SUPER SIZE ME (U.S.A.)

If everyone in the world ate like the average American, the Global Footprint Network estimates that we would need 4.1 planet earths – unfortunately, we only have one. 

Global meat production is highest in China, EU and the USA. Of the three, the US is highlighted as having the highest meat demand among the rich countries as identified in a previous post on worldwide production and consumption compared according to the Business Insider. Consequently, we will be focusing on the US in the current post leaving the remaining countries in the following posts.

This week I watched a video called 'Meat the Truth' based on the contribution of the livestock industry on greenhouse gas emissions. It highlights how citizens are not often aware of the main contributor to global warming mostly thinking that it lies in the transport sector. Their reactions after finding out that livestock production is the biggest contributor is extremely invaluable in understanding that there is much more to be done in educating the world on the facts of global warming. (18% of global warming is from the livestock sector, whilst 13% is from thetransport sector.) Although, we cannot fully put consumers at fault, since "livestock's impact is not well understood by the public, or even thefarmers themselves" quoted by FAO. 

What I found most interesting in the video was Howard Lyman who illustrated exactly that.  He was a farm owner who did not fully understand his responsibility and contributions to global warming. But when he did, he closed down his farm and became vegan. This goes to show just how consequential and significant it is, for one to be educated in this sector and for them to realise that they have the power to turn it around. Furthermore, the video neatly portrays how cutting down meat consumption can make a remarkable impact through easily digestible analogies. 

This talk was presented in America with the data used being interviews of the American people. Thus, a lot of the information is reared towards the American diets and opinions. Nonetheless, it is extremely interesting to watch. I won't delay you any more, enjoy!

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After watching the video, we may all be feeling kind of guilty for the burger meal we just consumed for lunch... well, on the bright side, here are some facts that suggest the livestock sector is not as bad or exaggerated as it seems in the video, and perhaps there are a few positive changes in consumption habits since the video has been made.

Cattle inventory:

As shown above, cattle inventory in America is reducing slowly and this is a good sign. In addition, as illustrated in the graph below, that despite a steep inclination leading up to 2012, we can see that there is a definite decline in meat consumption recently. Thus, again, we may see this positively.

Total meat consumption in USA

This reduction in meat consumption could be as a result of consumers becoming more health conscious, but it could also just be because of stagnant population and income growth. Despite the reason, a slight reduction is definitely a good sign. Having seen some evidence of a turn in the American consumption habits, the picture gets a bit blurry at this point, when we discuss the changes in different meats consumed;

Although we can see that the consumption of beef is declining, the consumption of other meats is increasing. Having been a very loyal reader of my blog (I'm sure you are), you may notice that cows seem to be contributing to global warming more so than other animals; nonetheless, the increase in other meats being consumed means this could reach an equilibrium in which a reduction in one area and an increase in another will simply balance out.

This highlights that although the video is quite hard on the view that Americans need to immediately change their diets by precisely pinpointing why we should be reducing our meat consumption, the graphs above is indicative that perhaps America has been slowly putting some efforts towards this.

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If you didn't get a chance to watch the video, this is the main thing I would want you to take from it:

If all Americans ate vegetarian for:

7 days a week, they would save around 700 megatonnes of greenhouse gases emissions, which is equivalent to taking every single car off the roads in America.

6 days a week, that is equivalent to eliminating the total electricity use of all households in the States.

5 days a week, that is equivalent to planting 13 billion trees in your garden and letting them grow for 10 years

4 days a week, carbon savings halving electric use of electricity gas oil petroleum and karosene

3 days a week, almost 300 mega tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions - more impact than replacing all cars in US with hybrid ones.

2 days a week, same positive effect as reducing greenhouse gases as replacing all household appliances with energy efficient ones

1 day a week, 90 million plane tickets from New York to LA and vice versa


So, is your meatless day just Monday/one day? If you came from being no meatless day to one meatless day, I'm already very, very proud of you.

Happy Meatless Monday! Tune in next Monday for a new post on the consumption patterns of China!

WATER'S YOUR PROBLEM?

A new report from FAO says livestock production contributes to the world's most pressing environmental problems, including global warming, land degradation, air and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity.

