Yesterday in the UK Observer newspaper, the headline story covered a United Nations report by Dr. Rajendra Pachauri from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Seen as the leading authority on global warming, Dr Pachauri said "diet change was important because of the huge greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental problems — including habitat destruction — associated with rearing cattle and other animals. It was relatively easy to change eating habits compared to changing means of transport." Backing him up, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that meat production accounts for nearly a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions are generated during the production of animal feeds, for example, while ruminants, particularly cows, emit methane, which is 23 times more effective as a global warming agent than carbon dioxide. The agency has also warned that meat consumption is set to double by the middle of the century. For this reason, Dr Pachauri stresses that dropping one meat meal a week could make a difference especially as a part of reductions in all areas of daily and commercial life.
Of course many meat producers disagree with these claims and say that the science is too young and new to be able to blame meat production fully. In another report, Geophysicists Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin from the University of Chicago have even calculated that becoming a vegetarian does more to fight global warming than switching from a gas-guzzling SUV to a fuel-efficient hybrid car, such is the amount of Co2 generated in the production of beef, pork and lamb. This takes into effect not only the product, but also the delivery of meat products and how and where the livestock was reared. More information on this here and here. More facts and figures here.
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