"Think you can be a meat eating environmentalist? Think Again"
Parts of article - November 6 2006
Cow and Calf "Opps, excuse Me!"
"There is no doubt that reducing consumption of meat especially red meat, is one of the most effective things the individual can do to reduce their greenhouse gas pollution. Producing meat turns vegetable protein very inefficiently into animal protein, using large amounts of energy and water in the process. Secondly, meat production takes place a long way from the main population centres, so large amounts of fuel energy are needed to transport meat to urban consumers. Thirdly, meat products need to be cooked to be safe to eat, generating more greenhouse gas pollution. Ruminant animals also produce large amounts of methane, a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, in the process of digesting grass. So overall, meat production in general and beef production in particular is a serious contribution to greenhouse gas pollution and hence global warming." Professor Ian Lowe, 2005. President, Australian Conservation Foundation Author, Living in the Hothouse, Scribe Publications 2005
The methane from 28 million cattle is 21 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. The production of greenhouse gases from meat products is much greater compared with grain production, household energy, car use and air travel in Australia.
A Sydney University study calculated that reducing our meat intake from the Australian average of 300gms per day to 150gms saves 1.4 tonnes of greenhouse emissions every year - about the same as reducing your annual car travel by 4,700 kms in a family automobile. The energy savings each year would power the average household for nearly a month.
It's not just methane that makes meat a heavy greenhouse emitter. There are also large amounts of fuel and electricity used in the production and distribution of meat before it is cooked. Cattle trucks use energy, slaughterhouses use energy, refrigeration uses energy.
To get a realistic comparison figures from the CSIRO/Sydney University Balancing Act report to compare Australian production of beef cattle and meat products against wheat, flour and bakery products in the graph below.
The energy used for meat is even higher if you consider that most bakery products do not need further cooking, but most meat products do. We produce and export about 10 times more wheat than meat, nevertheless meat production is a much larger user of energy - and you still have the cooking and refrigeration to add in.
As feedlotting of beef cattle increases and the grain fed chicken and pig industries expand, the energy
used in meat production increases. Most of Australia's cattle today end their lives eating grain in feedlots, 75 days for the domestic market, and 145 days for the export market. Shipping grain around the country and refrigerated meat around the globe uses far more energy and generates more greenhouse emissions than shipping grain directly for human consumption. 8,000 square kms of land was used to grow livestock feed in Australia in 2000.
Meat production and dairy farming are not only major sources of greenhouse gas emissions, they are also
massive users and polluters of water.
Meat uses twice as much water as rice in Australia and the rice we grow and export provides more calories than the two million tonnes of beef produced annually.
Much of the water involved in the meat industry ends up seriously polluted and needs treatment. Abattoir
waste water and piggery effluent is some of the most highly polluted water in the world, requiring extensive treatment before release or reuse.
The usual measure of the quality of water is the BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand - the amount of oxygen required by bacteria for the decomposition of organic matter in 5 days at a standard temperature).
The BOD of human sewage is 300 to 500 mg per litre, piggery effluent has a BOD of more than 5,000 mg per
litre.
We must wind down animal agribusiness if we are to truly address greenhouse gas emissions and the drought
which will continue long into the future.
It takes 2,500 gallons of water, 12 pounds of grain, 35 pounds of topsoil and the energy equivalent of one gallon of gasoline to produce one pound of feedlot beef.
70% of US grain production is fed to livestock.
5 million acres of rainforest are felled every year in South and Central America alone to create cattle pasture.
Roughly 20% of all currently threatened and endangered species in the US are harmed by livestock grazing.
Animal agriculture is a chief contributor to water pollution.
America's farm animals produce 10 times the waste produced by the human population.
