Binaya Ghimire

Human beings evolved as meat eating animals. However, when the game became scarce and the human species left nomadic life and started living in one place, they started farming and raising animals for food. Actually, the beginning of agricultural age about 10,000 BCE (Before Common Era) was the first step towards civilisation.
For thousands of years, commercial farming was unknown to humans. Therefore, their produce (cereal, vegetables, meat, eggs, etc.) were free from pesticides, insecticides, and hormones. Humans ate everything organic and natural. However, the trend changed when mass production methods were invented. Factory farming invented Genetically Modified Organism (GMO). Commercial farming not only took a toll on human health (because they started eating unnatural, toxin treated foods), but also put the environment in danger.
Meat is one of the major food sources for human specials. Before the evolution of industrial farming, families used to raise and process their own livestock. They would feed their livestock toxin-free food. Since feed supplements (artificial substances) were not invented, chickens, hogs, cattle and sheep used to eat natural food and they produced natural eggs, meat, and milk. So, humans would eat natural meat and milk products.
With the evolution of the industrial farming, people not only started feeding artificial substances to animals but also invented the GMO. Today, chicken, eggs, milk and meat we eat are either treated with toxins or GMO. When human beings started eating chemicals and GMO used in livestock and crops, various diseases started to emerge. Factory farming is putting the human race in danger. This type of farming is also threatening the very existence of human race because of damages caused to the environment. Factory farms leave behind an environmental toll which will have to be paid by the future generations.
Raising animals for food uses a lot of resources. A factory farm is one of the greatest polluter of water and major cause of Carbon dioxide gas production. About 85 per cent of soil erosion is caused by industrial faming. Factory farming and ranching is poisoning our food and damaging our land, water and air.
In the United States alone, half of the water is consumed by the animals raised for food, and one-third of all raw materials, including fossil fuels, are used by animals raised for meat and milk. About 87 per cent of agricultural land in the United States is used to raise animals for food. Compared to other industries, factory farms in the United States pollute more water.
Factory farming and ranching is also causing global warming. Methane is one of four greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. An estimated one-fifth of all methane emission is caused by animals raised for food. Factory farming is one of the main causes of deforestation. Rain forests are being destroyed at a rate of 125,000 square miles per year. Deforestation is damaging our soil, air and also the climate.
The cost of raising animals for food is very high. Production and processing consume a lot of resources. What can an average human being do about this? We can rectify this mistake by eating more plant-based food and less meat.