Eating less meat could cut climate costs

Cutting back on beefburgers and bacon could wipe $20 trillion off the cost of fighting climate change. That's the dramatic conclusion of a study that totted up the economic costs of modern meat-heavy diets.

The researchers involved say that reducing our intake of beef and pork would lead to the creation of a huge new carbon sink, as vegetation would thrive on unused farmland.

The model takes into account farmland that is used to grow extra food to make up for the lost meat, but that requires less area, so some will be abandoned. Millions of tonnes of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, would also be saved every year due to reduced emissions from farms.

These impacts would lessen the need for expensive carbon-saving technologies, such as "clean coal" power plants, and so save huge sums, say Elke Stehfest of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and colleagues.
Flatulent feeders

Climate-change experts have warned of the high carbon cost of meat for several years.

Beef is particularly damaging. Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is released from flatulent cows and by manure as it decays. Furthermore, to produce a kilogram of beef (2.2 pounds), farmers also have to feed a cow 15 kg of grain and 30 kg of forage. Grain requires fertiliser, which is energy intensive to produce.

Stehfest has now weighed the economic impact of beef and other meats against the cost of stabilising carbon dioxide levels at 450 parts per million – a level that some scientists say is needed to help prevent dangerous droughts and sea level rises.

If eating habits do not change, Stehfest estimates that emissions would have to be cut by two-thirds by 2050, which is likely to cost around $40 trillion.

If, however, the global population shifted to a low-meat diet – defined as 70 grams of beef and 325 grams of chicken and eggs per week – around 15 million square kilometres of farmland would be freed up. Vegetation growing on this land would mop up carbon dioxide. It could alternatively be used to grow bioenergy crops, which would displace fossil fuels.

Supermarket labels

Greenhouse gas emissions would also fall by 10% due to the drop in livestock numbers, she calculates. Together, these impacts would halve the costs of dealing with climate change by 2050.

To help consumers, the environmental cost of meat, in terms of carbon emissions per portion, could also be included in the purchase price, says Stehfest.

The costs sound about right, says Raymond Desjardins of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. However, it may be unfair to compare future farms to current ones, he adds.
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Taken from the New Scientist
Journal reference: Climatic Change (DOI: 10.1007/s10584-008-9534-6)

What this is all about

Hello friends,

Welcome to this blog..

Through these postings, I plan to create a compilation of articles and thoughts, in plain english, on how we can all work towards making this planet as good as or better than we found it

Remember we share this planet with other human beings, animals, birds and sea creatures..

Remember our children and grandchildren have to live here. There is already talk of looking for a new planet to live on. Have we reached the tipping point? Why can't we look after the magical planet we already have, that we inherited, and not steal it from future generations?

We have to wake up. We have only one planet. We can't let it waste away. Everyone has to do their bit.

I found this on wiki.. This is a list of environmental issues that are directly as a result of human activity.

• Climate change — Global warming, Fossil fuels, Sea level rise, Greenhouse gas
• Conservation— Habitat destruction, Habitat fragmentation, Species extinction, Pollinator decline, Coral bleaching, Whaling, Holocene extinction event, Invasive species
• Dams - Environmental impacts of dams
• Energy - Energy conservation, Renewable energy, Efficient energy use, Renewable energy commercialization
• Genetic engineering — Genetic pollution
• Intensive farming — Overgrazing, Irrigation, Monoculture, Environmental effects of meat production
• Land degradation — Land pollution, Desertification
• Soil — Soil conservation, Soil erosion, Soil contamination, Soil salination
• Nanotechnology — Nanotoxicology, Nanopollution
• Nuclear issues — Nuclear fallout, Nuclear meltdown, Nuclear power
• Overpopulation — Burial
• Ozone depletion
• Pollution — Air pollution, Light pollution, Noise pollution, Thermal pollution
• Water pollution — Acid rain, Eutrophication, Marine pollution, Ocean dumping, Oil spills, Urban runoff, Water crisis
• Resource depletion — Exploitation of natural resources
• Consumerism — Consumer capitalism, Planned obsolescence
• Fishing — Blast fishing, Bottom trawling, Cyanide fishing, Ghost nets, Illegal unreported and unregulated fishing, Overfishing, Shark finning
• Logging — Clearcutting, Deforestation, Illegal logging
• Mining — Acid mine drainage, Mountaintop removal mining
• Toxins — Chlorofluorocarbons, DDT, Dioxin, Heavy metals, Herbicides, Pesticides, Toxics use reduction, Toxic waste
• Urban sprawl
• Waste — E-waste, Litter, Waste disposal incidents

We will talk about each one of these in the posts to come, not necessarily in that order.. I will try and keep it practical but surely will not be able to do away with theory.

Unless each one of us takes interest in one, two or a few of these issues and try to bring about change in your own way, there will be no change. Practise what you preach, join environmentalist groups and if you feel this is right confidently persuade your near and dear ones, friends, neighbours and relatives to modify their habits and behaviour.

We have only one world and we have only one time to act, NOW..