The Challenges

Challenges to the Meat
consumers

We always thought how much our cars, cement factories, other various factories and even our coal generated electric power harm the environment seriously. But very few of us have thought about how the vegetable and meat adversely affect the environment around us by releasing the greenhouse gases.
According to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) report, our dietary materials, especially the meat in them cause more greenhouse gases like CO2 (carbon dioxide), NO2 (nitrous oxide) CH4 (methane), to spew into the atmosphere.
The FAO report has said that the contribution of the meat is about 14-22% of the total 36 billion tons of "CO2 equivalent " green house gases which the world produces every year. In fact every food, fruit we eat lead to a buildup of the green house gases, but in comparison with the meat, they are in very low amount.
The vegetable generates 3.2 ounces of CO2 equivalent gases in every dinner table. But that is nothing compared to beef. According to the economist Susan Subak (university of Anglia England) found that cows emit 2.5-4.7 ounces of methane for each pound of beef they produce. But methane has 23 times the global warming potential than the CO2. Even the farms for raising animals produce numerous wastes that give rise to the green house gases emission.
According to FAO report the gases produced by other meat products like pork and chicken are about 3.8 pounds of CO2 and 1.1 pounds of CO2, which are 12-15 times greater than that of production and consumption of vegetables. In truth every meat products are dangerous to our environment which is degrading day by day.
The beef production is much more dangerous than any other livestock farming and vegetables. Thank god that we Nepalese are almost nil in the production of beef which has a serious environmental problem (global warming). We contribute very less in the degradation of the environment by claiming cow as our national animal and stopping its meat production from centuries back till now.

Solutions
1. Improving waste management and farming practices would certainly reduce the carbon production by meat products(especially beef)
2. Methane capturing systems for instance could reduce the wastes of animals to use in generating electricity. But these are costly to be commercially applicable.
3. Consuming the locally produced foods and reducing the consumption of meat would be the best result in saving the environment from greenhouse gases.
4. Packing food materials in small batches also save surprisingly little green house gases emission.

We should give careful thought to our daily diet and consequences for the planet if we are ought to solve this problem seriously and limiting the emission of greenhouse gases.

CO2 equivalent emission from producing half a pound of these food

Potatoes = 0.17 mile (0.13 pound of CO2 equivalent){a medium car}
Apples = 0.20 mile (0.15 pound of CO2 equivalent){ a medium car}
Asparagus = 0.27 mile (0.20 pound of CO2 equivalent){ a medium car}
Chicken = 0.73 mile (0.55 pound of CO2 equivalent){ a medium car}
Pork = 2.52 miles (1.90 pounds of CO2 equivalent){ a medium car}
Beef = 9.81 miles (7.40 pounds of CO2 equivalent){ a medium car}

Source: U.S. Environment Protection Agency; Transportation Energy Data Book; U.S. Department of energy 2008; Seattle food System Enhancement Project.


The High(Greenhouse gas) Cost of Meat

Energy Production 21%

Livestock Production 18%
(Beef, pork, chicken etc.)

Transportation 14%

Fossil fuel retrieval 12%

Agriculture 12%

Residential 10%

Manufacturing 7%

Land Use 4%

Waste disposal and 3%
Treatment

Source: U.N. FAO 2006
The Greenhouse gases emission is much more greater in Livestock farming than any other means like Transportation, Agriculture,, Fossil fuel retrieval etc. Only the energy production generates more greenhouse gases than livestock production.

By- Alok Lamsal
Institute- Kathmandu University
Source Scientific American Magazine