Meat is the primary cause of global warming

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Meat is the primary cause of global warming

Invictus and Global Warming

By MarcoVisscher | Published: December 15, 2009

flank-steak-ck-614032-xI wonder what’s on the menu for the Copenhagen delegates. One thing I’m pretty sure of: It will include meat. For a conference that aims to halt climate change that should be seen as a pretty controversial choice. More than all the airplanes that flew the delegates there, it’s eating meat that is the biggest cause of global warming.

While livestock farming is responsible for “only” 9 percent of total CO2 emissions, it’s mainly its contribution to other greenhouse gases that are leading the meat-eaters to lead the list of climate polluters. Nitrous oxide and methane respectively contribute 300 and 23 times more to the greenhouse effect than CO2—and livestock is responsible for 65 percent of nitrous oxide emissions and 37 percent of methane emissions.

These numbers come from a 2006 United Nations report, “Livestock’s Long Shadow.” The authors concluded that the livestock industry accounts for 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. That’s more than is produced by the various forms of transportation combined. In addition, 265 gallons (1,000 liters) of fossil fuel are needed to produce the meat consumed annually by the average family of four. When this fuel is burned, according to Jeremy Rifkin, author of Beyond Beef, more than 2.5 tons of extra CO2 enters the atmosphere—as much as the average car emits in six months.

Consumers are told to conserve by switching to energy-efficient light bulbs, to take public transportation more often, to turn off the TV when they’re not watching. Why aren’t environmental organizations telling them to eat less meat? Perhaps environmental organizations do not want to scare off their meat-eating members and funders, suggest Liz O’Neill of the UK’s Vegetarian Society in an article in Ode’s special edition with solutions to climate change. “The issue of vegetarianism makes them a little nervous,” she says. “But these numbers are really shocking.”

Well, if you want more numbers, here goes. A plant-based diet leads to enormous energy savings. An acre of grain yields five times as much protein as an acre used for meat production. Legumes provide 10 times as much; leafy vegetables, 15. Looks like we need vegetarianism to top the priority list in Copenhagen—and the menu list too.