Organic meat: a climate hazard?
Radio 4’s Tom Heap’s recent comments on the high impact of a carnivorous diet on the environment are not groundbreaking news. The UN has calculated that livestock warms the planet more than transport and for years The Vegetarian Society have campaigned to raise awareness about the damaging effect to the climate of eating meat.
Cows and sheep burp, fart and even breathe methane - a gas with about 20 times the global warming power than carbon dioxide! Their manure is also heavy with nitrates, which pollute both water and air. What’s more, livestock are relatively inefficient at turning food into protein so feeding them involves clearing acres of land for crop production, leaving less room for climate friendly forests.
Fearing their carbon-heavy practices will be penalized; the meat industry has found low GHG solutions indoors. Once caged, the animals’ diets can be strictly controlled, they don’t ‘waste’ energy by running around and their manure can be burnt as fuel avoiding damaging evaporation and seepage into rivers.?
Peter Bradnock of the British Poultry Council says: “Organic poultry meat has about 45% more global warming potential than indoor-reared poultry meat.”
So, why not eat your pork pie and avoid global warming? All well and good for you, but what about the animals? In ‘What About China?’, The Soil Association’s Robin Maynard points out that the practice of battery farming leads to disease, mutilation, injury and even cannibalism amongst the cramped and frustrated animals.
If you’re still secretly swayed by the climate argument for battery farming, get this: because factory farmed animals are at higher risk of disease they are routinely fed growth-promoters and antibiotics, a practice which has been identified as promoting the development of MRSA and other super-bugs. Over 30 years ago the Swann Committee warned the meat industry about the consequences of feeding animals the same drugs used on humans but unfortunately, this didn’t persuade the meat industry to change their ways. The full consequences of this decision are still emerging; in 2007 a new strain of MRSA was found in intensively farmed pigs and super-bugs are increasingly found in hospitals across the UK.
Bethan
May 19th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Of course, Peter Bradnock of the British Poultry Council says that organic poultry has a far larger Carbon Footprint - he lobbies for intensive farming. That does not justify animal cruelty or weaken pro-organic methods.
We do eat too much meat in this country and across the Western World.
Arable land does not have to be used for animal fodder. Farmers used to have fewer cattle per acre and suffice with the hay they could harvest themselves. Sustainable farming practices are viable. Intensive animal rearing is the cost of cheap meat and environmental damage. Less cows in a field, less manure nitrates in the river systems.
Of course, Cows, sheep and all the animals of the world fart, burp and emit GHG’s. So do we, all the 6 billion + of us, but sadly no longer the people that have died in natural disasters recently and the endangered animals that die as a result of human activity.
A balanced view from Tom Heap - please!! I need to lower my blood pressure
May 20th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Hi Simon,
Thanks for your comments. I agree; it’s enough to make your blood boil. In fact, that leads us to another good reason to give up meat: health!
Nutritionists stress the need to reduce the consumption of meat and dairy and increase intake of fibre-rich carbohydrates, fresh fruit and vegetables in order to minimise risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and some cancers and high blood pressure!
Considering the rate at which developing nations are adopting the ‘Western diet’, this issue is becoming more critical: “If present trends continue, then by 2050 the world’s livestock will be consuming as much as 4 billion people.” (Colin Tudge, ‘So We Shall Reap’, Penguin 2003).
All the more reason to stick to the soybeans!
Bethan
June 29th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Nice website!!