As a society, we eat a lot of food but are only beginning to understand the bi-products of producing meat on such a large scale. Emissions related to the livestock industry are carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), and ammonia (NH3). Livestock and the food industry are a big contributing factor to climate change and I think that there isn’t enough attention to how the industry is impacting the environment. Due to such a high demand for cattle, researchers believe that the increased cattle rearing will help produce 565 gigatons of carbon dioxide by 2030. The livestock industry is responsible for 68% of enterogenic nitrous oxide emissions, 64% of total ammonia emissions, and 35–40% of methane emissions worldwide. Methane is a 23-1 greater potential to warm the planet compared to carbon dioxide. I want to look into this topic more because I feel like this is a big issue and I am not very familiar with it.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6518108/#:~:text=Livestock%20emit%20almost%2064%25%20of,40%25%20of%20methane%20emissions%20worldwide.
This is a really good point, and really pertinent to today’s society! Thanks fo sharing!
I am really glad that you draw the correlation between our consumption of meet in regards to environmentalism. I believe we vote with our money, what we purchase and what we eat will greatly impact our environmental footprint..
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. This aspect of meat is problematic for the environment. I wonder what initiatives can be taken or have been taken to make people eat fewer meat products and how much change that can make in the overall goal of sustainability.
A great way on campus to reduce meat consumption is by supporting the Ozone Cafe! Every Friday 12-1:30 in Old Chapel the Ozone House serves a completely vegetarian lunch for just one meal swipe 🙂 It’s important to focus on what you can do locally, and I think eating at Ozone Cafe for lunch on Fridays instead of West/Upper can be a nice, easy start!