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By: Amanda Lydon Summary: The rise of greenhouse gases is a major concern amongst climate scientists. One of our biggest contributors to greenhouse gases is livestock, which releases more methane into the atmosphere than all cars, trucks, and automobiles combined. Right now, the population is growing at an exponential rate, which means the rate of food and livestock produced must also go up and is causing more emissions to be released into the atmosphere now more than ever. Along with growing emission levels caused by livestock, there is an issue of deforestation to clear land to raise livestock which also affects climate change because less carbon dioxide can be absorbed, leaving it to stay in the atmosphere contributing more to the issue. With these issues came the idea of promoting more “meat consciousness” among consumers. People don’t have to completely cut meat out of their diet, but rather choose to purchase and consume it once to twice a week, or do days such as meatless Mondays. Scientists believe if people begin to do this, the demand for meat will fall, meaning less cows will have to be produced as livestock so less methane will be sent into the atmosphere. Having to raise less livestock also means not as much land will have to be taken up for the animals as well leaving the trees and forest that once before had to be cleared more plentiful and able to intake more of our atmospheric carbon dioxide. Why we should care? With growing concerns of climate change, it is important that everyone contributes in any way they can, even if it is a small one such as skipping out on a steak and opting out for a salad instead.  Photo Credit: https://cff2.earth.com/uploads/2018/10/05113805/New-cattle-feed-designed-to-reduce-gas-and-methane-emissions--730x410.jpg Example Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/21/climate/what-if-we-all-ate-a-bit-less-meat.html I found this article interesting because it talked about how much land would be left over if we did reduce the amount of livestock we were raising which was said to be about the size of the continent of India. The article also went on to say what we could do with this large amount of land that is available that would be environmentally beneficial. The ideas of more efficient food production like growing high protein lentils, and plating new forests to help absorb more carbon dioxide were ideas that were proposed. Overall I think this topic was very interesting because I think the idea of going vegan or at least vegetarian is becoming increasingly more popular and promoted in mainstream media, even if it isn’t with the intention of helping the planet. It is amazing to think how big of a difference we can make while committing to an action that really seems so irrelevant to the issue of climate change. Science in Action.
TBD.
7 Comments
Matthew Terryn
4/16/2020 15:17:31
It seems that so many people are uneducated on the impacts of excessive meat consumption. Americans probably eat meat once or twice in their meals daily if I had to guess. The meatless Monday thing is definitely a good idea on how to introduce the problem to a lot of people. I think that there is a lot of corruption in the meat industry. Because of all of the money that is made by these meat companies they are able to keep their wrong-doings private from the public. Methane is a very powerful greenhouse gas. With population rising I can only imagine that meat consumption will get worse unless the average person starts doing something about it. My contribution to this is being vegetarian encouraging friends and family to eat less meat if they have the means to do so.
Alex Schurig
4/19/2020 21:33:06
I think suggesting meatless Mondays and just eating meat less a week is a good idea. I feel like more people would be willing to do this than cutting meat out of their diets completely. Especially if people were properly informed of how much of an impact it would have on methane levels.
Mark Miller
4/20/2020 12:24:17
I think that when people think about climate change and overall planet health they don't really think about livestock being such a problem. Most people think about oil and gas companies and cars causing all of the pollution and climate change on Earth. I think states and governments need to do more to educate people on how much livestock contributes to declining planet health. If that happens, then maybe people will start to change their diets.
Jala Daniel
4/21/2020 17:43:35
This was a really good topic because I don't think a lot of people realize how much eating meat negatively affects the planet. A lot of people say they want to help the environment, but they don't know how. Making people aware of how their food choices are affecting the environment would probably help people make the a change in their life and become vegan/vegetarian.
Brianna Childers
4/21/2020 20:10:10
This article was interesting to me because I also have a culinary degree. People don't really think about how commercial farms can damage our environment. I think there should be more sustainable farming practices happening in the world. Farm to Table for example supports local communities and much smaller farming. However, the demand for red meat is the highest and this is because of consumer choices. People should definitely be more aware of what they are eating, where it is coming from and how it can impact your community.
Ryan Pauli
4/21/2020 23:23:39
It is very interesting to see the impact that meat and the livestock industry is having on both greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation. I thought your idea of having ‘meatless mondays’ as a family was a really creative idea to be able to promote “meat consciousness” .
Sophia Mekled
4/22/2020 00:09:50
Becoming vegetarian or even vegan is already a very controversial topic, but it is nice to see some raw facts on how the switch can actually be environmentally forward. I already knew that livestock released the most methane than any other resource, but what I was not aware of is that we are destroying forests to clear land to raise livestock. It is interesting that scientists have said that if people just cut out meat for even 1 to 2 days during the week that it will decrease the amount of methane emissions and deforestation. Leave a Reply. |
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