A German study found that cows are major contributors to global warming, and it doesn’t matter if they’re raised on a conventional or an organic farm.
[Creative Commons photo by Jelle]
I’m with Stephanie Ernst over at change.org on this one, though: let’s not blame the poor cows. The culprit here is humans’ taste for meat and dairy and the sheer number of cows we have to raise to put beef on all of those plates.
Foodwatch, an independent German research group, conducts studies on our diets’ impact on the environment. They are not an animal rights group; they’re a consumer rights group, and heir findings led them to recommend that “agriculture must finally become part of climate change policy.”
The really shocking part of this Foodwatch study is that in many ways, organic meat is worse because it uses more land and resources. The problem is that no matter how you raise a cow, “they burp and fart to their hearts’ content.” Foodwatch is saying that we need to reduce our milk and meat production by 70% to mitigate the global warming implications.
Take Action in Your Kitchen
Seventy percent! For someone living on the Standard American Diet, that sounds pretty dramatic. So how can we cut back on the meat we eat? Check out these great vegetarian recipes to get you going. Veg Web has a huge database of tasty vegan recipes, too!
Eating less dairy might seem tougher than reducing meat consumption for a lot of folks. Don’t worry that cutting dairy means you have to give up your favorite treats! Online shops like Atlanta’s Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe and Portland’s Food Fight Grocery offer tasty dairy alternatives. Follow Your Heart makes a mean vegan “cheese.” You can find tasty cream cheese and sour cream alternatives. You don’t even have to give up chocolate!
It might feel a bit trickier if you have kids, since you want to be careful with how much soy you’re feeding those little ones. Luckily, there are all sorts of soy-free dairy alternatives. Full disclosure here: I’m one of those hippie vegan types. For some reason, avocado really helped quell the cheese cravings when I gave up dairy. For a milk alternative, give almond milk a try! You can even find tasty ice creams that are totally soy free! Jennifer McCann’s site Vegan Lunch Box is full of kid-friendly vegan recipes.
Looking for more information on meat’s environmental impact? The Price of Meat has you covered. Stay tuned over there for their petition on livestock and climate policy.
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About Becky Striepe
I wonder how much the human population contributes from our bodily emissions
That’s a really good question! I wonder if there’s a study out there about that.
Thats an interesting study from Foodwatch. Green groups often encourage consumption of organic meat, in an effort to minimize the well-known environ. impact of meat…but now that we know organic meat has a higher footprint, green groups should just be encouraging the consumption of less meat in general and vegetarian options!
Thanks for sharing that, and for getting the word out about PriceofMeat and the petition!
codymc: According to the EPA, the manure from livestock is 13 times the human population. So I think that’s a good indicator that bodily emissions are a non-factor. Methane emissions from landfills actually are higher than livestock’s (enteric fermentation)
http://www.epa.gov/methane/sources.html#anthropogenic
Great piece. It has sparked conversation at Super Eco.
http://www.supereco.com/news/2009/03/02/climate-changing-for-cattle/