This week I was able to cosy up to read 'Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options'; a United Nations report released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. So far we have focused on the issues surrounding greenhouse gas emissions as a result of meat production and the responsibility of the consumers in contributing to the meat consumption and trend. 

Having read the report, it has highlighted a few important things on the correlation between the livestock sector and global environmental change. I will be writing about other vital environmental problems related to meat production in later posts, and will be looking at possible solutions outlined by the report. These solutions are mainly focused on the technical and political levels in reducing the environmental harm that has and will be caused as a result of meat production.

Today we will touch upon water use and the solutions from a political level to cover how global environmental change can be reduced.

The world is slowly opening their eyes to more issues from freshwater shortage, scarcity and depletion. 64% of the world'spopulation is expected to live in water-stressed basins by 2025. Thelivestock sector accounts for up to 8% of the global human water use (mainly through irrigation for feedcrops).

i) Water Overuse

It is estimated that it takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat (about 5-8 servings of meat). For comparison it takes only 25 gallons of water to produce one pound of wheat (enough to make one loaf of whole wheat bread). Irrigation for feed crops contributes significantly to this overuse of water. Soy and corn are heavily irrigated crops in the U.S. and are used extensively for livestock feed. Most of the grain produced in this country is for livestock production.

Since a large proportion of the grain produced is feed for livestock shows precisely how the grains could be instead, directly created into food for humans. Thus the extra step of feeding livestock (along with the negative environmental impacts associated) could be skipped. 

ii) Water Contamination and Pollution:

The main contributors to water pollution include animal waste, antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilisers and pesticides used in feed production and sediments from eroded pastures.

Livestock operations overuse water and may lead to water contamination. The large amount of waste pro­duced on factory farms exceeds the capacity of nearby cropland to absorb it. As a result, manure goes from being a valuable agricultural resource to what is essentially toxic waste. Nitrates, heavy metals, and antibiotics present in manure can seep into groundwater and pollute surface water. Furthermore, when manure lagoons leak or burst, again, nitrates become exposed to the water we drink. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has warned that E. Coli, salmonella, and Giardia found in dairy cattle waste can contaminate drinking water and cause acute gastroenteritis, fever, kidney failure, and even death. It not only affects humans,  but also the sea animals too. There have been numerous instances where this has killed off thousands of fish. No wonder people are saying fish are becoming more scarce!

Water pollution leads to fish death

Water pollution can lead to several undesired results, it contributes to eutrophication; a process where water bodies receive excess nutrients that stimulate excessive plant growth. It could also lead to "dead" zones/hypoxia in coastal areas, this is causes regions of water that lack oxygen necessary to support animal life and as a consequence, become a cause for extinction. Not only does water pollution affect animal life, but also degrades coral reefs. Apart from affecting animals and plants, water pollution causes human health problems due to reusing water in the water cycle and can cause an emergence of antibiotic resistance.

Livestock also affects the replenishment of freshwater by compacting soil, reducing infiltration, degrading the banks of watercourses, drying up floodplains and lowering water tables.

Please save us...

How can water pollution be avoided?

The best way to mitigate water pollution would be to better manage animal waste. This is important as animal waste can cause excess nutrients and pathogens to enter and harm water quality; instead the waste could be reused as a natural fertiliser for crops. Furthermore, better diets for the livestock can improve nutrient absorption.

Possible solutions:

Since water pollution is a problem for not only plants and animals, but humans too, it means humans should put more care into reducing water pollution where possible. I have broken down some possible solutions in improving efficiency of water  use. The first solution is to improve the efficiency of irrigation systems such that there are no unnecessary water losses.

The fact that water is often free and easily available causes the 'free rider effect' used in Economics, where a resource may be over exploited since it is priced at 0. To avoid this, water should be priced at a level that takes the externality into account. Similarly, there should be regulatory quantitative frameworks to limit usage. 

To reduce concentrated areas of livestock rearing especially near cities, zoning regulations and taxes can help to control this. As a result, the harmful effects on human health can be restricted too. 

Happy Meatless Monday!

Tune in next Monday for a new post on Land Degradation.