Global Warming & Food Choices

Justine Simon

November 15, 2009

www.brightergreen.org

Global Warming & Food Choices

• Why food matters

• The climate impact of meat and dairy

• How much meat and dairy are we really talking about?

• How you can make a difference

Addressing Climate Change Most common recommendations:

•  Save energy, home and work: lower heat, A/C, use power strips •  Buy energy-efficient appliances; change light bulbs •  If possible, switch to green energy •  Drive less, take public transit •  Plant a tree

But Food Matters … a Lot • Estimated ONE-THIRD of all human-caused

greenhouse gases (GHGs) the result of agriculture and changes in land-use related to the production of crops and farmed animals

The Meat (and Dairy) of the Matter

•  Livestock operations emit

18% of total GHGs: nearly

ONE-FIFTH of global total

•  That’s more than all GHGs from world’s

transportation systems combined—

private vehicles, public transit, airplanes (14%) •  GHGs from forest loss and degradation= 20%

•  New study suggests number may be as high as 51%

More Matter Carbon dioxide isn’t the only important

emission:

•  Methane: 37%, from digestive processes: mostly belching (23 x CO2’s global warming potential) • Each adult cow emits 176 to 242 lbs. of methane a year (dairy cows more) • . . . Multiply by approx. 1.3 billion cows alive today = significant global warming impact

Global Warming: Matters of Scale

•  Nitrous Oxide: 65%, feed and mostly manure (296 x CO2’s global warming potential)

•  238,000 U.S. CAFOs produce ½ billion tons of waste/year (3 x human level); lb. for lb., pigs produce 4 x human waste

Resources Needed…

• Monoculture: 50% of U.S. farm acres are soy and corn (feed crops)— not good carbon sinks.

• Corn= 86 million acres; 4.35 million acres = ALL vegetables (1.5%)

• Soy and corn require 270 million lbs. pesticides plus 21 billion lbs. synthetic fertilizer/year = GHGs + waterway “dead zones”

More Resources Needed…

•  Industrial agriculture is deeply reliant on fossil fuels: factory farms have highly controlled environments, also processing, packaging, transportation

• Cornell University: U.S. food system uses approximately 18% of U.S. total energy supply—contributing significant levels of GHGs to atmosphere each day

How Much Meat Are We Really Talking About?

•  10 billion farmed animals raised and slaughtered in U.S. per year (9 billion +poultry)

•  Average American consumes 200 lbs. of meat per year

•  Rest of the world: 70 lbs. per year . . . but rising

It’s Global

• Western diet, fast food, industrial animal agriculture globalizing

• Agribusiness wants new markets; rising affluence, urbanization, “modernity”

• 56 billion farmed animals consumed/year worldwide

The Big Players: China • Number one global GHG emitter

• Global leader in pork production

• Pork consumption has doubled in past ten years

• Only 3% of China’s large and medium sized pig farms have waste treatment capabilities

• Large dead zone in South China sea: Guangdong production

The Big Players: Brazil • 4th largest GHG emitter

• Global leader in poultry and beef exports

• Cattle population larger than human

• 2nd largest soybean exporter

• Widespread destruction of Amazon and Cerrado region

• Biggest cattle herd in the world – 281 million

• 2nd largest milk producer in the world

• Cattle herd: biggest global livestock source of methane

• 3rd largest producer of eggs

• 200 million chickens in battery cage facilities

The Big Players: India

Climate Change and Food Security • As climate change intensifies,

threat to global food production – higher temperatures, droughts, storms

• 1 billion people currently hungry

•  “Continuing current trends of industrial farming and meat and dairy consumption will push the world’s climate and resources over the edge.” – Compassion in World Farming, Friends of the Earth, 2009

So What Can We Do?

Eat as if the Climate Matters

Organic and Local Foods are Important . . .

•  If everyone converted 10% of diet to organic – the equivalent of removing 2 million cars from U.S. roads each year

•  Local: less energy to transport, plus livelihood, community and ecological benefits

•  But “food miles” (transportation from producer to market) = “drop in carbon bucket”: only 4% of GHGs from food

Reducing Global Warming “Foodprints”

But… eating less meat and dairy, more vegetables and fruits has far greater climate impact

•  All local omnivores’ diet, every meal every day - GHGs saved = 1000 miles of driving a year

•  Eat vegetarian one day a week - GHGs saved = 1163 miles of driving a year

•  Vegan diet = 3750 miles of driving a year

Help Get the Message Out: • Eat as if the global climate mattered, but talk

about food and warming, too:

Sweden’s effort to label foods with their carbon emissions stems from “...a 2005 study by Sweden’s national environment agency on how personal consumption generates emissions. Researchers found that 25 percent of national per capita emissions – two metric tons per year was attributable to eating.”

– Elizabeth Rosenthal, New York Times, October 22, 2009

Climate Experts Speak

“Please eat less meat—meat is a very carbon intensive commodity.”

Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chair,

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2008

“Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of

greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on

the world’s resources. A vegetarian diet is better.”

Lord Stern, Author of 2006 Stern Review on the Economics of Climate

Change, and Former Chief Economist at World Bank, 2009

Engage the Issues • Much to be done at the POLICY LEVEL

• Challenges abound!

• Opportunities to engage the issue across sectors, locally and globally, in terms of public health, environment, development

• Foodprint NYC

Resources

• Brighter Green: Resources on Globalization of Intensive Animal Agriculture (www.brightergreen.org)

• Farm Sanctuary (http://farmsanctuary.org) • Foodprint NYC (foodprintusa.org) • Take a Bite out of Climate Change (www.takeabite.cc) • Cool Foods Campaign; Cool Foods Pledge

(www.coolfoodscampaign.org) • Sustainable Table (www.sustainabletable.org)