Land Utilization and Soil Erosion
One-half of the Earth's land mass is grazed by livestock.[1]
More than 60% of the world's rangelands were damaged by overgrazing during the past half century.[2]
As much as 85% of rangeland in the western US is being degraded by overgrazing.[3]
Overgrazing is by far the most pervasive cause of desertification.[4]
35 pounds of topsoil are lost in the production of one pound of grain-fed beef.[5]
64% of US cropland produces livestock feed.[6]
Only 2% of US cropland produces fruits and vegetables.[7]
Pounds of edible product that can be produced on an acre of prime land: [8]
Apples 20,000
Carrots 30,000
Potatoes 40,000
Tomatoes 50,000
Beef 250
Water Consumption
The number of gallons of water needed to produce one pound of edible product: [9,10]
Apples 49
Carrots 33
Potatoes 24
Tomatoes 23
Beef 2,500
Endangered Species
At least 100 animals are added to the endangered species list each year.[11]
Between 19 and 22% of all threatened and endangered species are harmed by livestock grazing.[12]
Rainforest Destruction
5 million acres of rainforest are felled every year in South and Central America to create cattle pasture.[13]
Cattle ranching has destroyed more Central American rainforest than any other activity.[14]
70% of cleared forests in Panama and Costa Rica are now in pasture.[15]
Pollution
Manure produced by all farm animals in the US annually is roughly 10 times the waste produced by the human population.[16]
Factory farms are the biggest contributors to polluted rivers and streams in the US.[17]
1,785 water bodies were impaired by feedlot pollution in 39 states in 1993.[18]
About 60,000 miles of streams in the US have fisheries impaired by feedlot pollution.[19]
More soot is emitted from the grills in Los Angeles fast food restaurants than all the city buses.[20]
Pesticides & Food Contamination
Since 1945 when pesticides made from petrochemicals became popular, the following changes have occurred: [21,22,23]
Percentage Increase:
3,300% overall pesticide use
20% overall crop losses due to insects
100,000% pesticides applied per acre of corn
The drinking water in nearly every midwestern city south of Chicago is contaminated with agricultural weed killers.[24]
Meat, poultry and dairy products contain the major source of pesticide residues in the western diet.[25]
95% of human exposure to the potent carcinogen dioxin comes from consuming meat, poultry and dairy.[26]
The EPA issued more than 1,000 warnings against eating fish from chemically-contaminated waters in 1994.[27]
Nearly half of all fish sampled by Consumers Union was contaminated with bacteria from human or animal feces.[28]
99% of US non-vegetarian mothers' milk has significant levels of DDT. Only 8% of US vegetarian mothers' milk has significant levels of DDT.[29]
Resource Distribution
Resources used in the production of livestock:
33% of world's fish catch [30]
38% of the world's grain harvest [31]
50% of all the water used in the US [32]
60% of Brazil's grain harvest [33]
70% of US grain harvest [34]
80% of US corn harvest [35]
Almost half of all energy expended in US agriculture [36] 14% of all cattle are fed back to cattle as part of protein-fortified feed.[37]
Approximately 8 million pounds of poultry manure are fed annually to California's beef cattle.[38]
50% of all the antibiotics used in the US are fed to animals, and 80% of them are used to promote growth, not to treat disease.[39]
12-16 pounds of grain and soy are needed to produce one pound of grain-fed beef.[40]
All 17 of the worlds major fishing areas have reached or exceeded their natural limits due to overfishing.[41]
$3.7 billion subsidized animal feed grains in 1995. They are the US's most heavily subsidized crop.[42]
World Hunger
5 million children in the US go hungry every month.[43]
Approximately 40,000 people die each day worldwide due to hunger or hunger-related causes.[44]
If Americans reduced their intake of meat by merely 10%, 100,000,000 people could be fed using the land, water and energy that would be freed up from growing livestock feed.[45]
10 billion people could be sustained from present croplands if all ate a vegetarian diet.[46]
If everyone in the world cut their meat consumption to reduce their fat intake to the 30% level, there would be enough grain to feed the world's population increases through the year 2000.[47]
References
[1] Lester Brown, et al., Vital Signs 1994 (Washington, DC: Worldwatch Institute, 1994), pg. 32.
[2] Robert Repetto "Renewable Resources and Population Growth," Population and Environment 10:4 (Summer 1989) pg. 228-29 cited in Rifkin, Beyond Beef (New York: Dutton Press, 1992).
[3] Myra Klockenbrink, "The New Range War Has the Desert as Foe," New York Times,Aug. 20, 1991, pg. C4.
[4] Ibid., pg. 3.
[5] Ibid., pg. 3.
[6] US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Statistics 1989; p. 390, table 554, "Crops: Area, Yield, Production and Value, United States, 1986-99" (Washington, DC: GPO, 1989).
[7] Ibid.
[8] Tom Aldridge and Herb Schlubach, "Water Requirements for Food Production," Soil and Water, no. 38 (Fall 1978), University of California Cooperative Extension, 13017; Paul and Anne Ehrlich, Population, Resources, Environment (San Francisco: Freemna, 1972), pg. 75-76.
[9] Ibid., pg. 13-17.
