RUMINANTS & THE ENVIRONMENT
livestock & GHG emissions
Over the last couple of decades ruminants, particularly cattle, have gained notoriety over their influence on climate change. Most notably, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been made a public concern, especially with methane, from the animal agriculture sector.
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Are Livestock Significant Contributors to Climate Change?
In 2006, the UN FAO (United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization) released a ground-breaking document called Livestock’s Long Shadow. In it, top scientists covered various means by which livestock production has been a big contributor to climate change and multiple land-use changes.
Most importantly, to this and the following sub-pages at least, the document pointed to how livestock have allegedly contributed to 18% of greenhouse gas emissions of all human-caused emissions. Of that, livestock supposedly contributes 37% of methane emissions and 64% of nitrous oxide emissions.
One of the lead authors, Dr. Frank Mitloehner, pointed out that there were some substantial errors in the calculations for this document, and the livestock sector actually contributes far less to greenhouse gas emissions than published.
Unfortunately, anti-ruminant environmentalists, animal rights activists, and others with a mandate against animal agriculture quickly latched on to those values and effectively utilized them to spread the message that to paraphrase, “livestock [especially cattle], are the worst offenders for contributing to climate change,” and that people must eat less (or no) meat to, “help save the planet.”
Thus, a war has been waging online against those who parrot the bumper-sticker slogans of “cow farts are killing the planet,” or, “methane emissions from livestock is the biggest driver of climate change,” among other similar talking points, and those who work hard to debunk the (pun-unintended) over-simplistic bullsh*t accusations against cows, cattle, and other ruminants.
The majority of people haven’t bothered to dig deep into the anti-ruminant talking points, thinking that those who keep repeating the same misinformation over and over again must be right… simply because it’s getting repeated over, and over, and over again.
However, those who have bothered have uncovered the simple fact that ruminants are not to blame whatsoever. Instead, it’s how they are raised, and the fact that it’s much easier to blame the cows than it is to blame a multi-billion dollar industry that mines for ancient sunlight to run cars and produce plastics.
Yet, the myth that livestock has allegedly “huge” contributions to greenhouse gas emissions persists. Some, in trying to debunk the now-famous “it’s not the cow, it’s the how” phrase claim that, “it’s BOTH the cow and the how,” because cows produce climate-destroying methane and, no matter how they’re raised, they also contribute to the destruction of the environment.
Except that, we now know that this claim is a half-baked lie. The GHGs from livestock have shown to only be an issue when they’re raised in confinement, but not when on pasture or rangeland. Also, livestock raised on pasture, and managed right, help improve the environment as opposed to the all-too-popular belief that they constantly destroy it.
It’s crucial that the livestock and their greenhouse gas emission myths be busted, and the air cleared about how and why livestock aren’t nearly as much of a threat to climate change as what is regularly proselytized.
Below you’ll find some useful information that points to how methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide from livestock and livestock product is and isn’t a climate-change worry.
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Allegations of Greenhouse Gas Emissions