We celebrate "Earth Day" every year on April 22, to support protection against our environment. Yet, we don't want to talk about the leading cause that is killing our environment because it would push us into the non-profit zone or the potential threats that it poses.
When it comes to global warming, the first and the leading source anyone possibly can think about is plastic, exhaust from cars or CO2. But if we tell you that you are wrong, don’t get caught off guard. Let us put it straightforwardly, animal agriculture is responsible for 18 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions globally, more than from all the transportation combined, which is 13 per cent. And we are surprised that some of the organization like The Nature Conservancy, The Natural Resources Defense Council that are tackling climate change has nowhere mentioned anything about animal agriculture on their website, including the UN (Advancing Sustainable Consumption & Production, 2020). The Rainforest, which is the "lungs of our planet" has seen about 17 per cent of destruction in the past 50 years, and around 91 per cent of it because of animal agriculture. Also, it is responsible for the emission of two highly potent greenhouse gases, methane and nitrous oxide. Methane is 28 times more destructive than CO2 and has tremendous global warming potentials (GWPs). If we compare the Global Warming Potential of CO2 as 1, the warming potentials of methane and N2O is 23 and 296, respectively. Besides a higher global warming potential of nitrous oxide, what most concerning is that the gas remains in the atmosphere for 150 years.
Animal Agriculture is responsible for 20%-33% of freshwater consumption worldwide. Approximately 9,464 litres of water are needed to produce around 500 grams of beef, 3,785 litres of water for 3.7 litres of milk and almost 3,407 litres of water for 450 grams of cheese.
Livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year or 51 per cent of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. According to the United Nations, the global population will hit the milestone of about 8.6 billion by 2030 and 9.8 billion in 2050. Globally around 56 billion land animals are reared and slaughtered for human consumption per year and are expected to double by 2050.
Now that we told you the problem, we must give you a potential solution too. And to understand the root cause of the problem we need you to see the infographic. So, asking someone to be a complete vegan or to leave all the animal products, would probably make you think we are insane, and that will not be a feasible idea to adopt for many. But, reducing the consumption of dairy products and animal products specifically, beef, can contribute significantly to cut those numbers of GHGs emissions from enteric fermentation. We know that sounds weird maybe, but trust me when a change in the human diet might save our planet, each contribution matters.