Eye Opener: CSPI

Some of things I learned after reading the facts on all the different components that go into raising and killing cattle are that cattle suffer health problems from a diet that is high in grains. So far in my career of learning about nutrition is that grains, especially whole grains, are very good for you; so it surprised me that cattle actually get health problems from eating too much. I suppose, though, too much of anything is bad. A couple more things I learned was cow manure is equivalent to 33 million cars' carbon dioxide and that manure lagoons break open and spill during a storm or something. One of the most shocking facts I think I read though was that there are far more antibiotics given to cattle than to people! That's a lot of antibiotics.
My results from the Eating Green Calculator were that 2.8 acres are used for growing grain and grass in order to feed the cattle, 58.9 pounds of fertilizer are used to grow the animal feed, 0.3 pounds of pesticides are used on the fields, and 17,732 pounds of manure is produced from the cows. The number of acres and pounds of fertilizer and pesticides doesn't sound like a lot to me, but the number of pounds of manure produced sure surprised me. I can't even imagine that amount of manure. I wasn't able to see the results after clicking "Click here to improve your diet and protect your environment", therefore, I wasn't able to see and decide on the pledge.
After scoring my diet, some foods that gained me points were eating extra-lean beef, fat-free dairy, fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. Some foods that lost me points were eating high amounts and/or low amounts of beef, chicken, egg, milk, cheese, and ice cream. The area in which I need the most improvement on is environment. One thing I can do to improve is eating more organic foods.
To me this means I'm a bad influence, bad influence on the environment and I believe it. I know that some of my actions cause harm to the environment and there are actions I can take to help improve the environment but at the same time I feel like I can only do so much. Although I can maybe buy some organic items such as meat and milk every month, I can't afford to buy all my groceries organic because after all, I am a poor college student. I do, however, plan to do more when I can afford to do so.