Factory Farming Destroys Rain Forests and Lowers Oxygen and Bio-Diversity

Brazil is the perfect example of how cattle ranching can destroy one of our natural resources. Since at least the 1970s, the leading cause of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has been grazing lands for cattle. The government attributed 38% of deforestation from 1966-1975 to large-scale cattle ranching, but today it’s worse.  Brazilian meat imports in Europe has gone up  from 40 to 74%. 80% of this meat comes from land in the Amazon.

What is driving deforestation?

• The devaluation of the Brazilian real doubled the price of beef  and created an incentive to expand their pasture areas
• Road construction reduce the costs of shipping and packing beef
• At times of high inflation, the appreciation of cattle prices and the stream of services they provide may be a better financial investment
• Developers can gain title to Amazon lands by clearing forest and placing a few head of cattle on the land. Essentially grazing land for cattle are a way to gain ownership of land in the Amazon

Greenpeace has confirm that grazing land for beef continues to be the largest driver of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The research shows that the total area occupied by cattle ranches in the Brazilian Amazon is 214,000 square miles. Just how big is that? A little larger than France. So between 1990 and 2003 the cow population has nearly tripled from 26.6 million to 64 million in the Brazilian Amazon.

Deforestation and Oxygen

Our forest and trees are “the lungs of the Earth.” By destroying them, we are severely hurting the  planet’s oxygen supply. Oxygen is the most abundant chemical element, by mass, in our biosphere. Oxygen is the third most abundant chemical element in the universe. Remove oxygen and only anaerobic bacteria could survive. Our forests are also important to the world’s climate because they help in rain formation and absorb carbon dioxide.

Bottom line: As vast forests such as the Amazon are cut back, photosynthesis is greatly reduced. No photosynthesis, no oxygen. No oxygen, no life.

Deforestation and Bio-diversity

While the loss of forests is clearly visible, a decline in biodiversity is not. However, fewer species in the ecosystem increases the fragility of life for all species. Deforestation can directly lead to biodiversity when animal species no longer have their habitat, cannot relocate, and therefore become extinct. Deforestation can also lead to certain tree species permanently disappearing, which affects biodiversity of plant species.

How bad is it?

Well, half of all 5 to 80 million species live in the rainforest and it only makes up seven percent of Earth’s total land area, making these habitats dense with life. Scientists have only named 1.5 million species in detail, but say 137 species are  becoming extinct daily.