Preview

The Only Way To Have A Cow Bill Mckibben Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
303 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Only Way To Have A Cow Bill Mckibben Analysis
Bill Mckibben, author and environmentalist, explains why being a vegetarian is beneficial for the environment in the article "The Only Way to Have a Cow." He argues that the manufacturing of corn and beef releases harmful gasses into the atmosphere. Eating less meat would decrease the amount of those gasses and improve the environment. I believe there is some truth to what McKibben is saying but his tone is slightly like that of someone who is or thinks they are superior.
McKibben sounds like he thinks he's better than others just because he is a vegetarian. In the first paragraph he states that he hasn't eaten meat in years, "That I haven’t visited a McDonald’s since college? That if you asked me how I like my steak, I’d say I don’t really

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Bill McKibben’s essay “The Only Way to Have a Cow” establishes a sense of comfort as his approach to the meat eating controversy is superbly logical. The current industrial approach to livestock has birthed an issue pertaining to the sustainability and healthy feeding of our lives. Yet there is another problem in relation to our consumption, which tends to be overlooked. If the pricing of meat reflected in the damage done to our environments, feedlot beef would cost more than grass-fed beef both financially and environmentally. It is the rapid, inhumane dietary feeding of the cow which is insulting, not the consumption of it, and taking no responsibility for the run-off is an offense to the earth and it’s inhabitants. These costs alone are part of the reasoning for the current system which is inefficient and uneconomically feasible. The…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Vegetarian is the New Prius”, Kathy Freston claims that having a vegetarian meals is helpful to environment. Global warming is one of the major issue in the world. She mentioned about the hybrid Toyota Prius which is the eco-friendly car that reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. But she said there’s a easier and better way to do it. She…

    • 636 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    At the beginning of the chapter, Eric meets Hank a local rancher, who shows him around the subdivisions of Colorado Spring that is taking over the ranch land. “The industrialization of cattle-raising and meatpacking over the past two decades has completely altered how beef is produced- and the towns that produce it. Responding to the demands of the fast food and supermarket chains, the meatpacking giants have cut costs by cutting wages. They have turned one of the nation's best manufacturing jobs into one of the lowest paying, created by a migrant industrial workforce of poor immigrants, tolerated high injury rates, and spawned rural ghettos in the American heartland” (Schlosser 149). This quote explains in meat processing companies, which…

    • 176 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Leon The Cow Analysis

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This assignment involved the creation of a picture book in a pair. Max and I have strived to address the issue of the recent refugee crisis, through the use of various techniques in our picture book, Leon the Cow. The contrast of safety and peace between the refugee’s (in the book’s case Leon’s) home country and Australia’s was represented by the different colours of the text and the drawings. There was also a part of the story where the farmer handed Leon a sandwich, which was a reference to peace made between the farmer and Leon.…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In Fred Coleer’s argument, Adjust Mindset, he states that the majority of people need to rely on eating meat in order to survive. Fred points out to why most of society including our health department can’t see the consequences of eating meat. His main point is that if you start becoming vegan, then you’ll less likely become sick and have various diseases or become more intelligent. Others would argue that just because your primary diet is based on consuming meat that doesn’t mean you would be any less smart or become any less sick than a vegetarian. In this case, this wouldn’t change the way of me of being a carnivore because who said vegans aren’t prone to other diseases that aren’t related to the animals that we consume. Others might argue…

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Only Way to Have a Cow" by Bill McKibben tries to inform humans to decrease the intake of meat eating and how this habit could harm our environment. Cow would release harmful substance like methane when they fart or belch. These actions could actually lead to a bigger problem, global warming. Turning into vegans could make environment more friendly. Eating grass fed cows are more healthy that eating corn fed cows. However another problem forms, grass fed cows are more expensive then corn fed grass which causes people with low incomes couldn't afford to eat…

    • 97 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    He then talks about how they treat animals in slaughterhouses but then goes on to talk about a farm he went to. He notices that the animals live their lives happy and are still killed for food. He likes the idea of this type of farm. He talks about we can’t just be vegetarian instead we should open our eyes and look at how are meat is killed. He also suggest that when we eat animals to give them the “respect they deserve”…

