Animal Farming as a Cause of Environmental Pollution

This article discusses the negative impact of animal farming on the environment, including pollution and deforestation. It explores the impact of animal waste on air and water quality, and highlights the need for sustainable practices to combat the adverse effects. The article also suggests potential solutions, such as using methane gas as fuel and adopting eco-friendly waste management practices.

Running head: ANIMAL FARMING IS A CAUSE OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
ANIMAL FARMING IS A CAUSE OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
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1ANIMAL FARMING IS A CAUSE OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
Canada caters vast expanse of pasture land which favors expansive animal rearing
activities along with agricultural farms. Globally, Canada also stands leading producers and
exporters of beef and pork products. Advanced technologies like genetically- informed breeding,
increasing size of farmlands, improved logistics has led a positive impetus on economy as well
as environment. Immediate wastes like animal excreta and urinal discharge is known to release
nitrous oxide, particulate matter, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia which adversely affect the air
quality which has a toxic effect on the human health of the local community (Steinfeld et al.,
2013) . The methane gas released by livestock has been a major component of greenhouse gas
emission which triggers global warming thereby increasing the temperature of the earth.
Excessive carbon footprint created by accumulation of animal wastes in the lagoons lead to acid
rain. The effluents in water disintegrates to form ammonia gas which combines with atmospheric
pollutants to form nitric acid. This nitric acid enters the ecological systems through rainfall thus
entering soil, water, and forest thereby depleting the quality of biota existing in these habitats.
Thus animal farming has negative impact on the society.
Livestock farming requires as vast expanse of grazing lands which has directly led to
massive deforestation of forested lands. This has been witnessed in South America where
forested lands has been converted to soya bean farms for feeding the livestock. Forests act as a
large carbon sink, binds the soil maintaining its texture and fertility and contributes to a stable
ecosystem. When a patch of forest land is cleared, the soil is exposed to weathering events which
degrades the quality of soil. Barren soil becomes more prone to erosions by land and water.
Rainwater runoff carries a lot of animal wastes, which depletes the nearby water bodies thus
harming the aquatic life in these habitat. The rainwater runoff carries nitrogenous wastes into the

2ANIMAL FARMING IS A CAUSE OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
water bodies thus enriching the nutrient capacity of water body. Excessive nutrients leads to
algal bloom which consumes the oxygen thereby lowering the oxygen in water. Decline in
oxygen level lead to massive death of the fishes and other aquatic lives. This has led to
eutrophication of water bodies as through this gradual process the water bodies are reduced to
dry lands. Thus, the impact of animal waste is serious if it is not managed scientifically and
appropriately. These waste have serious concerns of human health further, these toxic wastes on
entering the food chain and food web contributes to concentration of toxicity significantly in the
successive trophic levels. Directly or indirectly, animal rearing activities is known to immense
pressure on the scarce resources of the environment.
Public policy highlights how government has not regulated on the density of animal
stocking, rate of manure application further there is dearth of monitoring programs which has left
the farms in ill management practices. Intensive confinement of animals is not only hampering
public health but also lowering the quality from produce. The lower Fraser valley accounts for
over three quarter of emissions from ammonia which has largely been not controlled and
managed. The Climate Change Accountability Act which aimed to reduce the GHGs as to be
25% below 1990 levels by 2020, and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, this bill which was passed
by the House of Common was later defeated by the Senate, which exposes the negligence on the
part of higher authority in dealing with toxic emissions (Wynes & Nicholas, 2017). Livestock is
considered largest a largest emitter of methane gas which is a major component of greenhouse
gases trapping a large amount of heat thereby increasing the global temperature. Methane gas is a
direct consequence of storage of manure, enteric fermentation generated from the digestive tract
of livestock. Animals rearing activities have a negative impact of the water quality as huge
amount of water is required for maintaining the livestock such as for drinking, irrigation of

3ANIMAL FARMING IS A CAUSE OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
pasture lands, cleaning of animals. Livestock can freely access these water where end up mixing
the harmful wastes with clear water. It has been reported that over 3.2 percent per cent of human
death occurs due to unsafe water (Galligan et al., 2016). The bacteria from these livestock also
negatively affect the overall environment of the area. Livestock management leads to excessive
odor issues in the region. The bacteria from these activities is known to spread diseases to both
human and animals. Overgrazing have a detrimental impact on certain species of wildlife. Use of
antibiotics in these animals, their carcasses poses an as environmental disaster. This was evident
when from widespread use of diclofenac in the cattle to induce milk production has led to
massive dead of India vultures in the Indian subcontinent. Diclofenac remained in the carcasses
of the cattle which was fed by the scavengers. Scavengers like vulture fed on these carcasses
which posed extreme danger to their lives leading to massive death of the vultures (Rojas-
Downing et al., 2017). United Nations report highlights concerns on the greenhouse gas
emissions as the carbon equivalent generated from livestock is more than the transportation. It
has considered the cattle rearing activities has been a major contributor to climate change and
global warning. FAO report has also recognized animal rearing has been a leading cause of land
and water degradation. Emissions from livestock sector has accounted for over 9 per cent of
carbon dioxide generated from the anthropogenic activities but the contribution to harmful
greenhouse gas is significantly higher. Global warming potential of the nitrous oxide is over 296
times of CO2, majorly derived from the large scale of manure generated from the livestock
(Surendra et al., 2016).
However, despite its intense impact on environment it has the potential to combat the
adverse impact through sustainable practices. Methane gas has huge potential of energy which
can be used as fuel in transportation sector. The livestock waste act as natural fertilizer to the soil

4ANIMAL FARMING IS A CAUSE OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
being rich in nitrogenous substances increasing the productivity of the soil. This shows the
potential how animal rearing can contribute to the process of organic farming combating against
the harmful impact of chemical fertilizers in the agricultural process. Besides the livestock feeds
upon the green vegetable wastes which helps in recycling of the biodegradable waste. Further,
the biogas generated can be for diversified commercial purposes thus minimizing the immense
pressure on the non-renewable energy resources. Farmers should adopt in sustainable
management of livestock and eco-friendly process of waste management in order to maximize
the contribution of livestock sector in the economic prosperity of the nation.

5ANIMAL FARMING IS A CAUSE OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
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