Author: 
By: Lia Paw
A lot of people believe that animal agriculture is bad for the environment, so they urge people to be vegetarians. But meat is not the only thing, that can destroy generational resources. Avocados are included.
These delicious looking fruits, which contain 73% water, 15% fat, 8.5% carbohydrates, mostly fibres and 2% protein, are one of the highest demanding products in our world. Due to the demands, it becomes multibillion-dollar industrial products.
The fruit is harvested in Chile, Mexico, and California. The profits from these fruits have made many industries, business corporations, and investors to go to the extreme of producing and selling them on a large market scale. And the consequences are the suffering of carbon footprint, deforestation, droughts, business instability and many more.
In Mexico and Chile, many lands are used to grow and produce avocado. The water used to maintain the good quality of these fruits is also intense. It takes 18 gallons of water to produce one avocado. Two small avocados in a packet have a CO2 footprint of 846.36 grams (almost twice the amount of a kilo of bananas). The energy used to preserve the avocados during shipping is highly intense. The increase in avocado production has had negative impacts on local food security as the global demand is causing prices to rise, which makes it hard for some people to purchase.
Since avocado is made up of 73% water and requires a lot of water to grow, the water exported within the fruit is lost to the local ecosystem where the fruit is grown. With the global temperature rising and water becoming limited, this has impacted the local communities who do not have access or authority on the use of water.
Avocado production has also started violence in the region where the fruit is grown, as the profits for these fruits are very high. There are a lot of incidents, where farmers are kidnapped, threatened, asked to give profits made from avocado production in Mexico.
In conclusion, although Avocado is a healthy and sustainability superfood compared to meat, it has serious environmental consequences. Fruit, meat, or vegetable, whatever it may be, it is very important to understand that going to the extreme always have high risks. When it is good to eat avocados, it is again important to remember the impacts it has on humanity.
Source: Netflix: Rotten (Episode 2)
Source: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-11-20/mexico-cartel-violence-avocados
Source: https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/why-our-love-for-avocados-is-not-sustainable/