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Meat-Free Mondays

Cattle produce more CO2 than cars.

By The Green ReportPublished 5 years ago 4 min read
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A comprehensive study has found that huge changes in the agricultural and food industry are required to maintain the stability of the climate.

Homo sapiens, we’re pretty awesome; cars, planes, computers and all manner of technology to keep us entertained for hours. However, in the excitement of it all we seem to have forgotten the age-old saying ‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you’ and in this instance, you may take the saying a little more literally.

We all know our species is having a negative impact on the planet. However, what we don’t seem to be hugely aware of is the fact that essentially every action we take impacts the environment in some way, for better or worst.

As it stands:

The acidity of surface ocean waters has increased by 30% since the industrial revolution.

Carbon dioxide levels are currently the highest they have been in 800, 000 years.

Temperatures are breaking records around the world.

Arctic sea ice coverage has declined every decade since 1979 by 3.5 to 4.1 percent.

Sea levels are rising at the quickest rate in 2000 years.

It is estimated that within 100 years there will be no rainforests.

And most importantly: There is a 95 percent certainty that humans are causing climate change.

By living how we do, we are creating an insulation effect. Like your home, Earth is naturally surrounded by a layer of insulation; it serves to protect the environment within by trapping heat. However, you only need so much insulation before your home becomes too hot, and earth is no different except that when a dynamic, living planet becomes too warm, it begins to cause all kinds of detrimental changes.

We drive cars, use fuel-happy planes and rely on electricals predominantly powered by the burning of non-renewable resources; we know this. However, how conscious are you of the impact your fork, or specifically what’s on it, has on our planet?

To produce meat animals needs to be reared, and unfortunately, they release greenhouse gases, namely in the form of flatulence. Unlike plants that soak up the greenhouse gas CO2, animals—most notably cattle—release methane, which is a 30x more potent heat-trapper than CO2.

Raising livestock for meat, milk, and eggs generates 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the second highest source of emissions releasing more than all transportation combined. This makes sense when you consider the fuel used to transport animal carcasses thousands of miles, cool them and the grow the crops used to feed them.

Worst still, on top of this, farming of animals uses around 70 percent of all agricultural land, making it the leading cause of deforestation, biodiversity loss, and water pollution

Oddly, hamburgers and chainsaws have something in common—the destruction of forestry. Beef is the worst offender when it comes to the loss of forest, being responsible for 70 percent of Amazonian deforestation between 2000 and 2005. The destruction comes from not only the clearance of land for animal farming, but also from the farming of soy which is used as animal feed and exported worldwide.

“The level of destruction was astounding. We documented bulldozers in action clearing large areas of intact forests and grasslands, as well as huge fires billowing smoke into the air,” said Mighty Earth’s policy director Anahita Yousefi.

Meat-eaters need a great deal more space than vegetarians. A Bangladeshi family living off rice, beans, vegetables, and fruit can live on an under an acre of land. On the other hand, the average American, who consumes around 270 pounds of meat a year, needs 20 times more!

While one billion go hungry every day, livestock eat the majority of the food on the planet.

A human population expected to grow by 3 billion, a shift in developing countries to eating more meat, and global consumption on track to double in 40 years all point to the mother of all food crises down the road.

So, what can be done?

Researchers have found that a “flexitarian” diet is needed to keep temperature rises below 2C. A flexitarian person is defined ‘as a person who has a primarily vegetarian diet but occasionally eats meat or fish.’

This flexitarian diet means the average world citizen needs to eat 75 percent less beef, 90 percent less pork and half the number of eggs, while tripling consumption of beans and pulses and quadrupling nuts and seeds. This would cut emissions from livestock in half and better management of manure would enable further cuts.

Reducing meat consumption can be achieved by education, taxes, subsidies for plant-based foods and changes to school and workplace menus.

Prof Peter Smith at the University of Aberdeen said: “We know food choices are very personal, and that behaviour change can be difficult to encourage, but the evidence is now unequivocal – we need to change our diets if we are to have a sustainable future. The fact that it will also make us healthier makes it a no-brainer.”

So, there you have it, reducing meat consumption is a sure-fire way to cut your carbon footprint. Even a small dietary change can make a big difference, why not do meat-free Mondays?

Written by Tom Southgate.

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