Team Banana Slugs
UCSC
1.) “It takes 149 million acres of cropland, 167 million pounds of pesticides and 17 billion pounds of nitrogen fertilizer to grow this much feed every year. When fertilizer is spread on soil, it generates nitrous oxide (N2O), which has 300 times the warming effect of CO2.” a.
Whoa, I wasn’t aware that nitrous oxide had that large of an effect on the environment.
I guess that’s why using cover crops and crop rotation is so important in an organic farming system: nitrogen is already fixed in the soil in the form of sloughed off roots and plant biomass, and has a lower chance of washing into waterways. It also takes that nitrogen from the environment and atmosphere and fixes it in a stable form so that it can be re-used and released slowly over time instead of washed away quickly. This is why sustainable, small-scale organic farming is definitely best.
2.) “Animal waste causes substantial water and air pollution and emits nitrous dioxide and methane. US livestock in confined feedlots generate about 500 million tons of manure a year, three times the waste produced by the entire human population.” a.
That’s a lot of waste! And considering the human population creates a lot of waste, and even that amount is hard for us to correctly handle and process, I can’t imagine how poorly we are managing animal waste! This pollution definitely gives me an incentive to keep going with my goal of vegetarianism, and encourage others to make sustainable choices about their food – for one, tell them they should always know where their meat is coming from, and who it is raised!
3.) “Eight slaughterhouses consistently rank among the nation’s top 20 industrial polluters, responsible for discharging 30 million pounds of contaminants in 2009.” a.
Considering the US has been doing quite a bit of pollution contribution, I was surprised that slaughterhouses were among the topmost contributors (especially in comparison to

Team Banana Slugs
UCSC big industries). It makes a lot of sense, though! Since I am studying the environment and ecology, this means a lot to me and is definitely something that has made me aware of the way meat impacts me and my society. If I ever go back to eating meat, it will definitely be in a small-scale, sustainable way. Considering even eating one less meat meal a day decreases the environmental impact so significantly, then I’m sure that even reducing my meat consumption considerably will have a greater effect!
Hell No, GMO!
Check out this GMO infographic about knowing what our food is made out of (that is subsequently too large to fit in this word doc, but it’s still fascinating!)
How much of the food you eat each day actually consists of genetically modified organisms that you aren’t aware of? Almost everything we use and eat, especially if we buy prepacked foods. The following infographic really sums it all up for me:

Team Banana Slugs
UCSC
I definitely have the right to know what it is that I’m really eating!
More interesting infographics about GMOs and Monsanto –
Monsanto V. Organic ; Genetically Modified Food and Understanding Labels .
Agricultural Pollution Hits Home
I live in Tehama County, which is “severe” in agricultural pollution. I am aware of this simply because I have to pass an auction yard every single day that is completely packed with cattle, especially on auction days. It smells and looks disgusting. We have visited there a few times because they give manure away by the truckload at no charge, which is an indicator of its pollution level in itself. There most definitely aren’t enough people to come and get their animal waste on a daily basis… so what do they do with it all? I never thought about this question before, but now I’m really worried. The auction yard is not too far from small streams and waterways, and I know that’s a really bad sign! But luckily there are other farmers in the area that don’t raise their livestock in that way. I used to live in Siskiyou county, where Prather Ranch products were readily available because their products were organic, sustainable, and local!