In 2006, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization had
estimated that animal raising for meat and dairy is a esponsible for
18% of global warming.
However, it is becoming increasingly clear to scientists that the livestock industry is playing
a more significant role.
Dr.
Rajendra Pachauri, chief of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) remark during a talk he gave in September 2008
on the role of reducing meat consumption in addressing global warming.
Dr. Rajendra Pachauri – Chair of United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, VEGETARIAN (M): Since
people found out about this talk that I was going to give here today,
I’ve received a number of emails from people that
I respect saying that
the 18% figure is an underestimate; it’s a low estimate and in actual
fact it’s much higher.
VOICE: Greenhouse gases are emitted during virtually every step of the meat producing process.
Of
the three major greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous
oxide, methane is up to 72 times more potent than CO2, while nitrous
oxide is up to 300 times more potent.
To arrive at the potency of these gases, the general method is to average over a 100-year period.
However,methane
in particular is a much shorter-lived gas. Scientists have thus
determined that it is more accurate to average methane’s potency over
20 years.
This gives methane a 72 times greater potency than CO2 as a greenhouse gas.US
physicist Noam Mohr of the New York University Polytechnic Institute
stated the following in a telephone interview with Supreme Master
Television.
Voice of Noam Mohr – Physicist, New York University Polytechnic Institute, USA, VEGETARIAN (M): When
measured over 100 years, the United Nations said animal agriculture is
responsible for 18% of global warming emissions, which is an enormous
amount, far more than all transportation put together.
If you
look at it on a shorter term, methane has an outsized effect, and so
that number goes up. The true value in the near term when we take all
these things into account is much higher.
Professor Barry Brook (M):
So, if you look at these reports they will suggest it has about 25
times the impact of CO2. But really when it’s up there in the
atmosphere doing its work, it’s 72 times the impact and that makes a
big difference.
At 37% of global methane emissions, livestock is
the single largest source of human-caused methane. Dr. Kirk Smith
Professor, University of California – Berkeley, USA (M): Sure we have
to deal with CO2, but if you want to make an impact on climate in the
next 20 years, the place to do it is with the shorter-lived greenhouse
gases, most important of which is methane.
So, of the emissions in the next 20 years, the CO2 in this year’s emissions will only be about 40% of the total warming.
The other 60% or more will be from the shorter-lived gases, most important of which is methane.VOICE: In
addition, according to US physicist Noam Mohr, livestock has an even
larger share of emissions when yet another unaccounted factor is
acknowledged:
aerosols, or particles released along with CO2
from burning fossil fuels that despite their detrimental health
aspects, actually have a cooling effect.
Voice of Noam Mohr – Physicist with degrees from Yale University and University of Pennsylvania, USA, VEGETARIAN (M): When
you consider aerosols and consider the net effect of burning fossil
fuels, the carbon dioxide released heats the planet, the aerosols cool
the planet, and the net effect roughly cancels each other out.
That
means that most of the warming we have seen historically and are likely
to see in the future comes from other gases, namely methane.
Dr. Kirk R. Smith – Professor, University of California – Berkeley, USA (M): Already livestock is 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions, excuse me,
the meat system, which includes the animals, includes
growing the food for the animals, includes the transport of the meat,
includes the fertilizer to grow the food to feed the meat. And that’s
with not treating methane any more than the sort of normal way it is
used. Dr. Kirk R. Smith (M): If
you treat it more, then that 20% will go up to maybe 30%. So the 30%,
in the next 20 years, is going to be due to meat production.
VOICE:
Dr. T. Colin Campbell, a renowned researcher and internationally
bestselling author of “The China Study,” also indicated that
livestock’s role in heating the planet is much bigger.
Dr. T. Colin Campbell – Renowned nutrition researcher, Cornell University, USA, VEGAN (M):
I just had some information just recently, that the
new figures now
indicate that at least half of the greenhouse gases that are up there
now, not that 15 or 20%, at least half – and maybe considerably more –
are due to livestock production.VOICE: We thank the
distinguished scientists for confirming the importance of reducing meat
consumption to minimize methane emissions.May everyone soon join in the
sustainable plant-based solution to most effectively halt global
warming for all inhabitants of our Earth.
In
a July 2008 videoconference with our Association members in Thailand,
Supreme Master Ching Hai revealed through her deep insight the reality
of animal agriculture’s cumulative cause in global warming.
Because meat producing causes 80% of global warming.
because
of related pollution from various angles;Transportation,
water,deforestation, refrigeration, medical care for animals and
humans, and etc., etc.,all kinds of pollution coming from meat
production. It’s not just the land that they use. it’s not just the
methane gas and nitrous oxide it is all its by-products; there’s no end
to the list.
We cannot rely on green technology alone to save the planet.
Because the worst cause of it is from the meat industry. Everybody knows it.All the scientists already reported to us.