GUEST POST: Meatless Mondays can cut GHG emissions
by grmeyers
This guest post featuring some sound reasons not to eat meat every day of the week is written by Alexis Bonari. Thanks for the post, Alexis.
Photo source: http://vegfamily.com
What is arguably the easiest and cheapest way for each of us to help the environment?
The answer has nothing to do with a Prius or with buying an Energy Star-approved appliance. All you have to do is replace one carnivorous meal a week with vegetables, legumes, and grains. The Daily Green says that this would result in CO2 reduction equal to the removal of 500,000 cars from American roads alone
Although the people behind EarthSave would have all Americans entertain the idea of vegetarianism, the likelihood of this plan’s fruition is—let’s be honest—slim. Even if it’s making 34 percent of us aged 20 and over obese and another 34 percent of us overweight but not obese, we love the Big Mac too much. This might change if we knew the steps involved—and how much the earth suffered—in bringing said Big Mac from a single grain of corn to the neighborhood fast food joint.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations estimates that cows and other livestock across the world are accountable for 18% of our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Some of the causes for this 18 percent figure include:
- Deforestation of land for grazing
- Deforestation of land for farming to produce grain to feed animals
- Raising grains for feed
- Using fossil fuel fertilizers
- Using fossil fuels to harvest and transport grain and animals
- The burping (and, ahem, other emissions) of cows which release methane (a significantly more potent GHG than CO2)
- GHG-emitting manure produced by animals (3 tons for every American)
In fact, the calories fed to animals to produce one calorie of their meat leaves us—the consumers—in the red. It takes 7, 4, and 2 kg of feed to produce just 1 kg of beef, pork, and chicken, respectively. Calorie for calorie, humans are better off eating things that don’t bleed.
If we must indulge in meat—most of us do from time to time—try buying pasture-raised organic meat directly from farmers at farmers’ market. Compare it to a store-bought steak and you will taste the delicious difference.
In addition to going meatless on Mondays, we can petition and push for action on various fronts. The FAO recommends a range of measures, listed here:
- On Land degradation: Restore damaged land through soil conservation, silvopastorialism (combining forestry and grazing of domesticated animals in mutually beneficial ways), better management of grazing systems and protection of sensitive areas.
- On greenhouse gas emissions: Sustainable intensification of livestock and feed crop production to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and pasture degradation, improved animal nutrition and manure management to cut methane and nitrogen emissions.
- On water pollution: Better management of animal waste in industrial production units, better diets to improve nutrient absorption, improved manure management and better use of processed manure on croplands.
- On biodiversity loss: As well as implementing the measures above, improve protection of wild areas, maintain connectivity among protected areas, and integrate livestock production and producers into landscape management.
Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and researcher for College Scholarships, where recently she’s been researching volleyball scholarships as well as wildlife science scholarships. Whenever she gets some free time, she enjoys watching a funny movie or curling up with a good book.
