depletes the soil and nutrients must be replaced), harvesting, transporting and processing of all of these.

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