If we look at the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it states that if we do not want climate change to lead to a warming of more than 2 to 2.4 degree Celsius, we will have to start decreasing global greenhouse gas emissions by 2015. Even a 2 degree rise in the global average temperature can lead to catastrophic consequences, such as triggering the melting of Greenland, which has the potential to raise sea level by 7m if it was to collapse. This really gives us very little time to cut our carbon emissions to an acceptable level and therefore, we have to tackle this issue from all angles, including the meat that we eat.

Meat is a carbon intensive product

According to a United Nations report, the livestock industry is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions as measured in carbon dioxide equivalent. That is a higher share than the emissions from all planes, cars and trucks combined.

One major bulk of the 18% is the greenhouse gases emitted from agriculture. The industry contributes to 37% of all human induced methane and 65% of all human-related nitrous oxide. These two gases have 23 and 296 times respectively more potential of trapping heat than carbon dioxide. These gases are mainly produced from the digestive system of ruminants (cattle, goats and sheep) and the manure of the animals.

Another important factor that livestock industry is contributing to climate change is the change in use of land. The sector is by far the largest anthropogenic user of land, taking up 30% of the world's land surface area.   Many of us think that paper usage is the major driver of deforestation, but we were all wrong on that. 70% of the previously forested land in the Amazon is used for cattle grazing and to grow crops for animal feed. When these forested areas are converted into grazing land or arable land, significant amounts of carbon dioxide is released.

To put things into perspective, a research has shown that producing 1 kg of beef leads to the emission of greenhouse gases equivalent to 36.4 kg of carbon dioxide (this figure does not includes managing the farm infrastructure and transporting the meat) . This is equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by an average European car every 250 km! As compared a beef steak, a vegetarian meal generates about 24 times less greenhouse gases in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent.

The industry's impact on food and water security

The livestock sector also plays a significant role in other environmental problems as it is a very resource intensive process. While leaving about 1 billion people hungry in the world, a third of the world's cereal harvest and over 90% of soya is used for animal feed. Feeding animals for food is a very inefficient way to feed humans, for example, it takes about 10 kg of animal feed to produce 1 kg of beef. A farmer can feed up to 30 persons throughout the year on 1 hectare with vegetables, fruits, cereals and vegetable fats, if the same area is used for the production of eggs, milk or meat; the number of persons fed only varies from 5 to 10.

The sector is also highly inefficient in its water use because more water and other resources are needed as we move up the food chain. While it takes only about 900 and 1300 litres of water to produce maize and wheat respectively, 15 500 litres of water is needed to produce 1 kg of beef.

In the United States alone, livestock produce 130 times more excrement than the entire human population. Other than manure, the livestock is also responsible for 37 percent of the pesticide use and 50 percent of the antibiotics consumed in the U.S. With this amount of waste and pollutants, livestock has a major role in water pollution and contributes to the water depletion process.

Comparing the past and  the present

we look at the traditional livestock production, it was a resource driven activity, production was based on the availability of local feed resources. However, modern livestock production is one that is driven by demand, this means that additional resources are required and therefore we start to clear forests specially for pasture expansion and to grow animal feed. It is now a totally different system from what it is used to be.

Despite the evidences pointing to how livestock production is unsustainable, consumption trends in the world is going in the unhealthy direction. As the world's population doubled from 1950 to 2000, meat production has increased fivefold from 45 million tonnes to 233 million tonnes per year. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has also predicted that figure is going to double in 2050 to 465 million tonnes per year placing intolerable strain to the Earth's resources. If we take a look at the historical trend of meat consumption, we will find that it is closely related to rising affluence (see Figure 2)  However, rather than accepting this trend as inescapable, an alternative approach is essential considering the vast impacts the industry have on human's welfare and the environment.

Hope Has to Start From You

James Hansen,  the director of NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies, states in an interview that while we can do many things to reduce our carbon emissions, many of this things are much less effective than changing our diet, which in terms of individual action, the best thing we can do. Yes, the change has to start from ourselves by making a simple action that we can do everyday - reducing our dependency on meat and switching to a plant based diet.

A research that is presented at The International Scientific Congress on Climate Change held on 10-12 March in Copenhagen states that if people switched from meat to plant-based protein in 2010 and completed in 2030, we can free a land area the size of Russia and Canada combined from use as pasture and croplands. Part of this land could be grow back to forest and soak up huge amounts of carbon dioxide and hence, cutting the cost of handling climate change at a manageable level by 70%.

Our choices today will help build the world tomorrow. We do not have to turn vegetarian overnight, but we can start by choosing not to eat meat starting from one day a week. In the words of Dr Rajendra Pachauri, the Chief of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), ""In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, it clearly is the most attractive opportunity, give up meat for one day [a week] initially, and decrease it from there."

References

1.      The new economics foundation. 2008. 100 Months Technical Note.

http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/uploads/sbfxot55p5k3kd454n14zvyy01082008141045.pdf

2.      Steinfeld H et al., 2006. Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental issues and
options. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome.
www.virtualcentre.org/en/library/key_pub/longshad/A0701E00.htm

3.      Dr Rajendra Pachauri's lecture at the Peter Roberts Memorial Lecture 2008,
http://www.ciwf.org.uk/resources/lecture/default.aspx

4.      Hoekstra A.Y., Chapagain A.K. 2006. Water footprints of nations: Water use by people 
as a function of their consumption pattern. Netherlands.
http://www.waterfootprint.org/Reports/Hoekstra_and_Chapagain_2007.pdf

Interview with Dr James Hansen. Extracted from: http://www.suprememastertv.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=sos_video&wr_id=56&goto
_url=&sca=sosv_1&url=link2_0#v

Ong Wei Tao is the past chairperson of the NUS environmental group, Students Against Violation of the Earth. He has led various campus sustainability initiatives and has been reading up on scientific reports on climate change. He can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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