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The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced that 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock areas. As such, raising animals on farms for food production causes tremendous damage to the health of the environment. The livestock industry contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, including nitrous oxide and methane, water pollution, and the destruction of other wild areas such as forests that help control the Earth's atmosphere. In the past, when a small number of livestock were raised, the livestock industry did not contribute much to the increase in greenhouse gas, but as the economy developed, meat consumption also increased, and the livestock industry also grew in size to meet the increased meat consumption. As a result, it is said that there are currently a huge number of livestock around the world, including about 1 billion cows. A whopping 22 billion livestock generate about 16% of the world's greenhouse gases, higher than 15% of the greenhouse gases generated by transportation. The amount of greenhouse gas generated from 225 grams of beef is said to be equal to the amount of greenhouse gas generated by 55 cars driving 1.6 kilometer.
So how does the livestock industry contribute to greenhouse gas emissions?
Greenhouse gases in livestock areas are caused by intestinal fermentation and manure storage of ruminants, feed production, manufacture of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and the use of fossil fuels in farm operations. Specifically, 39% of livestock's intestinal fermentation, 45% in the process of manufacturing food, 10% in the process of manure treatment, and nitrous oxide emissions occur in the use of organic and inorganic fertilizers. Typical types of greenhouse gases include methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), which affect global warming 28 times and 265 times, respectively, than carbon dioxide.
Nitrogen dioxide is nearly 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide when measured by its 100-year global warming potential. Many agricultural practices add nitrous oxide pollution, including soil management practices such as using synthetic and organic fertilizers to grow food for both humans and animals, manure treatment from raising animals for food, and burning crop residues. According to EPA figures, this practice accounts for 74% of all nitrous oxide emissions from the United States.
Methane is mainly produced by intestinal fermentation and manure storage and is a gas that affects global warming 28 times higher than carbon dioxide. The main source of methane is the bacteria that live in the stomach of ruminant animals such as cows and horses and ferment food to make it easier to digest also producing methane gas along with fermentation. For example, a cow emits 600 liters of methane per day, which is equivalent to the annual amount of greenhouse gas emissions of a small car.
The potential to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions still exists. Then, what kind of efforts are needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from livestock?
First of all, greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock process should be minimized. For example, it captures methane from fertilizers, uses fertilizers more efficiently, and better integrates innovative technologies into production methods such as greater efficiency (e.g. emissions reduction) in meat and dairy production. Units of food produced may be helpful. In addition to this improvement in efficiency, changes in consumption aspects can help further reduce food-related greenhouse gas emissions. In general, meat and dairy products have the highest global footprint of carbon, raw materials, and water per kilogram of any food. In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, livestock and feed production generate more than 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide each. Post-farm transport and processing account for only a small proportion of food-related emissions. greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture. Reducing food waste and emissions-intensive food consumption can contribute to reducing.
Reducing the consumption of dairy products, meat, and eggs and having a vegetarian-oriented diet will be also efficient. It will help reduce the carbon footprint and reduce the negative impact of diet on the environment. If we do not eat meat only one day of the week, we can reduce carbon dioxide by 2,268 kilograms per person per year.
*References
Sources
https://sentientmedia.org/how-does-livestock-affect-climate-change/
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/factsheet/how-livestock-farming-affects-the-environment-64218
https://www.eea.europa.eu/signals/signals-2015/articles/agriculture-and-climate-change
https://academic.oup.com/af/article/9/1/69/5173494
https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/making-cattle-more-sustainable
Images
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Mitigation-potential-of-various-strategies_tbl1_328889018
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21102019/climate-change-meat-beef-dairy-methane-emissions-california/
https://knoema.com/infographics/maodxhb/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-livestock
https://www.agmatters.nz/goals/reduce-nitrous-oxide/
https://www.gasmet.com/whats-new/livestock-research-shows-dramatic-greenhouse-gas-reduction/
https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/features/vegan-vs-vegetarian/
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