Animal Farming as a Cause of Environmental Pollution

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