    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    That question has been very intelligently addressed in Ted Kerasote 's book called Bloodties. He makes a big a point in his introduction to the book that as long as we hunt locally (so that we don 't burn fossil fuel getting to our quarry) and as long as we eat the victim, we do infinitely less harm to the overall environment than we do by eating ordinary supermarket vegetables. After all, the vegetables are grown by an energy-hungry agribusiness whose pesticides decimate the ecosystem and whose combines fatally batter hundreds of small animals (insects, toads, snakes, ground-nesting birds, mice, voles, woodchucks, striped squirrels, weasels, skunks, foxes) in the course of each harvest. But venison is in dramatic contrast to the vegetables resulting from that harvest, as well as to feed-dependent pork, beef, mutton, chicken and turkey. Unlike agricultural produce, venison requires no pesticide or fossil-fuel to grow, and results in the loss of just one life: the deer 's.9 Why don 't we all see this? Because to many of us, the little animals in the crops are vermin and the deer are Bambi, yet as Kerasote points out, life is precious to all creatures. This point that he makes shows us how deep this animal harm goes, people who are vegans probably do not think this deep. The land cleared for their food was once a home to animals. That same land is annually inhabited by other animals and every year they get killed or chased away by machinery. Kerasote hunts, probably very well. As a hunter he sounds more like an Inuit or a Bushman (or more like a wolf or a mountain lion, to name two other hunters of the deer) than like the camouflage-clad, beer-sodden macho types with automatic weapons who infest the woods each fall. And because he 's a hunter, Kerasote 's descriptions of hunts are realistic…

    • 2630 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    watchmen vs dark knight

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Joseph pace explains how vegetarian diet has the better health benefits. Pace talks about how plant foods lower risk of chronic disease while animal foods increase it .He also talks about how animal food have serious nutritional drawbacks. Meat contains far too much saturated fat and cholesterol, and may even carry traces of hormones, steriods and antibiotics. Animal food are also gaining notoriety as breeding around for E.colis, complobacter and other bacteria that cause illness.…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “Some people become vegetarians after realizing the devastation that the meat industry is having on the environment.” (Vegetarian Times)…

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    This was the first time I saw The Witch and the Cow, however, it is the second time I saw Teat Beat of Sex. My reaction to The Witch and the Cow was that it didn’t feel like a story. My expectations for animations are stories which I have broaden my views after Signe explained that she only saw the same type of films in Hollywood. This is like how I’m only exposed to a certain type of animation. Even though there were repetition of actions like the cow poop and chasing cows, I was waiting for a more relevant action for the story. It was very funny and creative because its a tiny witch in a pile of cow’s poop. There were many unexpected reactions like when the witch killed the cow and I was expecting blood, but instead there were millions of…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    • 884 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The author starts off strong with logos, which appeals to logic. In response to the comments about animals in our food production, she writes, “the studies show only that the prevailing methods of producing meat — that is, crowding animals together in factory farms, storing their waste in giant lagoons and cutting down forests to grow crops to feed them — cause substantial greenhouse gases” (Niman), meaning that small farms and farms can cut down on greenhouse gases if, “they keep their animals outdoors on pasture and make little use of machinery.” (Niman) She points out, “In contrast to traditional farms, industrial livestock and poultry facilities keep animals in buildings with mechanized systems for feeding, lighting, sewage flushing, ventilation, heating and cooling, all of which generate emissions,” which are what most statistics pointing the guilt finger at meat production are referring to. The author, being a “rancher…who raises cattle, goats and turkeys the traditional way (on grass)” (Niman), neatly brushes off relations of “meat (especially beef) is closely linked to global warming” (Niman), to her own farm. Meat and dairy would certainly win the greenhouse gas competition if not…

    • 884 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Another year passed and I went vegan, cutting off all forms of exploiting animals equally for ethical and environmental reasons. The difference between veganism and vegetarianism is vast. Vegetarianism only cuts out the consumption of meat, ignoring the damage of all animal agriculture in total. And avoiding animal products of every sort, as I have found, leads to a more peaceful and cleaner earth. Initially, vegans avoid a leading contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, wasting countless amounts of clean drinking water able to produce healthy foods, and aiding horrendous accounts of deforestation. A further gentle impact on earth calls for other things than just being vegan. Since being vegan, I've realized and acted on the importance of recycling and using reusable water bottles and containers. Also, recently I have stopped shopping at large brand name companies simply in that they aren't fair…

    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Animal Agriculture Satire

    • 309 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Animal agriculture is ruining our planet. Scientists say that animal agriculture is responsible for more than 18 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than the combined exhaust gases from all transportation in the world. Therefore, this means that riding your bike, walking or taking the bus will not help if you want to be kind to our earth. Although I do understand that some people might enjoy eating meat and that they might not feel complete without it the consequences of it has no mercy.…

    • 309 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    As the article was ending he began to try too hard to convince the reader and ended up losing the interest. He seemed to be blaming the entire world's problems on meat consumption. The problem is not eating the meat; it is how the meat is processed. Pace stated “Most of today's modernized farms have long, windowless sheds in which animals live like prisoners their entire lives” (Pace 355) He is saying that the way farms are being run now a days are destroying the environment and that is why eating meat is bad. Think back hundreds of years ago when the Native Americans used to roam North America. The animals were free, then hunted down and eaten. No one seemed to have a problem with animal consumption back then. The way to improve farms and the environment is not by not eating them, it is by changing they way they are processed. Even if most of the world decides to become a vegetarian the processing process will remain the same and the overpopulated animals will be killed the same, but this time it will go to waste because no one will eat it.…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays