Animal agriculture uses a disproportionate amount of water, not only for keeping the animals alive but also for growing the crops to feed the animals.
water isn’t destroyed by being used for animals to eat or drink. even if it were (which makes no sense and, again, is not true), using water to make food is a good use for water. additionally, myopically focusing on any single metric really harms our understanding of the system as a whole. for instance, cows are fed cottonseed, but cotton isn’t grown for cottonseed: it’s a waste product. why should the crop weight of cottonseed be calculated as a portion of the water use of cows, when that’s a conservation of resources? it shouldn’t. this metric is a red herring.
Using water to make food is a good use so long as it doesn’t led to waste on the part of us humans throwing that food out. This is a larger issue than just animal agriculture, but animal products have larger water footprints and consequently make up a higher proportion of that waste.
Also, water isn’t destroyed, but it’s extracted and shipped to other parts of the planet. This virtually eliminates the water present in the origin biome. Again, this issue cuts across animal and plant agriculture, but animal products have a higher water footprint and make up a higher proportion of that water displacement.
I think my original comment points to a greater understanding of the system wholistically than any of your one-off comments have. If you want to convince the viewer of this point, do my comment but better.
Cottonseed isn’t the only feedstock for animal agriculture. Soy, grain, and corn are all others. The fact that cottonseed is utilized doesn’t negate the utilization of other crops farmed specifically for animal agriculture, and not as a byproduct of another industry. That byproduct could be used for other purposes, including continuation of cotton farmers’ own biostock for future plantings. But of course most cotton grown around the world is genetically modified to withstand fungicides, and these fungicides don’t just wash off. Many people have allergic reactions to cotton depending on how it’s grown and where it’s sourced. Imagine now that that cottonseed is going into your food supply, where it doesn’t go away.
I think that the circular economy is a virtue and we as a species should aim for it, but you pointing to cottonseed metrics ignores the larger variables associated with soy, corn, grain, and alfalfa. Those crops are all grown directly, not indirectly in the case of cottonseed, for animal agriculture, and do not offset the savings you get from using a byproduct.
Cottonseed isn’t the only feedstock for animal agriculture. Soy, grain, and corn are all others.
the fact that your water use numbers, wherever you go, will be tainted with cottonseed or other crops that are actually being conserved by being fed to animals means that your myopic focus on this single metric is not giving you a complete view of the industry.
water isn’t destroyed by being used for animals to eat or drink. even if it were (which makes no sense and, again, is not true), using water to make food is a good use for water. additionally, myopically focusing on any single metric really harms our understanding of the system as a whole. for instance, cows are fed cottonseed, but cotton isn’t grown for cottonseed: it’s a waste product. why should the crop weight of cottonseed be calculated as a portion of the water use of cows, when that’s a conservation of resources? it shouldn’t. this metric is a red herring.
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Using water to make food is a good use so long as it doesn’t led to waste on the part of us humans throwing that food out. This is a larger issue than just animal agriculture, but animal products have larger water footprints and consequently make up a higher proportion of that waste.
Also, water isn’t destroyed, but it’s extracted and shipped to other parts of the planet. This virtually eliminates the water present in the origin biome. Again, this issue cuts across animal and plant agriculture, but animal products have a higher water footprint and make up a higher proportion of that water displacement.
I think my original comment points to a greater understanding of the system wholistically than any of your one-off comments have. If you want to convince the viewer of this point, do my comment but better.
Cottonseed isn’t the only feedstock for animal agriculture. Soy, grain, and corn are all others. The fact that cottonseed is utilized doesn’t negate the utilization of other crops farmed specifically for animal agriculture, and not as a byproduct of another industry. That byproduct could be used for other purposes, including continuation of cotton farmers’ own biostock for future plantings. But of course most cotton grown around the world is genetically modified to withstand fungicides, and these fungicides don’t just wash off. Many people have allergic reactions to cotton depending on how it’s grown and where it’s sourced. Imagine now that that cottonseed is going into your food supply, where it doesn’t go away.
I think that the circular economy is a virtue and we as a species should aim for it, but you pointing to cottonseed metrics ignores the larger variables associated with soy, corn, grain, and alfalfa. Those crops are all grown directly, not indirectly in the case of cottonseed, for animal agriculture, and do not offset the savings you get from using a byproduct.
the fact that your water use numbers, wherever you go, will be tainted with cottonseed or other crops that are actually being conserved by being fed to animals means that your myopic focus on this single metric is not giving you a complete view of the industry.