12 Days Till Earth Day

*12*

by Dan Piraro, dist. by King Features Syndicate

"The livestock sector is responsible for a significant share of environmental damage." - p. 284 of the U.N.'s report titled, "Livestock's Long Shadow."

Meet the world's top destroyer of the environment. Livestock are responsible for 18% of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. This equals more damaging gases than all cars, trucks, trains, airplanes, and boats (all forms of transport) put together. I've blogged about this before.

You can find the U.N. report in its entirety here, but it's long, very long. Let me list some of the topics to show you how pervasive the problem is:
~ geography of livestock-related land use
~ hot spots of land degradation
~ livestock's role in climate change and air pollution
~ livestock in the carbon cycle
~ livestock in the nitrogen cycle
~ livestock's role in water depletion and pollution
~ livestock land-use impacts on the water cycle
~ livestock's impact on biodiversity
~ livestock's role in biodiversity loss

To address the issue in the cartoon, methane gas...
CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operations) or factory farms, feed cattle grains instead of grass. Not only are grains cheaper but they can add all sorts of antibiotics, growth hormones, and animal byproducts to these mixtures. Cattle's digestive tracts are not suited for a grain diet and have much difficulty digesting these intruders. What's the result? (short life spans and) GAS!

Of course the big push these days is towards grass-fed beef. In general, I appreciate the difference this makes in the life of the cow; it eats what its GI tract can comfortably digest and theoretically the animal is out in the field instead of crowded together in a feces-covered factory enclosure. What I've read, however, is that this does not help the methane problem. Apparently methane gas is a natural end product of ruminant digestion and is produced no matter what. What's the result? GAS!

My conclusion: true environmentalists don't eat meat.

So today, 12 days before Earth Day, I propose an idea for you to consider: between now and April 22 go without meat. Try it. It's not so hard... try it.