Speech Final Abi Peck

Climate change is a major issue in today's society. In California an enduring drought continues on, in the Arctic Circle important polar ice caps are melting. How can we fix this? By taking shorter showers? Recycling plastic and paper? Walking or biking instead of riding in a car? All these things are well and good, but the big issue, the elephant, or rather cow in the room is the process of raising cattle for meat and dairy. 

I love hamburgers, but that quarter pound burger you had for dinner last night required 66o gallons of water to produce. Think of how many millions of hamburgers are consumed daily in the United States alone. 660 gallons of water is equal to showering daily for 2 months. Water is a resource that affects us all. We cannot live without water. It is predicted that in coming years there will be water wars. People killing each other for water, a resource that we often exploit and carelessly use. If we could just cut down on our meat and dairy consumption we could better preserve our resources and environment.

More than the cows themselves, their feed and the space they need to live ruins the environment. The rain forests in Brazil produce a lot of the world's oxygen. football fields worth of vegetation is destroyed constantly. Oxygen is the basis of most life on earth and without it we will all die. How can we fix this? Cut back on meat.

Horses are the love of my life. It may be foolish, but I would sooner die than harm a horse. Yet I consume beef on a regular basis. Out west cattlemen are invading wild land. Our public land is being stolen from us and the beautiful wildlife that inhabits our lands. The wild horses and burros are routinely rounded up into small holding pens and left to ruin. Meanwhile big business cattle producers get to inexpensively graze their stock. It makes me sick.

This situation is very frightening and yet all we have to do is cut down on cattle consumption. Not only will it help us, but it will help the livestock. Factory farming is a cruel and detrimental to the environment. How can we keep pets if we find it okay to eat meat from other animals. Do the right thing. Eat less meat. 

Cowspiracy (2014)

Livestock a Major Threat to Environment (2006) www.fao.org

www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov

Cruel or Necessary? The true cost of wildhorse roundups www.investigations.nbcnews.com