The climate crisis is your fault and you should really reduce your carbon footprint! Says the oil industry as they continue to make billions of dollars from extracting oil while lobbying governments to keep oil locked into the system for as long as possible, knowing all to well what's at stake.
Most of the climate crisis is the fault and inaction of governments and big corporations worldwide. No matter how much we each try to reduce our own 'carbon footprint' as coined by the fossil fuel industry, we've been locked into a such a carbon intensive system that's very difficult to escape on our own. The responsibility to pull us out of this system rests mostly with the ones who have caused the problem: governments and big corporations.
However there's one area which is arguably entirely the responsibility of the individual, which can have an enormous environmental impact. You guessed it, it's what we eat. Meat and dairy is currently responsible for about 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions, roughly 60% of deforestation and by switching to a plant based diet we could reduce the amount of land we farm to feed ourselves by 75%! Going plant based is a small effort, huge impact change that we can all make to help reduce our footprint on the planet, and it's vital that we do.
Also, we can't expect everything to be solved entirely by goverments. We do live on this planet too, so we do bare some responsibility in treading more lightly, and a huge part of our treading comes from what we eat.
Image: Pexels
Land use burden
We currently use 44% of habitable land on earth to feed ourselves. That's a lot of land, it's about 5 times the size of the United States. But here's the thing, of this 44%, only about one third is used to grow crops, the other two thirds is used for meat and dairy production. However, of the land we use to grow crops, only half of the crops grown are actually consumed by humans, the rest is to grow feed for livestock, or to grow crops for biofuels and other industrial products.
Using less land
By switching to a plant based diet, we reduce the amount of land we need to grow our food by a whopping 75%. If everyone decided to go plant based, we would reduce the land we use to feed ourselves to just one quarter of what we use today. What would we do with all the extra land? It can be returned back to nature. Rather than subsidies given to farmers to keep the meat and dairy industry running for example, farmers could be paid to re-wild their land. This would be such an important step in helping to restore biodiversity and combat climate breakdown. Restoring nature at a time of rapid decline in biodiversity is absolutely critical for taking action on the climate crisis.
“We must radically reduce the area we use to farm, so that we can make space for returning wilderness. And the quickest and most effective way
to do that, is for us to change our diet” - Sir David Attenborough.
Image: Pexels
Greenhouse gas emissions
About 14% of global greenhouse gasses are from farming animals. That’s about the same as the emissions from all the cars, trucks and busses combined. Isn’t that mind-blowing? The biggest greenhouse gas culprit from farming animals is methane, mainly from burping and farting cows. The problem with methane is that it’s incredibly potent, it has about 85x more warming potential than carbon dioxide over a 20 year period. So while the cattle roaming the countryside might make for a beautiful sight, it’s a massive contributor to climate breakdown, through the methane emitted from it's farts, and the loss of biodiversity from the huge amount of land that has been cleared to farm the cattle.
Water use burden
Meat and dairy consumption also put's a huge strain on our water use. It takes about 15,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of beef, compared to 2,500 litres for 1kg of tofu and 1,300 for chickpeas. As the climate crisis further exacerbates water scarcity, it's vital that we turn towards lifestyles that reduce our burden on our water sources which are becoming ever more precious.
Image: Pexels
Reducing emissions with a plant based diet
One study found that 8.1 billion tonnes of CO2 could removed from the atmosphere each year over 100 years if the world shifted to a plant based diet. For context, the world currently emits roughly 37 billion tonnes of CO2. A global shift to a plant based diet could reduce global CO2 emissions by 21%. That's massive!
Deforestation
Agriculture is a huge contributor to deforestation, about 80% globally, with beef alone being responsible for 41%. Roughly 80% of deforestation in the amazon is driven by beef production.
Image: Pexels
"It's not the cow, it's the how!"
Many argue that it's not the meat we're eating, it's how it's being farmed. They argue that we can use regerenative grazing practices that help to restore degraded land, and put carbon back into the soil. While it's true that regerenative agriculture is a far better practice than current feedlot or pasture fed practices, it's not a silver bullet solution. One study found that even with regenerative grazing, at best it can only offset 20% to 60% of the emissions that come from the grazing cattle, and then we've still got a land use problem. By reducing our burden on the land through transitioning to plant based foods, we could return land that isn't needed for farming back to it's natural state to sequester much more carbon, and restore biodiversity in those areas. Regerenative grazing practices have a place, but they are definitely not a complete solution on a global scale.
Avoiding climate breakdown
The IPCC has outlined the need to shift to plant based diets to avoid climate breakdown. So as vitally important as ending fossil fuels is, our diet choices are almost equally as important. The difference however is while the responsibility of ending fossil fuels rest on the shoulders of governments and big corporations, the responsibility of reducing diet related emissions through cutting back on meat and dairy consumption rests largely with individuals. While it’s one of the biggest impact choices we can make, it’s also one of the easiest. Let’s all do our best to go plant based, while educating those around us of the urgent need change our diets.
With the global population currently hurtling towards 10 billion, it's vital that we alter the way we use the land, and a big part of that means shifting towards a largely plant based diet. We cannot cut down forests to make way for grazing livestock forever.
"Saving the planet is now a communications challenge"- Sir David Attenborough.
Please consider supporting Earthly as a paid member, every dollar helps us increase our reach and ability to shape a better future.
Sources:
Comments