Impact of livestock

There are 20 billion head of livestock taking up land on Earth, which is more than triple the number of people. An obvious reason for the increase in meat consumption is the rise of fast-food restaurants as an American dietary staple. Eric Schlosser stated in his best-selling novel, Fast Food Nation, “Americans now spend more money on fast food-$100 billion a year, than they do on higher education, and also spend more on fast food than on books, movies, magazines, newspapers, videos and music combined”. (Schlosser 206)
Not only is fast food terrible for your health and costly, it is terrible for the environment. So why do we continue to contribute to the bad habit? For the convenience is the majority answer. Society is becoming more and more reliable on convenience food items and becoming lazier, while their health is becoming more and more endangered. Seems pretty silly when you are actually presented the information with all the facts and possible outcomes. One major problem then with the nation is that not everyone is informed. If you can get the word out, present all the facts, and state what is likely to happen in the near future, just maybe, more eyes would open. We need continue to provide information to those unaware and hope for a domino effect.
Furthermore, livestock shockingly account for more than 8 percent of global human water use, mainly for the irrigation of feed crops. Not only is the consumption of water great, but the water used for the cattle could be used to grow grain to feed mass amounts of people. Jim Motavalli, author of “The Case Against Meat,” argues that:
“It takes 4.8 pounds of grain to feed cattle and produce one pound of beef for the human demand, which represents a colossal waste of resources in a world still teeming with people who suffer from profound hunger and malnutrition. An all vegetable and grain diet would not only provide food for more people, but also a longer healthier lifestyle.”