I get my Daily Treehugger alert, I'm a treehugger at heart, some Republican Congressman might be out there trying to hunt me down, who knows. But I'm proud of my bleeding-heart-tree-hugging-ways. And our household is made of omnivores, we pride ourselves on eating all the way down the food chain. And we've been moving further down, shunning red meat more and more and having vegetarian meals at least twice a week (and lots of breakfasts and lunches). Headlines like this help reinforce this choice.
Steak 'n Bake? 51% of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Now Come From Meat & Dairy Industry
We don't have to wait for cap and trade to really affect carbon emissions, if we really want to see change, we just have to change what is on our dinner tables a few nights a week, collectively, we can lower CO2 emissions and save some money as well.
I hate to admit it, but when Bill Maher said, you're better off eating a salad and driving a Hummer than eating a burger and driving a Prius, he was pretty much right on the money.
We've long said that cutting meat and dairy out of your diet, or at minimum cutting back deeply on their consumption, is one of the most powerful personal steps you can take towards mitigating climate change. But new analysis from Worldwatch Institute shows that the impact of raising livestock and poultry is much greater than previously thought and actually amounts to approximately 51% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions:
The FAO's widely-cited 2006 report Livestock's Long Shadow listed annual greenhouse gas emissions from livestock to be 11.8%. However, Worldwatch shows that the FAO severely undercounted or misallocated emissions from a number of areas in the livestock production chain.
This new study allocates different numbers for livestock and the production chain...
Livestock Respiration = +13.7%
Overlooked Land Use = +4.2%
Methane = +7.9%
Other Uncounted & Misallocated Sources = +13.4%
Then there are a whole slew of sources which the Worldwatch analysis says are uncounted and misallocated:
This is most certainly not my area of expertise but considering all the other benefits of cutting our consumption of meat and diary products from our diet, it's basically one of those corny win/win situations for our society.
I'm definitely one of those people who would love to see the end of CAFO's and a move back to smaller and more plentiful mom and pop farms (I know, there are issues with production and having enough food for everyone) but if we cut back significantly on the amount of meat and diary products that we ate would we not have more growing land for grains, fruits and vegetables for human beings?
But the overall message can really be boiled down to this: One of the cheapest and most effective ways of mitigating climate change is eating far less meat and dairy or (better yet) eating none and adopting a full vegetarian or vegan diet. It's going to take cultural shift to do this, to be sure, but the effect is huge.
Some statistical backing for that: A Dutch report, which came out about six months ago, showed that if enough people adopted a vegetarian diet we could reduce the costs of mitigating climate change by up to 70% -- even if people returned to eating meat at levels normal for our grandparents, those costs could be reduced by 50%.
This doesn't just come down to climate change, it comes down to the fact that as our population grows and our oil supplies diminish we are going to have to look carefully at how we supply food to our people. It's going to have to be local and on a much smaller scale.
I know I'm beating a pretty old drum, but the evidence is mounting that our lifestyles are just not sustainable. I don't support pushing for everyone going vegetarian but cutting back would make a huge difference.
Here is a link to the original report by World Watch Livestock and Climate Change, What if the key actors in climate change are cows, pigs and chickens?
And by the way, I met this awesome lady who lives in my town, she started her own business, Eat Cleaner, All Natural Food wipes and Wash. I've been meaning to write about her and her mission since a lot of people write about their books. She's not just about her product, she writes about food safety, health issues and nutrition. She knows about it all and she's passionate. I'm proud to know her. When she talks about her cleaner, she speaks about helping people eat lower on the food chain, for the environment and for their health.