<aside> 🐮 Hello Ecowarriors! Today, we'll be looking at a few different ways energy can generated for human use. All these are what we scientists call nonrenewable energy sources. Nonrenewable energy comes from a limited source, like oil or coal, meaning one day we might run out.

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Welcome back yet again to our fourth week of learning, where we will discover food’s impact on the environment. We’ll be using cow farming as an example, but all food creation affects the world we live in. So, without further ado, let’s get started!

Nice to meet you, everyone! My name’s Calore the Cow! Let’s start with a quick reminder about food chain. As you know, we cows eat grass and other greens which get their nutritious energy from sunlight. When you eat beef, you’re getting some of that original energy. You can imagine that energy taking one step up the food chain from plants to cows, and one more step from cows to people.

In food chains, there’s something called the 10% Rule. This rule says that a lot of energy is lost each step you take up the food chain. This means you have to farm way more land to make sure everyone gets enough nutritious energy from their beef. My twin Casey will talk about this and the cattle factories.

Howdy, I’m Casey. Have you ever wondered where most of the beef you eat comes from? Well, cows like me are farmed in massive numbers before being sent to the slaughter house. I’m sure you can tell that I’m not a fan of this process. It hurts us cows and the environment as a whole**.**

You may be aware that cattle factories require land (pasture) for cows and other animals to graze on. Well, in order to create more space, trees are cut down, causing deforestation, which is a big problem. Trees create beautiful and important ecosystems for many animals and people to live, and without them, the environment is disrupted. Trees also absorb (take in) a harmful chemical called carbon dioxide. You’ll learn more about why that’s important in a later module.

Another problem is that we cows create pollution. Cows, like everyone else, need to fart. Cow farts are full of a chemical called methane, which causes climate change (a harmful thing you’ll learn about in the future). There are so many cows on earth that this actually has a very large effect on the environment and our society. On top of that, cow factory farms use pesticides, medicines, and machines that put toxic chemicals in the water, earth, and air.

Together, the destruction of forests and release of pollutants are very dangerous for the health of the world’s systems. Conditions inside these factories are also very bad for cows, so bad that going into detail might give you nightmares. We’ll let you explore that in the future.

Many people decide to go vegan to try and lessen the effect. Calore and I are not trying to get you to go vegan or vegetarian, we’re just trying to spread awareness of what these cattle factories are doing. There are other alternatives, like buying sustainable or organic foods. Many people don’t have the resources to take either of these actions, and that’s okay.

<aside> 🎁 That’s it for the lesson today, hope you enjoyed it! Once you're done, make sure to fill out this form of the day!

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