The link between animal consumption and environmental destruction

--LOS--

Are you aware of the link between animal consumption and environmental destruction? Vegetarians and vegans are already aware of this issue so that is why I post it here instead. Are you aware that animal consumption is the single biggest contributor to environmental destruction? I know that's quite a shocking revelation and lots of people aren't aware of this, right now you could be reading this and thinking that is bullshit. Well it does have a lot to do with cow shit. Because raising animals for food produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all of the cars, planes, and other forms of transportation combined. Environmentalists typically focus on the automobile industry and renewable energy resources. But actually animal agriculture is the biggest cause of environmental destruction. It's the number one cause of deforestation, air pollution and water pollution and it's eating up water and other precious resources.


There was a prime time episode on Food Harvest 2020 recently (April 28th). Maybe it's still on the rte player, idk. There were 2 conflicting issues at hand.......


1. EU quota limits on dairy production will be abolished in about a year's time.

There are plans to increase dairy production by 50% and beef by 30% in the next 5 years in Ireland. In real terms this would mean an extra 400,000 cows (I can't remember the exact figure estimated in the show). There were some suggestions as to how to decrease emission from agriculture.....

-tightening up nutrient deficiency on farms
-altering the animals diet
-extending the grazing season
-increase in planting of forestry

The minister for agriculture, Simon Coveney, reckons we can increase herd numbers without increasing our emissions. That is totally illogical imo. He even suggested killing animals at an earlier age, 'so they're not producing emission for longer', that would only add to production numbers though.

2. Ireland has an EU target to produce 20% less emissions.

Ireland may be the best in Europe when it comes to emissions from livestock, but agriculture contributes to 30% of our greenhouse gas emissions, and this is actually way ahead of our European neighbours.

There is a huge conflict of interests here from the government. They seem to show little real concern for climate change or greenhouse gas emissions. They are negating any positive affect of reducing emissions in other ways, by planning to increase herd numbers once the EU cap is lifted. On the show we are assured that there is a system in place where we can buy allowances from other member states who overachieved on their targets. This really shows the true lack of concern, what in the hell is disguising our emissions doing for climate change? Which side of the fence are you on here? Is consumption of animals something you take into account in regard to environmentalism or could you now see yourself taking it into account?


I'm very excited about a film that's going to be released this year, Cowspiracy. It was funded through IndieGogo and it aims to expose the link between animal consumption and environmental destruction, keep an eye out for it, trailer below....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd5Ek4OAOzk

Greensleeves

I think agriculture is too important to the Irish economy for any government to address this problem. As a vegetarian (and sometimes vegan) I am aware of the environmental impact of food production but most people I know are unwilling to stop eating meat for the sake of the planet. They will drive a Prius, buy carbon offsets, go to "eco" resorts, etc but they won't stop eating meat.

--LOS--

Greensleeves wrote: »

I think agriculture is too important to the Irish economy for any government to address this problem. As a vegetarian (and sometimes vegan) I am aware of the environmental impact of food production but most people I know are unwilling to stop eating meat for the sake of the planet. They will drive a Prius, buy carbon offsets, go to "eco" resorts, etc but they won't stop eating meat.

yes you're probably right. Animal agriculture is what we're good at, it's what we've done for such a long time, we make a lot of money through it in Ireland and through exports abroad. And I'm not wishing for every farmer in Ireland to be out of pocket overnight. But Ireland does not have to be about animal agriculture, we are already growing so many crops and we have great natural resources like wind, unfortunately we're then wasting those crops feeding them to animals instead of to humans directly. I think the trouble is people see avoidance of animal products as unsustainable for the economy. The reality is that the whole country or the whole world is not going to go vegan overnight, changes like that are gradual, over hundreds of years. We are never going to be at risk of it affecting our economy, with the rate that people are currently going veggie/vegan in Ireland, there's plenty of time for the economy to adjust and adapt. This doesn't mean we should dismiss animal consumption totally. Cutting back on animal consumption, without going veggie or vegan is huge in itself in terms of supporting sustainability and environmentalism. Things like recycling, driving an eco-friendly car etc are negligible compared to cutting down on meat. You can have much more of an impact just cutting down on animal products, having one less meal a day that is animal-based for instance. Being vegan is the biggest thing you can do to support sustainability, but not everyone will do that for whatever reasons. But everyone is in a position to at least cut back, if you really do care about the environment. And that's the point, it doesn't have to be up to the government, it is up to individuals, the government doesn't choose what you eat.

ted1

Just as a FYI, it's not the manure that's the polluter. It's the methane that comes out if their mouth. Ruminant animals have poor digestive systems and beach out methane.

Methane is approx 21 times worse than Co2.

--LOS--

I know that, it's mostly the methane from cow manure. What's your point? Agriculture is still the number one cause

ted1

--LOS-- wrote: »

I know that, it's mostly the methane from cow manure. What's your point? Agriculture is still the number one cause

Its not the manure that's the methane cones from its from the cows bealching.

--LOS--

ted1 wrote: »

Its not the manure that's the methane cones from its from the cows bealching.

Yes more methane comes from cows belching, and to a lesser extent from excrement. I don't see anywhere in my OP where I said otherwise

So I don't understand why you are pointing it out. Animal agriculture is still the number one cause of environmental destruction.

And excrement is also a huge problem. Agricultural runoff is the leading cause of water pollution in the USA, with the majority of that runoff related to animal agriculture.

--LOS--

Btw I put this under news because it didn't suit any other label. But maybe people are treating it like a news article? I'm generally interested in what people think about this, purely from an environmental and sustainability stand-point.

The_Captain

Eat less beef and mutton, eat more pork and chicken.

Everyone's a winner!

Markcheese

The_Captain wrote: »

Eat less beef and mutton, eat more pork and chicken.

Everyone's a winner!

But I don't eat much pork or chicken because of welfare issues, (and realistically they eat the same food as us, where as Irish cattle/cows/sheep tend to eat grazed grass from permanent or semi permanent pastures..

Old diesel

Emissions do need to be reduced - no question.

My question/concern would be - there are a lot of communities very dependent on Agriculture - so how do we change that long term.

The only alternatives I see been pushed for Rural areas - seems to be wind - which imo won't deliver on jobs - just watched a video there from a wind developer promoting the economic benefits - and the focus seemed to be very much on the construction jobs - which by their nature would be short term - and the knock on effects the extra construction workers etc in the area would have on local shops, hotels etc.

You've also got tourism - but my concern on the tourism side - is that how wind energy is been planned would negatively impact on tourism.

But what I would like to see is a longer term future been planned for communities - I feel that if people can see a brighter more secure - or a less negative future for their communities by making the changes - it will be easier to get people on board.

Heres the video if anyones interested http://greenwire.ie/benefits/economic-benefits

Old diesel

So I guess my thinking - right or wrong - is that id like to see as many communities as possible keep thriving or keep going into the future.

We have the issues with Agri producing too high a percentage of our emissions - so we need to look at how to address this for the future.

But part of the solution could be I think - to look at how to develop alternative industries so that reducing Agri emissions - if we end up going down the road of reducing cattle numbers etc - won't wreck communities.

Need a wider plan - its like - im not keen on how wind energy is planned because - the only focus is - get the turbines in - theres no focus on the future planning of the future of communities in a positive way.

And id like to avoid that with this issue as well