[edit] The Environment
In 2006, a 400-page report by United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organisation entitled Livestock's Long Shadow[1] identified the world's rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate, forests and wildlife; a threat to the environment larger than all transportation in the world combined.
- Carbon Dioxide: Burning fuel to produce fertiliser to grow feed, to produce meat and to transport it -- and clearing vegetation for grazing -- produces 9 per cent of all emissions of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas. Veg News magazine's June 2008 edition points out that 80 pounds of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere for every 2.2 pounds of meat produced. In the article "The Climate Control Diet," VegNews reports on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which recommends plant foods and a reduction in meat consumption for the reduction of greenhouse gasses. IPCC head Rajendra Pachuri urges, "Please eat less meat--meat is a very carbon-intensive commodity." http://www.ipcc.ch/index.htm
- Deforestation: Raising cattle, according to the report, is "the major driver of deforestation" worldwide, and overgrazing is turning a fifth of all pastures and ranges into desert. For information about the destruction of the Amazonian rainforest to graze cattle for the meat industry: http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html
- Methane: Cows' wind and manure emit more than one third of emissions of another, methane, which warms the world 20 times faster than carbon dioxide.
- Water: Cows drink enormous amounts of water; it takes 990 liters of water, for example, to produce one liter of milk. Food and Water Watch has developed an online map of factory farms throughout the United States. The map allows you to monitor the number and types of factory farms near you. Manure taints the water supply and air quality. For factory farm polluters in your area check out: http://www.factoryfarmmap.org/
Study: Vegan diets healthier for planet, people than meat diets
Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin are Assistant Professors in Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago. Their study on diet, energy and global warming has been accepted for publication in the journal Earth Interactions.
The food that people eat is just as important as what kind of cars they drive when it comes to creating the greenhouse-gas emissions that many scientists have linked to global warming, according to a report accepted for publication in the journal Earth Interactions. Both the burning of fossil fuels during food production and non-carbon dioxide emissions associated with livestock and animal waste contribute to the problem, the University of Chicago's Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin wrote in the report.
The average American diet requires the production of an extra ton and a half of carbon dioxide-equivalent, in the form of actual carbon dioxide as well as methane and other greenhouse gases compared to a strictly vegetarian diet, according to Eshel and Martin. And with Earth Day approaching on April 22, cutting down on just a few eggs or hamburgers each week is an easy way to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, they said. "We neither make a value judgment nor do we make a categorical statement," said Eshel, an Assistant Professor in Geophysical Sciences.
"We say that however close you can be to a vegan diet and further from the mean American diet, the better you are for the planet. It doesn't have to be all the way to the extreme end of vegan. If you simply cut down from two burgers a week to one, you've already made a substantial difference."
The average American drives 8,322 miles by car annually, emitting 1.9 to 4.7 tons of carbon dioxide, depending on the vehicle model and fuel efficiency. Meanwhile, Americans also consume an average of 3,774 calories of food each day.
In 2002, energy used for food production accounted for 17 percent of all fossil fuel use in the United States. And the burning of these fossil fuels emitted three-quarters of a ton of carbon dioxide per person. That alone amounts to approximately one-third the average greenhouse-gas emissions of personal transportation. But livestock production and associated animal waste also emit greenhouse gases not associated with fossil-fuel combustion, primarily methane and nitrous oxide.
"An example would be manure lagoons that are associated with large-scale pork production," Eshel said. "Those emit a lot of nitrous oxide into the atmosphere."
While methane and nitrous oxide are relatively rare compared with carbon dioxide, they are--molecule for molecule--far more powerful greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. A single pound of methane, for example, has the same greenhouse effect as approximately 50 pounds of carbon dioxide.
In their study, Eshel and Martin compared the energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions that underlie five diets: average American, red meat, fish, poultry and vegetarian (including eggs and dairy), all equaling 3,774 calories per day.
The vegetarian diet turned out to be the most energy-efficient, followed by poultry and the average American diet. Fish and red meat virtually tied as the least efficient.
The impact of producing fish came as the study's biggest surprise to Martin, an Assistant Professor in Geophysical Sciences. "Fish can be from one extreme to the other," Martin said. Sardines and anchovies flourish near coastal areas and can be harvested with minimal energy expenditure. But swordfish and other large predatory species required energy-intensive long-distance voyages.
Martin and Eshel's research indicated that plant-based diets are healthier for people as well as for the planet.
"The adverse effects of dietary animal fat intake on cardiovascular diseases is by now well established. Similar effects are also seen when meat, rather than fat, intake is considered," Martin and Eshel wrote. "To our knowledge, there is currently no credible evidence that plant-based diets actually undermine health; the balance of available evidence suggests that plant-based diets are at the very least just as safe as mixed ones, and most likely safer."
In their next phase of research, Eshel and Martin will examine the energy expenditures associated with small organic farms, to see if they offer a healthier planetary alternative to large agribusiness companies. Such farms typically provide the vegetables sufficient to support 200 to 300 families on plots of five to 10 acres.
"We're starting to investigate whether you can downscale food production and be efficient that way," Martin said.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-04/uoc-svd041306.php
[edit] Relevant Movies & Videos
- The 11th Hour (2007) -- Leonardo DiCaprio's movie on global warming, deforestation, mass species extinction, and depletion of the oceans' habitats, declares the future of humanity is in jeopardy unless we change our attitudes toward all life surrounding us.
- An Inconvenient Truth (2006) -- Conveniently, it seems, An Inconvenient Truth omits the main contributor to global warming -- one easily tackled by eliminating the consumption of meat -- the cattle industry.
- The Future of Food (2004) -- The Future of Food takes on monopolistic agribusiness, the environmental devastation wrought by monocultured crops, and the dangers of genetically engineered food.
[edit] References