Fight Climate Change with veganism
Greenhouse gases
It is estimated that up to one third of all greenhouse gas emissions (namely carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) are emitted during the production of food. For plant-based foods (with the exception of rice), emissions of carbon dioxide often are the dominant contribution, with nitrous oxide present in small percentages. For animal based foods and rice, the non–carbon dioxide gases contribute significantly. Plant foods based on vegetables, cereals, and legumes present the lowest GHG emissions.
Animal products are all associated with higher GHG emissions than plant-based products, with the highest emissions occurring in meats from ruminants (Source, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. "Veganism and Climate Change", Carlsson-Kanyama, 2009).
According to a 2006 report from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, livestock cultivation, chiefly for meat production, accounts for nearly one-fifth of total worldwide greenhouse gases, the main drivers of global warming. The global meat industry produces more pollution than all of the the transportation sectors put together (Ibid).
Livestock production, in fact, is the largest global source of methane and nitrous oxide.The principle sources of nitrous oxide are manure and fertilizers used in the production of feed. The biggest source of methane is from enteric fermentation - a digestive process by which carbohydrates are broken down by microorganisms into methane gas in the stomachs of of ruminant animals (animals whose stomachs are divided into multiple sections such as cattle, goats and sheep) Livestock- Climate Changes Forgotten Sector. Chatham House, 2014.
Source: "Livestock's Long Shadow". Food and Agriculture Organization. United Nations, 2006
Livestock production is also an important cause of deforestation and associated carbon dioxide emissions - both directly from trees that are cut down to make way for pastures and from land degraded through animal grazing (Ibid).
ecological footprint
According to the Global Footprint Network, the ecological footprint “measures how fast we consume resources and generate waste, compared to how fast nature can absorb our waste and generate new resources.” The cycle of food consumption and production is a critical footprint component, measured as the number of hectares of biologically productive land and sea needed to support an individual’s or a community’s food consumption.
Calculate your ecological footprint using myfootprint.org.
Source: https://www.livestrong.com
Fossil Energy
According to a 2003 article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, at least 17% of fossil energy use, in the United States alone, goes towards food production - and a very large percentage of that is used to produce a meat-based diet.
The average fossil energy input for all the animal protein production systems reported on was 25 kcal fossil energy input per 1 kcal of protein produced. This energy input is more than 11 times greater than that needed for grain protein production, which is about 2.2 kcal of fossil energy input per 1 kcal of plant protein produced (David Pimentel and Marcia Pimentel, “Sustainability of Meat-Based and Plant-Based Diets and the Environment,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 78.3 (2003)).
reducing emissions
With the food system accounting for such a large percentage of global greenhouse gas emissions, anything that reduces its impact will make a huge difference to the climate (Source, Nature, 2018)
According to researchers at Oxford University, to seriously fight climate change more plant-based diets will be needed in the future. Analysis shows if the world went vegetarian food-related emissions would be reduced by 63%. And if we all went vegan the reduction could be as much as 70% (Source, Springmann, "Going Veggie Would Cut Global Food Emissions By Two Thirds And Save Millions Of Lives" – The Conversation, March 2016)
FARMS
***A new study, recently published in the journal Science and reiterated by Damian Carrington (Environment editor) in The Guardian, states that avoiding meat and dairy is the single biggest way to reduce our impact on the planet. The study created a huge data set based on almost 40,000 farms in 119 countries and covering 40 food products that represent 90% of all that is eaten. It assessed the full impact of these foods, from farm to fork, on land use, climate change emissions, freshwater use and water pollution (eutrophication) and air pollution (acidification).
“ A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use,” said Joseph Poore, at the University of Oxford, UK, who led the research. “It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car,” he said, "as these only cut greenhouse gas emissions" (The Guardian 31 May, 2018)
READ
- "Livestock's Long Shadow". Food and Agriculture Organization. United Nations, 2006
- http://www.fao.org/home/en/