Top 5 ways livestock are wrecking the planet

Photo: Sally Kneidel

Helping the environment is just one reason for dumping animal products from your diet. But it's a big one. It may be the most powerful choice you can make to help our ailing planet.

If your family gives you a hard time during the upcoming holidays for rejecting that turkey leg, tell them some of these surprising eco-facts about the havoc wrought by livestock.

1. LIVESTOCK DRIVE CLIMATE CHANGE
The livestock sector is responsible for at least half of the world's greenhouse-gas emissions. That's according to two environmental-assessment specialists employed by the World Bank Group, Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang. Their meticulous analysis is reported in their landmark Worldwatch article "Livestock and Climate Change". Check out this short summary of Goodland's and Anhang's work. See also "Diet for a low-carbon planet" by Alan Miller, for the same conclusion. How can livestock generate such a volume of GHG? Fermentation in the guts of livestock creates 37% of human-induced methane; methane is much more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2. Deforestation to graze livestock or to grow their feed is another major source of emissions. Goodland and Anhang also assess the carbon in livestock respiration. "Livestock (like automobiles) are a human invention and convenience, not part of pre-human times, and a molecule of CO2 exhaled by livestock is no more natural than one from an auto tailpipe."

2. LIVESTOCK WORSEN WATER SHORTAGES
Nearly half of all the water used in the United States goes to raising animals for the dinner table, according to calculations by author John Robbins. Water usage is a major environmental concern, given that water shortages are cropping up all over the planet these days. Droughts due to climate change, and the booming human population, contribute to the problem. But the livestock sector is responsible too - using vast quantities of water to irrigate feed crops for livestock. One pound of beef requires 2,400 gallons of water to produce, while one pound of wheat requires only 25 to 108 gallons. Notice, that's the water for just one pound of beef. A typical "2 sides of beef" from one steer weigh 700 lbs when arriving at the grocery. You do the math.

3. LIVESTOCK DOMINATE ARABLE LAND
Livestock production accounts for 70% of all agricultural land on the planet, and 30% of the land surface of the planet. Consider this in relation to the fact that the world's human population has expanded from 6 billion to 7 billion in just the last 12 years - more and more people needing to be fed. Expansion of livestock production is a key factor in deforestation, especially in Latin America. 70% of previously forested land in the Amazon is occupied by pastures, and livestock feedcrops cover a large part of the remainder. In addition to deforestation, about 70% of grasslands in dry areas have been degraded by overgrazing, compaction, and erosion by livestock. These facts are all reported in "Livestock's Long Shadow," a 2006 research document from the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization.

4. LIVESTOCK POLLUTE
Livestock is the world's largest source of water pollution, according to the United Nations' FAO. Major sources of pollution from livestock production include animal waste, antibiotics and hormones, fertilizers and pesticides used on their feedcrops, and sediments from eroded pastures or trampled streams. In the U.S., livestock are responsible for 55% of erosion and sediment, 37% of pesticide use, and a third of all N and Ph pollution of freshwater.

5. BIODIVERSITY SLAMMED BY LIVESTOCK
A third of all mammal species are in danger of becoming extinct. A full 40% of the planet's mammals are victims of habitat loss and degradation. So reported the 2008 conference of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), a group that includes more than 1,000 government agencies and NGOs, conservation groups, and 11,000 scientists in 160 countries. And it's going to get a lot worse before the century is over. The causes of habitat loss and degradation? Livestock is a big one. Conservation International has identified 35 global hotspots for biodiversity, defined by species richness and high levels of habitat loss. Of those, 23 are affected by livestock production. Of 825 terrestrial eco-regions identified by the Worldwide Fund for Nature, 306 are threatened by livestock.

WANT TO HELP?
Choose plant-based foods, and explain why to everyone you know.
Average Americans eat between 216 and 246 lbs of meat per year, far more than residents of any other country. In the U.S., around 60% of our grain goes to livestock, a very inefficient use of our agricultural lands. Feeding the grain to people directly could feed up to 10 times more people than feeding the meat to people. Or, another way of looking at it - we could stop converting natural lands to agricultural lands if we made more efficient use of the farms we have now. What can you do? Simply eating less meat can help. Even a couple of meatless days a week will reduce your ecological footprint. Going vegetarian or vegan is even better. Check out the recipes and new vegan cookbooks reviewed on this site.

