green my world

After an extended period of soul searching about what I should write about on this blog – I have decided to provide information which will help you to make small decisions.

I’m working on the basis that most people don’t have the information available to them to help them make these decisions – and that is why people who don’t want to harm the environment make damaging lifestyle choices.

These small decisions taken on their own will not save the universe – but by spreading the word far and wide, encouraging others to replicate positive behaviour patterns, we can make a difference.

The reality is though that only by changing at a societal level are we going to make a big enough impact – and for that we are going to have to really push the agenda wherever we can.

So the first subject I want to tackle on the blog, is something I have written about before elsewhere, the subject of meat eating.

In Britain, as in most of the ‘developed’ world, we consume a lot of meat.  Many people have meat on a daily basis – eating a combination of red and white meats – as well as occasional fish meals, and more occasional vegetarian meals.

A report in December 2000 in Eurofood magazine noted that: “the popularity of meat in the UK is on the increase, with average consumption per head reaching 31 kilograms for red meat, compared to 19kg for white meat… the US and the UK have very similar eating patterns. Both nations have high red meat consumption levels and low fish and vegetable consumption levels.”

While vegetarianism and occasional vegetarianism is also increasing, red meat consumption is growing, driven by a market which forces prices down, and clever marketing.

There is a fundamental problem with meat consumption when it comes to environmental concerns.  Large scale livestock farming is very harmful to the environment.

The FAO report ‘Livestock’s long shadow’ published in 2006  pointed out that farmed animals produce huge amounts of greenhouse gases – they may only only account for 9 percent of total carbon dioxide production, but they produce up to 40 percent of methane and 65 percent of nitrous oxide.  Notably Nitrous Oxide is vastly more environmentally damaging than CO2. (Some claim it is 300 times as damaging.)

This pollution, along with other problems such as deforestation and water pollution lead the report’s authors to say that “The impact is so significant, it needs to be addressed with urgency.”

Philosopher and animal rights campaigner Peter Singer contends  that being a vegetarian is “the single most effective thing that the average person can do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

In 1999, the Union of Concerned Scientists ranked meat eating as one of the most environmentally damaging actions that Americans perform.

Critics of this school of thought often suggest that we cant stop animals polluting – they all do it.  This is of course true – but the point in this case is that we are responsible for rearing huge amounts of animals purely to feed a heavily meat based diet – a diet which is not only unnecessary and likely to make the consumer more prone to various ailments, but also kills off the planet.

It is not the animals who are responsible for the huge amounts of pollution being emitted by farting cattle and pigs – it is we humans who are responsible, just as we are responsible for emissions from vehicles and etc.

Livestock farming is less efficient with resources than vegetable or arable farming.  For a start it takes far less water to grow vegetarian food than it does to produce meat.

The website Waterfootprint has calculated that “to produce one kilogram of boneless beef, we use about 6.5 kg of grain, 36 kg of roughages, and 155 litres of water (only for drinking and servicing).

“Producing the volume of feed requires about 15300 litres of water in average.”

To produce a kilo of grain on the other hand you require about 1300 litres of water.  Some estimates claim that livestock production accounts for over 8% of global human water consumption.

Wikipedia reports that: “approximately 68% of all agricultural land is used in the production of livestock as permanent pastures.”

This has been estimated to comprise 30% of the earth’s entire land surface.

In the FAO report – Livestock’s long shadow – referred to above, we learn that a third of the world’s land suitable for growing crops is used to produce feed for farmed animals!
Livestock production is also thought responsible for 70% of the Amazon deforestation in places – where the rainforest has been cleared to create new pastures or to grow cattle feed.

I could go on – and would be happy to if it would be helpful – but for now I think the point has been made.  Eating meat on a regular basis is damaging to the environment in a big way.  We in the so called ‘developed’ nations are the ones responsible for the massive consumption of meat – particularly red meat.

Anyone serious about trying to lower their personal impact on the environment would do well to start by cutting down on meat, or better stillcutting it out altogether.

A vegetarian diet is tasty, varied, healthy, and significantly less damaging to the environment.  For those worried about protein – fear not, you will easily take in all the protein you need from other food stuffs, but if you’re really worried, why not take up eating meat once a month?  This would bring you into harmony with a huge proportion of the world for whom meat is a treat, not the basis of every meal.