However, livestock accounts for most of Canada's raw sewage pollution. According to Environment Canada, about 40 kg of manure are produced for each kilogram of edible beef that is eventually brought to market. The mounds of manure and streams of urine produced by livestock can permeate our drinking and ground water. The outbreak of cryptosporidium which hit thousands of people in the Okanagan last summer is thought to be linked in part to the manure of cattle grazing in clearcuts near the watershed. The manure and urine waste, plus the pesticides and fertilizers used to grow feed, are among the largest sources of water pollution in North America.
Manure is also a source of the greenhouse gas methane.
Combine this with the methane gas released during the cattle's digestive process, and you find that farm animals were responsible for 27 percent of the anthropogenic methane generated in Canada in 1990. Given these environmental costs, it is odd that our society centres its diet so strongly around meat. The fact that we consume so much more meat than the rest of the world when we don't need to is a clear example of how wasteful our society is - and the need to change. A good way to bring things into balance is to start with our food choices. A simple reduction in the amount of meat we consume will be good for people, good for the animals and good for the planet.