However, the chart illustrates that producing beef is more than twice as carbon intensive as producing lamb. The digestive process causes the animals to belch out methane, a greenhouse gas that is around 28-34 times (pdf) more powerful than CO2 over a 100-year period. ![]() ![]() Part of that is because digestion by ruminants produces a lot of methane.”Ĭows and sheep are “ruminants” – meaning that their stomachs contain specialised bacteria capable of digesting tough and fibrous material, such as grass. “In a very broad-brush approach, the products from ruminant animals – sheep, cows and their relatives, animals with four stomachs – they tend to have greater greenhouse gas effects. In this interactive Q&A, Carbon Brief explores how greenhouse gas emissions from meat, dairy and other diets compare, as well as whether changes to the production and transportation of meat could help to stem its climate impact. If it is to strive for the most optimistic target of keeping warming to 1.5C, changes to diet may be even more crucial. If the world is to meet its target of limiting global warming to “ well below” 2C, some degree of diet shift will be necessary, scientists say. Meat and dairy specifically accounts for around 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization ( FAO). For example, for every person on the planet, there are approximately three chickens. The mass of animals raised for slaughter on Earth now outweighs wildlife by a factor of 15-to-1. ![]() Food production accounts for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and takes up half of the planet’s habitable surface.Ī taste for meat has had a particular impact on land.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |