Helen Harwatt (2018) Including animal to plant protein shifts in climate change mitigation policy: a proposed three-step strategy, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2018.1528965

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Frame work for reducing green house gas emissions:

1. peak livestock: policy makers need to acknowledge “peak livestock”-current numbers are at their highest level and will decline
2. ‘worst-first’ approach: set goals to gradually transition from livestock product begging with the animals that give the most emissions: beef, cow’s milk, and pig meat.
3. best available food approach: find replacement products against greenhouse gas emission goals, usage of land, and public health benefits.

In America, due to the Paris Climate Agreement, there is a goal of keeping global warming at bay at 1.5 degree Celsius. Between 37% and 49% of the green house gas emission budget will be used towards the livestock sector alone in order to keep the temperature down. Livestock production is the largest source of the two prominent greenhouse gases: methane and nitrous oxide. Methane has a shorter life span than carbon dioxide in the environment, but over a 20 year span, methane is more abundant and has 85 times more Global Warming Potential. By 2030, methane emissions strictly from livestock are expected to rise by 60 percent.

In order to meet the Paris Agreement’s temperature goal, the anthropogenic (from the influence of human beings on nature) greenhouse gas emissions need to reach it’s height, then go down to a level of net zero during this century or by 2050. In order to achieve this there would need to be immediate and heavy reductions of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide by 2030.

According to a study by Springmann et al., climate change is projected to reduce food availability throughout the world, and as a result bring approximately half a million deaths by 2050.

Springmann, Marco, et al. “Global and regional health effects of future food production under climate change: a modelling study.” The Lancet 387.10031 (2016): 1937-1946.

 

“Facts on Animal Farming and the Environment.” One Green Planet, 29 Oct. 2018, http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/facts-on-animal-farming-and-the-environment/.

How animal agriculture uses fossil fuels

•  In the United States, more than 1/3 of all of consumed fossil fuels and raw materials are used in the production of animals. (“Ecological Cooking” by Joanne Stepaniak and Kathy Hecker)
• To produce one calorie of animal protein demands more than ten times of the fossil fuel input compared the one calorie of plant protein. (The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition)
• In order to produce one hamburger, the fuel usage is equivalent to driving 20 miles in a car. (“The Food Revolution” by John Robbins)

How animal agriculture uses water

• Almost half of the water used in the United States is used to raise animals for food. (“The Food Revolution” by John Robbins).
• In order to produce 1 pound of meat, it takes more than 2,400 gallons of water, whereas it takes 25 gallons to produce one pound of wheat. (“Water Inputs in California Food Production” by Marcia Kreith)
• “To produce a day’s food for one meat-eater takes over 4,000 gallons; for a lacto-ovo vegetarian, only 1200 gallons; for a vegan, only 300 gallons” (The Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook)
• The animals raised and killed for food are responsible for producing approximatley 130 times more excrement than all humans world wide.
• Animal farms are responsible for polluting US waterways more than all other industrial sources combined. “Run-offs of animal waste, pesticides, chemicals, fertilizers, hormones and antibiotics are contributing to dead zones in coastal areas, degradation of coral reef and health problems.” (The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency).

How animal agriculture uses land

• The land used to raise animals for food-including the land for grazing and growing feed crops-takes over 30% of the Earth’s land mass.(Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options, a 2006 report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization)
• The area of Seven football fields’ of land gets bulldozed once a minute to create more room for farmed animals and the crops that feed them. (The Smithsonian Institution)
• “Of all the agricultural land in the U.S., 80% is used to raise animals for food and grow grain to feed them—that’s almost half the total land mass of the lower 48 states” (“Major Uses of Land in the United States” by Marlow Vesterby and Kenneth S. Krupa)

 

source found on jstor

VERHEUL, JOHN. “Methane as a Greenhouse Gas: Why the EPA Should Regulate Emissions from Animal Feeding Operations and Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations Under the Clean Air Act.” Natural Resources Journal, vol. 51, no. 1, 2011, pp. 163–187. JSTOR, JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24889698.

Back in 1900, 41 percent of workers in America worked in the agricultural industry. Thirty years later, agriculture made up 7.7 percent of the United States’ gross domestic product. The GDP is defined as “the total value of goods produced and services provided in a country during one year.” By the 2000’s, the amount of workers in the agricultural industry went from 41 percent to 1.9 percent, and the GDP dropped to 0.7 percent. There was a great shift from family farms, to factory farms, which first developed in the 1940’s. Despite there being less farms, there is drastically more production than before due to large farms with high concentration of animals. “The poultry industry is 98 percent vertically integrated, which means that 98 percent of all poultry produced is bred, owned, butchered, and marketed by giant corporations such as Tyson, ConAgra, [and] Perdue . . . .”(1)

1. Quote from Poultry Growers: Canaries in the Coal Mine, Farm Aid News & Views (July 1996) (Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy for Farm Aid, Minneapolis, Minn.), http: //www.ibiblio.org/london/agriculture/forums/sustainable-agriculture/msg00358.html.

Bellantonio, Marisa, et al. “The Ultimate Mystery Meat.” Mighty, http://www.mightyearth.org/mysterymeat/.

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In order to feed animals to nourish and grow them up  fit for slaughter, they eat soy based products. Worldwide, 3/4 of total soy goes to animal feed. “More than one million square kilometers of our planet – equivalent to the total combined area of France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands – are dedicated to growing soy.” In a ten year span from 2001 to 2010, an estimated four million hectares of forests were destroyed annually primarily for soy and cattle.

 

 

Goodland, Robert & Anhang, Jeff. “Livestock and Climate Change: What if the key actors in climate change are…cows, pigs and chickens?”. WorldWatch. November/December 2009

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Major sources of human created emission of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases include the production of oil, natural gas, and coal. However, animals which are raised for food are a much greater cause of green house gases but are often under estimated or not brought up at all when talking about climate change. The life cycle and supply chain of these animals cause at least one half of human cause green house gases. Instead of slowly replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy, working to reduce animal emissions would be a much more effective action to reverse climate change.

A report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 2006 estimated that “7,516 million metric tons per year of CO2 equivalents (CO2e), or 18 percent of annual worldwide [green house gas] emissions, are attributable to cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, camels, horses, pigs, and poultry.” However, Worldwatch Institute researchers found that livestock and byproducts account for at least 32,564 million tons of CO2e annually, and 51 percent of annual green house gas emissions worldwide.

When taking into account the total tons per year of CO2e and green house gas emissions, there are a few aspects that need to be looked at. The most obvious aspect is the methane emission from belching and flatulence. Compared to carbon dioxide, methane warms the atmosphere much more, but the half-life in the atmosphere is only 8 years whereas carbon dioxide lasts from 100 years. One overlooked aspect is the breathing and exhalation of carbon dioxide from the livestock. Compared to pre-industrial times, there are billions more livestock exhaling carbon dioxide, and even less plant mass to absorb it due to the rise in deforestation. Not to even mention the other sources of carbon in the atmosphere, such as the burning of fossil fuels.

 

Main article used was:

Maclachlan, Ian R.. “Animal Agriculture”. The Canadian Encyclopedia, 01 September 2016, Historica Canada. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/animal-agriculture. Accessed 25 October 2018.

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Animal agriculture is the process of breeding, raising, and slaughtering animals in farms in order to produce food and products (Maclachlan).  Animals which are raised in farms can either come from subsistence farms or from factory farms. Factory farms are defined as  “a large industrialized farm; especially: a farm on which large numbers of livestock are raised indoors in conditions intended to maximize production at minimal cost” (Merriam-Webster). The high demand for meat and dairy products require that producers the most effective process of raising animals, even if it means being unethical.

Food supply for animals in farms:

• horses, cattle, sheep, and goats:
  • obtain most of their nutrients from grazing, grass, and sun-cured hay
• animals raised in confined factories
  • receive a formulated diet which is intended to maximize their meat/milk/egg producing at a low cost
  • cattle rarely only eat an all-grass diet
• the feed grain the animals get include; corn, soybeans, silage, and forage crops
  • sometimes grown on the farm
  • all of them include some extent of a commercial food supplement or industrial by-product in order to help the animals grow
• Antimicrobials/antibiotics are sometimes included in the feed in order to prevent disease
  • these can also be injected to treat a bacterial disease

Disease in animals in farms:

• “The potential for the rapid spread of animal disease was first recognized in the 19th century when the growing volumes of livestock shipped by railway and marine modes increased the likelihood of epizootic disease outbreaks (i.e. diseases spread between the same type of animal at the same time) such as aftosa (hoof and mouth disease), anthrax and brucellosis.”

Artificial growth hormones:

• Used by majority of North American beef/cattle producers
• Have been banned in the European Union
  • because they are unable to confirm that there is absolutely no health risk
  • however, North American regulators believe that the science shows it is safe