Coming up in 2 later posts:

Top 5 Health Reasons to Bypass Animal Products
Top 5 Humane Reasons to Choose a Plant-based Diet

Keywords: livestock Livestock and Climate Change Jeff Anhang Robert Goodland climate change water shortage water pollution land usage biodiversity impact of livestock impacts of livestock bad effects of livestock livestock and land degradation

Livestock account for 51% of annual worldwide greenhouse gas emissions

All photos and text by Sally Kneidel, PhD, of sallykneidel.com and veggierevolution.blogspot.com

  Photo by Sally Kneidel, PhD

I read an article today that blew my socks off - it may be the most significant article I've ever read.  It's online and in the Nov/Dec 2009 print issue of Worldwatch, a publication of Worldwatch Institute - a widely respected think-tank and environmental advocacy organization. The article is entitled "Livestock and Climate Change" (see "Sources" at end of this post).

I've spoken widely, written numerous articles and two books on the subject of the environmental impact of raising and transporting livestock. (See a list my books and blog posts on this topic, below.)  Three or four years ago, I was very excited when the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization published "Livestock's Long Shadow" - a scientific document whose authors demonstrated that the livestock sector contributes at least 18% of  greenhouse-gas emissions. They concluded that livestock contribute more to climate change than even the transportation sector does.  I can't count how many times I've quoted that publication, more than 400 pages long, and available on the internet.

This new study goes beyond “Livestock’s Long Shadow”
But this article from Worldwatch Institute goes way beyond the UN's FAO article, and very creditably so. The authors, Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang, examined the FAO data carefully and explain why their own measurements are more comprehensive and more current than those of the FAO authors. I see no weak spots in these new calculations, they are merely updates to account for the passage of time and our growing population and growing global meat consumption, as well as corrections of omissions in the older FAO article. I have good faith in their carefully detailed figures. I hope to God they're right in their suggestions for solutions.

I'm not going to recount all the new calculations and corrections here, but I will give a couple of examples. First, the FAO's calculations are based on 2002 data, but the tonnage of livestock products between 2002 and 2009 has increased 12%, with a proportionate increase in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).  Secondly, "Livestock's Long Shadow" reports that 33 million tons of poultry were produced worldwide in 2002, but the FAO's "Food Outlook" corrected that figure, which was actually 72.9 million tons of poultry produced  in 2002.  The authors of the new article describe several underestimates in "Livestock's Long Shadow" such as these, which have a cumulative effect.

As mentioned above, the new Worldwatch document also points out numerous omissions from the original FAO publication, "Livestock's Long Shadow".  For example, the FAO failed to include GHG emissions from
(1) the disposal of livestock waste (feces, urine, bone, fat, spoiled products) all of which emit high amounts of GHG, and (2) fluorocarbons (used for cooling livestock products more than alternatives) which have a global warming potential up to several thousand times higher than that of CO2.  Those are just a couple of examples.

Noting governments' failures, Worldwatch proposes new solutions

I liked that the article ended with several pages of solutions. The authors pointed out that governments have been largely ineffective in developing renewable energy and energy efficiency. GHG emissions have actually increased since the Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1992, and climate change has since that time accelerated. The authors Goodland and Anhang offer suggestions that would achieve at least a 25% reduction in livestock products worldwide between now and 2017. This would yield a minimum 12.5 % reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, which would by itself be almost as much as is generally expected to be negotiated at the U.N.'s climate conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Analogs are tasty!  Who needs flesh?