[10] Georg Borgstrom, presentation to the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1981, cited in John Robbins, Diet for a New America (Walpole, NH: Stillpoint, 1987), pg. 367.
[11] Losos, et al., The Living Landscape (Washington, DC: Wilderness Society and Environmental Defense Fund, 1993), pg. 20.
[12] Ibid, pg. 10.
[13] Norman Myers, The Primary Source: Tropical Forests and Our Future, 1992, cited in Brown et al. as per note 7.
[14] Lewis Scott, The Rainforest Book (Venice, CA: The Living Planet Press, 1990).
[15] Alan During and Holly Brough, Taking Stock, Worldwatch Paper #103 (Washington, DC: Worldwatch Institute, 1991), pg. 25.
[16] Jim Mason, "Fowling the Waters," E Magazine, Sep/Oct 1995, pg. 33.
[17] EPA workgroup report 1994, cited in Jim Mason, note 15.
[18] Natural Resources Defense Council and International Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, Hog Wash: Factory Farm Giveaways in Clean Water Act Proposals, July 1995.
[19] Ibid.
[20] San Jose Mercury News, Sept. 6, 1994.
[21] Pimental, et al., Handbook of Pest Management in Agriculture, 2nd ed. (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 1990).
[22] David Pimental, Cornell University, as quoted by Lisa Y. Lefferts and Roger Blobaum, "Eating as if the Earth Mattered," E Magazine, Jan/Feb 1992, pg. 32.
[23] Ibid.
[24] Environmental Working Group and Physicians for Social Responsibility, "Tap Water Blues," Oct. 1994.
[25] Lewis Regenstein, How to Survive in America the Poisoned (Herndon, VA: Acropolis Books, 1982), pg. 173.
[26] EPA study cited in USA Today, Sept. 13, 1994.
[27] Rachel's Environment and Health Weekly, #450, July 13, 1995.
[28] Ibid.
[29] "A Brief Review of Selected Environmental Contamination Incidents with a Potential for Health Effects," prepared by the Library of Congress for the Committee on Environment and Public Works, US Senate (Aug 1980), pg. 173-174.
[30] Carl Safina, "The World's Imperiled Fish," Scientific American, Nov. 1995.
[31] Lester Brown and Gary Gardner, State of the World 1996,W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1996 pg. 93.
[32] Frances Moore Lappe, Diet for a Small Planet, 10th Anniversary edition (New York: Ballantine Books, 1982), pg. 69.
[33] Brown, Lenssen and Kane, Vital Signs 1995, Worldwatch Institute, 1995, pg. 137.
[34] USDA, Economic Research Service, "World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, WASD-256," July 11, 1991, tables 256,-7, -16, -19, -23.
[36] USDA, Economic Research Service, "World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, WASD-256," July 11, 1991, pg. 17.
[37] Amended Petition Requesting the Food and Drug Administration to Halt the Feeding of Ruminant Animal Protein to Ruminants, The Foundation of Economic Trends, Washington, DC, June 3, 1993.
[38] James W. Oltjen, "Potential Sources of Water Contamination from Confined and Grazing Animal Operations," Animal Agriculture: Impacts on Water Quality in California,University of California, Davis, October 1994, pg. 10.
[39] Gurney Williams III, "Swearing Off the Miracle," Vegetarian Times, Feb, 1994.
[40] USDA figures as cited in Frances Moore Lappe, op. cit. note 35, pg. 70.
[41] Lester Brown, op. cit, note 1.
[42] "Eating into the deficit," US News and World Report,March 6, 1995, pg. 73-78.
[43] Colin Greer, "Something is Robbing Our Children," Parade Magazine, March 5, 1995.
[44] Patricia Allen, "The Human Face of Sustainable Agriculture," Issue Paper No. 4, Nov. 1994, University of California, Santa Cruz, Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.
[45] Lester Brown, as quoted by Resenberger, "Curb on US Waste Urged to Help the Worlds Hungry," New York Times, 14 Nov. 1974, adjusted using 1988 figures from USDA, Agricultural Statistics 1989, table 74, "High Protein Feeds," and table 75, "Feed Concentrates Fed to Livestock and Poultry."
[46] Council for Science and Technology, How Much Land Can Ten Billion People Spare for Nature?, Feb. 1994, pg. 13.
[47] Lester Brown and Gary Gardner, op. cit. note 34., pg. 4.
Article Reference:
Professor Ian Lowe, 2005. President, Australian Conservation Foundation Author, Living in the Hothouse, Scribe Publications 2005.
