meat and the environment
In honor of Earth Day, it seemed appropriate to post a compelling introduction by Dan Hooley of Calvin College's Students for Compassionate Living to a looming, but often neglected, connection between environmental and animal farming concerns, "Meat and the Environment":
According to Livestock’s Long Shadow, a groundbreaking 2006 United Nations report, raising animals for food causes more global warming than all the cars and trucks in the world combined!
This results from a host of factors, including the greenhouse gases emitted from the manure, belches, and flatulence of billions of farmed animals. Deforestation caused by the expansion of grazing and the growing of animal feed also causes global warming, as the trees are no longer there to absorb the CO2. The burning of fossil fuels used to produce the massive amount of feed crops; to heat and cool the buildings that house the animals; and to transport, process, and refrigerate the meat also contribute to the problem.
Global warming is not the only area where the production of meat contributes to environmental degradation. In fact, the UN report states that “the livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.”
Check out the links listed below to learn more. And learn how consuming less meat and animal products, avoiding products from factory farms, and eating more plants can benefit the environment!
Reports: UN - Livestock’s Long Shadow, Pew Study - Putting Meat on the Table, Union of Concerned Scientists - CAFOs Uncovered Executive Summary.
Popular Coverage/Summaries: New York Times - Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler, Washington Post - Report Targets Costs of Factory Farming, New Scientist - Meat is Murder on the Environment.
For more on how you can incorporate more plant-based meals into your diet, check out ChooseVeg.com.
(This post is courtesy and copyright Dan Hooley, and was originally posted at Students for Compassionate Living's blog. Dan's post "Taking Animals Seriously" is very much an important read as well. Photo copyright 123rf.com.)
April 22, 2009
Reader Comments (2)
I have been following this topic of "meat and the environment" for the past couple of years. It is one of the reasons I became a vegetarian, for the most part; I do eat some seafood. To find out about the Seafood Watch Guide, go to: http://tinyurl.com/d6awty. Also, Meatrix is an animated series you can share with your children. Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/dda7jt.
Cris, thank you very much for the helpful comment and links. By the way, Cris is an incredibly faithful advocate on behalf of creation care. You can read more about her and find many of her articles and reviews at Sustain Lane.