Anna Roach

Professor Hughes

English Composition II

5 March 2019

Annotated Bibliography

My essay will attempt to answer whether going vegan and switching to a diet with no

animal products will have a positive impact on the environment and lessen our carbon footprint. I

want to know what kind of effect animal products, factory farms, and methane have on our

environment. What kind of impact do factory farms, cattle, pollution and waste from farms have

on our environment? What can veganism do to fix this? What are more benefits besides just the

environmental benefits?

Piasecka, Dominika. “The Hard Facts: How Going Vegan Impacts the Environment and

Our Health.” Vegan Food & Living, 13 Aug. 2018, www.veganfoodandliving.com/the-

hard-facts-how-going-vegan-impacts-the-environment-and-our-health/.

This article will be my first source for my paper. This article claims that dairy itself counts

for 4% of greenhouse gas emissions. It discusses the importance of going vegan by studying

greenhouse gas emissions, and that cutting dairy and not eating cows will cut this number

drastically. It also explains how going vegan can reduce world hunger by eating more crops, not

feeding them to animals. For example, 100 calories fed to an animal only gives us 12 calories of

that animals body to consume. The audience for this piece could be anyone interested in benefits
of going vegan. The author's purpose of writing this article is to inform readers of benefits of

going vegan by discussing greenhouse gas emissions, world hunger, and health benefits as well.

The article was published in August of 2018, so the information is very relevant and recent. The

effect it has on the paper is giving credible, updated information. The writer is Dominicka

Piasecka, and she is the Media and PR officer at The Vegan Society, and there’s a small bio

about her at the end of the article. It also includes a link to the Vegan Society’s website, so we

know that it’s a real organization with concerns about the environment. I will use this

information in my research paper by sharing the information about greenhouse gases and how

cutting off dairy production will reduce this number. I will also use the information on how

eating crops directly can battle world hunger problems. It answers my question about factory

farm and cow pollution, and my question that talks about benefits outside of pollution from

factory farms.

Petter, Olivia. “Going Vegan Is 'Single Biggest Way' to Reduce Our Impact on the Planet, Study

Finds.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 29 Aug. 2018,

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/veganism-environmental-impact-

planet-reduced-plant-based-diet-humans-study-a8378631.html.

I am going to use this article in my essay because it answers my questions about how

veganism reduces carbon footprint and reduces greenhouse gas emissions, as well as free up wild

land that’s been lost to agriculture. The combination of all these factors can even help stop

extinction of some species! This article states that dairy and animal farming adds up to 60% of

our greenhouse gas emissions, which are depleting our ozone layer, thus causing global

warming. The author’s purpose is to inform the facts of going vegan by stating research carried
 out by scientists and sharing statistics about greenhouse gases. The intended audience can be

anyone interested in learning about the benefits of going vegan. Since it was written in June of

2018, it established credibility with recent and relevant statistics. The writer is named Olivia

Petter, and she’s a writer for The Independent ( a mainstream news source). She cites accurate

and real information in the article by using studies from the University of Oxford, and by

interviewing one of these researchers named Joseph Poore. Olivia is detailed with the

information on this research throughout the article. This article will be useful in answering my

questions I have about how much greenhouse gas is produced during animal agriculture, and

how veganism can reduce this number, as well as save land, water, and global acidification.

Vergunst, Francis, et al. “Five Ways the Meat on Your Plate Is Killing the Planet.” The Conversation,

The Conversation, 20 Nov. 2018, theconversation.com/five-ways-the-meat-on-your-plate-is-

killing-the-planet-76128.

I am using this article because it answers my main question: what effect does animal

farming have on our environment? It claims that meat contributes to loss of biodiversity, land

loss, acid rain, calcification of coral reefs, and deforestation. Livestock contributes to 18% of

greenhouse gas emissions, which are depleting our ozone layer and contributing to global

warming. It also claims that reducing our consumption of animal products will lessen these

number and effects greatly. Outside of environmental effects, it hurts the poor who are

currently starving, and lessening the number of animals farmed will free up a high number of

grain to feed to them. Antibiotics we could be using for human sickness is being used to cure

meats before they’re shipped to stores, which is a waste of resources. The author’s purpose is

to inform the reader of the devastating effects of consuming meat, and it applies to anyone who
 consumes factory farmed meat. The author’s are Francis Verngust and Julian Savulescu, both

of which are very credible authors. Francis is a postdoctoral researcher at the Universite de

Montreal. Julian is a professor of practical ethics at at Monash University. Both of their

accomplishments adds to the credibility of this article, and makes it a great resource for my

paper.

