As firefighters are frantically battling the overpowering blazes spreading across the Los Angeles area, their heroic efforts are hampered by drastic water shortages.
The largest user of water in California, by far, is the dairy industry, which consists of hundreds of massive dairy feedlots surrounded by miles of alfalfa fields used to feed the state's 1.7 million cattle. Not only is this industry using 52 billion gallons of water each year, but their solution to the gargantuan manure waste problem they have created is to mix the manure with water that they spray on their own fields as fertilizer. This glop seeps into the groundwater contaminating it to the point where citizens of the surrounding communities need to purchase safe drinking water.
The dairy industry has gotten more efficient with water use over the last few decades, but this is offset by increased production.
The dairy industry is also a major contributor to the greenhouse gases that are fueling the drastic climate changes that is fueling the LA fires.
California will never be able to solve their water crisis until they take real steps to address the dairy industry's cow in the room.
Our sources for this meme are civileats.com and statista.com with a little bit of math:
according to Stastia, California dairies produced about 41 billion pounds of milk in 2023. A gallon of milk weighs about 8 1/2 pounds, or 4.7 billion gallons per year. This divides to about 13 million gallons a day.
The largest user of water in California, by far, is the dairy industry, which consists of hundreds of massive dairy feedlots surrounded by miles of alfalfa fields used to feed the state's 1.7 million cattle. Not only is this industry using 52 billion gallons of water each year, but their solution to the gargantuan manure waste problem they have created is to mix the manure with water that they spray on their own fields as fertilizer. This glop seeps into the groundwater contaminating it to the point where citizens of the surrounding communities need to purchase safe drinking water.
The dairy industry has gotten more efficient with water use over the last few decades, but this is offset by increased production.
The dairy industry is also a major contributor to the greenhouse gases that are fueling the drastic climate changes that is fueling the LA fires.
California will never be able to solve their water crisis until they take real steps to address the dairy industry's cow in the room.
Our sources for this meme are civileats.com and statista.com with a little bit of math:
according to Stastia, California dairies produced about 41 billion pounds of milk in 2023. A gallon of milk weighs about 8 1/2 pounds, or 4.7 billion gallons per year. This divides to about 13 million gallons a day.
Meme, Dairy, Water, Water Shortage, Water Pollution, Cows, Climate Change, Global Warming, Forest Fires, Los Angeles Fire, California