Environmetally friendly change to water fillers
ENVIRONMENT
Moving on from meat
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As demand for vegetarian foods like tofu increases, Director of Environmental Studies Dan Northcut touts the environmental benefits of a vegetarian diet.
WATER WASTE According to the Wall Street Journal, it takes 1300 gallons of water to raise a cow to make a burger.
October 29, 2020
The ReMarker
Discoveries
10
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ne thousand three hundred gallons of water. That’s the number of gallons it costs to make one fast-food quarter-pounder according to the Wall Street Journal — 1300 gallons. It takes 1300 gallons of water to grow the cow’s food, hydrate the cow and process its carcass, per burger. Just how bad is meat production for the environment? People who eat meat often overlook the environmental impacts of their eating habits. Since plants take significantly less resources to cultivate than poultry or cattle, a vegetarian diet can benefit the environment, even in ways that may not be visible at first. “The general rule of thumb, environmentally speaking, is: the lower on the food chain you can eat, the better it is for the environment,” Director of Environmental Studies Dan Northcut said. “People have to keep in mind the energy and resources that it takes to grow food for animals, and the energy and water that it takes to keep feeding the animals for months, as well as the pollution that comes from all of that.” Since the energy transfer when an animal consumes food is not 100% efficient, the energy consumption that comes from eating meat comes with many hidden costs. Pollution, water waste, and energy waste are just a few parts that make up the overall cost of eating meat. “The cost, environmentally, is mostly in all of that extra water usage, fertilizer and feed usage: everything that goes into the agriculture of growing the food for the animals,” Northcut said. “Monetarily and environmentally, being vegetarian is much better than eating meat.” In fact, most of the farmland in the United States is used to contribute to the feeding and upkeep of livestock, as opposed to being used for growing food for human consumption. “The majority of crop space in the United States is used to grow animal feed,” Northcut said. “If you converted all of that crop space to growing food that people could eat, you wouldn’t have a food shortage.” Northcut stresses that people don’t ned to be completely vegetarian in order to cut down on the environmental impact of their eating habits. Although it may seem difficult at first to stop eating meat, gradually cutting down on meat consumption is easier than it seems. “I get it when people have that reaction of ‘you want me to be vegetarian?’ Northcut said. “I’m not completely vegetarian myself, I do eat meat sometimes, but I eat red meat maybe only once a month. What I would say to people that have that question is, just cut down on your consumption. Cut down over time, and you’ll find over time that you don’t miss it as much as you thought you would.” In fact, for people who still want to eat meat, meat replacements like the Impossible
Burger are much more environmentally friendly. In addition, the taste is almost indistinguishable from regular meat. “The flavor in an Impossible Burger is almost the same [as a regular burger],” Northcut said. “I hardly ever get burgers, since 20 years ago, but when that Impossible Burger came out, I tried it, and I really liked it. Now, I probably eat an Impossible Burger maybe once a month. Comparison-wise, it’s made almost entirely of plant material, so it’s a lot better for the environment than a regular burger.” Because everything moves in such slow motion, people often don’t realize the impact [of their eating habits], since they get used to it as it happens. Dan Northcut, Director of Environmental Studies
For people who want to go vegetarian but worry about the blandness of a vegetarian diet, it’s important to note that the flavor of a meal often depends on the method used to prepare it. According to Northcut, a well-prepared vegetarian meal can taste just as good, if not better, than one with meat. “A big part of eating vegetarian is thinking about how to cook a meal with the spices and methods that can make it tasty,” Northcut said. “My wife’s vegetarian, so we eat vegetarian at home. Because she knows how to cook vegetarian meals really well, I don’t miss meat at home. I think people who don’t eat vegetarian should know that there are plenty of ways to make vegetarian food tasty and worthwhile.” Although cutting down on meat consumption is one major way to reduce the environmental impact of a person’s eating habits, Northcut points out that it’s not the only thing that environmentally-conscious consumers can do. “One of the best things you can do is to try and find foods that are grown locally, whether plant- or animal-based,” Northcut said. “The more local your food is, the better, because there’s less transportation cost and fuel cost.” In addition to the more immediate impacts of eating meat that people might think of, such as water waste or air pollution, the effects of eating meat extend even further beyond in places that are not apparent at first glance. “In terms of habitat for wildlife, whether it’s wild plants or wild animals that depend on those plants, the more land that we use to grow food for the animals that we consume, the less land there is for nature,” Northcut said. “That means we see less birds around, or less butterflies, since we’re using up their habitat. Because everything moves in such slow motion, people often don’t realize the impact, since they get used to it as it happens. By the time it’s done, no one’s noticed the difference from before, but big changes have happened.” STORY Jack Davis, Han Zhang GRAPHIC Jonathan Yin
by Nikhil Dattatreya, Ethan Borge ver the summer, the school replaced many of the water fountains with water bottle fillers. While some of the benefits of these new water bottle fillers are clear, like reducing the spread of disease, some of the other benefits are less known, like reducing the amount of water wasted within the school. However, reducing the use of single-use water bottles has never been more needed, as recent studies by EPA show that less than ten percent of the plastic in the last 40 years has been recycled. Director of Environmental Studies Dan Northcut has always been a proponent of installing the water bottle fillers. “The water bottle fillers are great for reducing the amount of plastic waste our school produces,” Northcut said. “Not only are they great for reducing the amount of plastic, but also ended up reducing the amount of water wasted as well.” While it is unfortunate that it took a pandemic to promote these changes, it was a change that helps the school lower its total carbon footprint. “By installing them at the school, we are lowing our carbon footprint,” Northcut said. “It also has the added bonus of lowering water costs, encouraging people to stay hydrated, and lower the total amount of germs on or near the fountains.” Northcut has been keeping track of the water bottle count of in the new science building since it’s completion. “Ever since we moved into the new science building, I’ve been watching the numbers of bottles saved go up very quickly,” Northcut said. “In fact, last year, even with the school closing early, we still managed to get to 10,000 plastic water bottles saved. Northcut is also impressed by the number of water bottles that have been saved in the last few weeks in The Commons. “I’m honestly impressed that the water bottle filler next to the locker rooms has already reached three thousand water bottles saved within a few weeks,” Northcut said. “That really speaks to the number of reusable water bottles that kids have been using within the campus. Northcut believes that it is up to the younger generations to determine where the world is going and that St. Marks does an amazing job of teaching students about how to benefit the environment throughout our daily lives. “It’s up to the younger generations to make the changes that will stop the downward spiral of overuse of resources within the world,” Northcut said. “Even with small changes like water bottle fillers, we are slowly helping the world through our own community.”
By the
numbers
320 million tons of meat produced in 2013
80
billion animals killed each year for meat
43
kilograms of meat consumed per person in 2014 Credit: Our World in Data
Jeffrey S. Genecov, ‘77, DDS, MSD
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