The suggestions of Goodland and Anhang (for Worldwatch) focus on businesses rather governments. They point out that consumers listening to food marketing are listening for words that evoke "comfort, familiarity, happiness, ease, speed, low price, and popularity." Based on that, the authors outline a marketing plan whereby food companies can succeed by marketing "meat and dairy analogs" alongside traditional animal products in grocery stores. Analogs are products such soy- and seitan (wheat gluten) imitation beef, chicken and pork products, as well as soy- and rice milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream.  "Analogs are less expensive, less wasteful, easier to cook, and healthier than livestock products," they write. Meat and dairy analogs can be positioned in stores, and through marketing, as "clearly superior to livestock products, thus appealing to the same consumer urges that drive purchases of other analog products, such as Rolex knockoffs".  By replacing livestock products with analogs, "consumers can take a powerful action collectively to mitigate most GHGs worldwide.  Labeling analogs with certified claims of GHGs averted can give them a significant edge."

Sounds good to me! Since Ken and I both work, and I have two jobs, we consume a fair amount of pre-made "analogs" such as Morningstar Farms "chik" patties and chik nuggets and Tofurkey sausage or kielbasa, as well as soy milk, soy yogurt, using ground flax seeds to replace eggs in baking, and so on. We've been doing this for years and I never ever miss meat. I did eat one real chicken nugget a few years ago to test the difference, and found it disgustingly greasy and and containing recognizable animal tissues such as little veins and connective tissue.  After years of eating yummy soy-based imitation chicken patties, the real thing was akin to eating  road-kill.

 Photo by Sally Kneidel, PhD

I encourage you to read Goodland's and Anhang's article from Worldwatch, available on the internet. To me, their proposal sounds clearly like the easiest and most realistic scheme yet for quickly and drastically reducing the world's GHG emissions, and possibly averting dramatic climate change. Should that change continue unabated as it is now, new climate patterns will destroy wildlife habitat the world over, destroy essential agricultural areas by altering rainfall, cause famine and create climate refuges from developing nations, raise sea levels, and lead to mass wildlife extinctions that humans have never before witnessed.

Roll the article up with a ribbon for the perfect holiday gift!

Read this important Worldwatch article and forward it to your friends. Or print it out and tack it on the bulletin board at work. Include it in your holiday greeting cards!  Or make a nice little cover for it, and give as a holiday gift to those whose future matters most to you.

by Sally Kneidel, PhD

Sources:
Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang. "Livestock and Climate Change: What if the key factors in climate change are cows, pigs, and chickens?" Worldwatch 22(6):10-19. Nov/Dec 2009.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. "Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental issues and options." Rome, 2006.

My books on this topic:
Veggie Revolution: Smart Choices for a Healthy Body and a Healthy Planet. 2005. Sally and Sadie Kneidel. Fulcrum Books.

Going Green: A Wise Consumer's Guide to a Shrinking Planet. 2008. Sally and Sadie Kneidel. Fulcrum Books.

Some of my prior posts on this topic:
"New study: meat impacts climate more than buying local"  May 23, 2008 on Veggie Revolution blog

"Less meat....smaller footprint"  Feb 6, 2009 on Veggie Revolution blog 

"Is local food the greenest choice?  New study says no"  May 14, 2009 on Veggie Revolution blog

"Earth Day: 3 things you can do"  April 22, 2007 on Veggie Revolution blog

"An apple? Bran muffin? or cold cereal?  Top ten sources of easy fiber" Sept 14, 2007on Veggie Revolution blog

"10 hot tips for a green and energy-efficient holiday." Oct 10, 2008 on Veggie Revolution blog


"Obama to fight consolidation of farms: good news for small farms and consumers"  Aug 21, 2009 on Veggie Revolution blog

"Smithfield blamed for swine flu by Mexican press"  April 29, 2009 on Veggie Revolution blog

"The virus is a swine flu and has its roots in North Carolina, the land of Smithfield"  May 2, 2009 on Veggie Revolution blog

"Tyson and Smithfield drooling over untapped profits abroad" March 20, 2006 on Veggie Revolution blog

"Working in a turkey insemination factory"  Nov 20, 2008 on Veggie Revolution blog

"A tasty vegan meat substitute: Tofurkey kielbasa" June 10, 2009 on Veggie Revolution blog

Key words:: climate change livestock and climate change Worldwatch Institute 51% of climate change Robert Goodland Jeff Anhang