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April 7, 2010

Dairy, Meat & Global Warming

The dairy and the meat industries often get a ‘bad rap’, so it’s really nice to see when an article points out facts about issues regarding these industries. The following article was featured in Science Daily and is about a report presented at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco, titled “Eating Less Meat and Dairy Products Won’t Have Major Impact on Global Warming, Export Argues.” Now, this subject and article has been wide spread in the 'Ag World' on Twitter, Facebook and all other forms of social media within the past two weeks or so, but I have not seen it pop up in the mainstream news sector. Unless I missed it........ Here is the article in it’s entirety, or click HERE to go to Science Daily. ScienceDaily (Mar. 22, 2010) — Cutting back on consumption of meat and dairy products will not have a major impact in combating global warming -- despite repeated claims that link diets rich in animal products to production of greenhouse gases. That's the conclusion of a report presented at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco. ________________________________________ Air quality expert Frank Mitloehner, Ph.D., who made the presentation, said that giving cows and pigs a bum rap is not only scientifically inaccurate, but also distracts society from embracing effective solutions to global climate change. He noted that the notion is becoming deeply rooted in efforts to curb global warming, citing campaigns for "meatless Mondays" and a European campaign, called "Less Meat = Less Heat," launched late last year. "We certainly can reduce our greenhouse-gas production, but not by consuming less meat and milk," said Mitloehner, who is with the University of California-Davis. "Producing less meat and milk will only mean more hunger in poor countries." The focus of confronting climate change, he said, should be on smarter farming, not less farming. "The developed world should focus on increasing efficient meat production in developing countries where growing populations need more nutritious food. In developing countries, we should adopt more efficient, Western-style farming practices to make more food with less greenhouse gas production," Mitloehner said. Developed countries should reduce use of oil and coal for electricity, heating and vehicle fuels. Transportation creates an estimated 26 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., whereas raising cattle and pigs for food accounts for about 3 percent, he said. Mitloehner says confusion over meat and milk's role in climate change stems from a small section printed in the executive summary of a 2006 United Nations report, "Livestock's Long Shadow." It read: "The livestock sector is a major player, responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalents). This is a higher share than transport." Mitloehner says there is no doubt that livestock are major producers of methane, one of the greenhouse gases. But he faults the methodology of "Livestock's Long Shadow," contending that numbers for the livestock sector were calculated differently from transportation. In the report, the livestock emissions included gases produced by growing animal feed; animals' digestive emissions; and processing meat and milk into foods. But the transportation analysis factored in only emissions from fossil fuels burned while driving and not all other transport lifecycle related factors. "This lopsided analysis is a classical apples-and-oranges analogy that truly confused the issue," he said. Pin It

6 comments:

Pat Tillett said...

You know, I blame (and hate) the media for blowing all thise stuff up and trying to "make news" instead of just reporting it. This is a good example.
A while back you made a post that was anti-PETA. I wasn't sure if you could be objective about the subject or not. Since then I've found out that pet rescue organizations are also strongly anti-PETA. My wife is heavily involved in pet rescues from "kill shelters" and she recently explained to me that PETA's only concern is headlines. Almost zero money that they raise actually goes towards anything but salaries and advertisement. If the earth is warming up, there's nothing we can do about it. It's nature! Meat and dairy sure don't have anything to do with it! Earthlings are so stupid...

Nancy Grossi ~ Churned In Cali ~ The Wife of a Dairyman said...

Yes Pat, there are so many wonderful pet RESCUE organizations out there, that actually help animals. It's nice to see that people are beginning to see the truth behind organizations like PETA and Humane Society of U.S. (HSUS). Thank you for your comment and for visiting!

keats' handwritingq said...

Dr. Mitloehner's ACS presentation was covered by many news outlets, Times Magazine, Fox, etc. Just run a Google news search for Mitloehner.

Also, if you actually read his Clearing the Skies, you'll find that he wasn't discrediting LLS- he was just saying that in developed countries like the US, livestock plays less of a role in GHG production than other developing countries. That's b/c we use so much more energy here than in developing countries. You can hear Dr. Mitloehner discuss this here:
http://agwired.com/2009/05/25/climate-change-and-animal-agriculture/

Nancy Grossi ~ Churned In Cali ~ The Wife of a Dairyman said...

Thanks for your comment Keats. What I actually mean by main stream news media is NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, MSNBC etc. Do you know if the study was presented on any of these?

Alicia Bannister said...

This stuff irks me. I just really believe Mitloehner says it all in the statement that the pig and cow discussion distracts society from embracing effective solutions to global climate change. Maybe that's the intent. Frustrating to read this because it just emphasizes how far off we are from solutions.

Nancy Grossi ~ Churned In Cali ~ The Wife of a Dairyman said...

Thanks Alicia. It is totally frustrating isn't it!