France-Presse, Agence. “Methane Emissions from Cattle Are 11% Higher than Estimated.” The

Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 29 Sept. 2017,

www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/29/methane-emissions-cattle-11-percent-higher-

than-estimated.

This source will be useful because it finally answers my question about methane emission

numbers and effects of factory farm waste. This article is written by a big name news source:

The Guardian. The thesis of this article is that the methane emissions due to cow farming is

larger than we originally thought (in 2017). It claims that methane accounts for about 16% of

global emissions of greenhouse gases, which is 11% higher than originally thought by

scientists from the IPCC. The reason why scientists are so concerned about the methane

emissions is because it is much more potent than CO2 because it captures more of the sun’s

force, and it poses 28% more of a “global warming potential”. The sharp rise in methane

pollution could halter the goal created of capping global warming below 2C in the Paris

Climate Pact. The author’s purpose is to inform the reader of harmful methane emissions

caused by farming livestock (specifically cows). The author is Agence France-Presse, which is

a reliable, international news agency in Paris, France. It’s the world’s oldest news agency. The
 article also includes links on further information on the Paris Climate Pact, the Carbon Balance

and Management journal, and data from the UN on methane emissions.

Wang, George C. “Go Vegan, Save the Planet.” CNN, Cable News Network, 9 Apr. 2017,

www.cnn.com/2017/04/08/opinions/go-vegan-save-the-planet-wang/index.html.

This article will be a great resource for my paper. It has the right amount of facts and

persuasion to really get the point across: our food systems are polluting our earth. The most

shocking fact stated is: by the year 2050, if we keep producing meat the same way we have

been, there will be an 80% increase in greenhouse gas emissions. This answers my questions

about factory farm impacts and harmful greenhouse gas emissions. This can, fortunately, be

avoided. If we ate a diet with less beef, more fish, veggies, and fruits, this number of gas

emissions will decrease. It states that a plant based diet is the most effective. It brings up the

issue that 35% of the world's grain is fed to livestock, which could be more useful if fed to

starving countries. 80% of deforestation is due to cattle raising, and cattle farming is the main

cause of all of these problems. After every single statistic stated in the article, there is a link to

the source that the statistics came from. The author is persuading the reader to reduce dairy and

red meat consumption, and informs the reader with facts. The author, George C. Wang, is a

writer for CNN and has a PhD in geriatric medicine, so he is a very credible source.

Springmann, Marco, et al. “Analysis and Valuation of the Health and Climate Change Cobenefits of

Dietary Change.” PNAS, National Academy of Sciences, 12 Apr. 2016,

www.pnas.org/content/113/15/4146.long.
 This is a scholarly article written about a study done by Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. It hits all of my main questions, such as

the benefits of a plant based and diet and exactly how eating animals and animal products

harms our environment. The thesis of this article is that our food choices are responsible for at

least 25% of all greenhouse gas emissions (80% associated with livestock production), and too

many animal products in our diet can cause serious health problems such as heart disease and

obesity. There are a plethora of footnotes, charts and figures, and references to make this

article my most reliable source yet. The results of the study show that changes in our daily food

system would have to meet certain dietary patterns, such as increasing global produce

production/ consumption and decreasing global red meat consumption by about 50%. Overall,

less consumption of animal products reduces greenhouse gas emissions and diet- related

deaths/ illnesses. The purpose of this article is to explore what can happen if we reduce our

consumption of animal products. There are multiple authors: Marco Springmann (University of

Oxford professor), H. Charles J. Godfray, Mike Rayner, and Peter Scarborough. All are

professors at the University of Oxford and are the ones who conducted the research that went

into the scholarly article.

Turner, Laura. “How Eating Less Meat Can Reduce Poverty.” The Borgen Project, 27 Sept. 2018,

borgenproject.org/eating-less-meat-can-reduce-poverty/.

The purpose of this blog is to prove that eating less meat can reduce poverty and world

hunger. It can help end world hunger because it estimates that 10-15 percent of grains are

currently being fed to livestock, and if we cut down on meat consumption, the number of

starving could drop. It also estimates that if we reduced the amount of meat produced in 50
high consuming countries, we could feed 3.6 million malnourished children around the world.

Not only that, but eating a diet rich in plant-based foods can also make people healthier

because diets would include less fats and cholesterol. This answers my question about other

benefits of switching to a plant based diet outside of just being good for our environment. This

article was written in 2018, so all of the information is very up to date. The author is Laura

Turner is an intern writer for The Borgen Project who is interested in global issues, especially

in poverty. Her purpose of writing this article is to inform the reader that their hgh

consumption of meat has an effect on more of the world that we don’t always see.