If we get to the point where we dont have enough pork in storage, and multiple plants are no longer in operation, than we could have problems, said Dermot Hayes, an economist at Iowa State University, at a news conference on Tuesday. I think this is a kind of Pearl Harbor moment for science. But while most people are eating less red and processed meat compared to a decade ago, they are eating more white meat, according to a study published in Lancet Planetary Health. Eating meat has 'dire' consequences for the planet, says report But journalists could be doing more to cut through the noise. Estimates vary, but peer-reviewed research says that animal agriculture causes between 15 percent to 19.6 percent of climate-warming emissions. Restocking the meat section of the Presidente Supermarket in Miami on Monday. In recent years, companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat that produce plant-based fake meat alternatives have made major inroads theyre even in chains like Burger King. Erin Bormett/The Argus Leader, via Associated Press. Global meat consumption has increased significantly in recent decades, with per capita consumption almost doubling since the early 1960s, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of. And processing plants that remain open have capacity to pick up slack. Meat consumption is linked to an annual carbon dioxide equivalent of 1.1 tons on global average. Globally, the UN estimates it makes up more than 14% of all man-made greenhouse gases, including methane. CHLOE SORVINO: Thank you so much for having me. Global meat consumption has increased significantly in recent decades, with per capita consumption almost doubling since the early 1960s, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The two scientists spent the pandemic years researching climate models and climate change literature to quantify the direct and indirect impact of eliminating animal agriculture worldwide. As for the climate effects of any changes in animal numbers, its complicated. And before I delved further into the world of alternative proteins, I wanted to address if it actually really could make an environmental difference. Milk taken from cows is three times as bad as soy milk. Our work shows that ending animal agriculture has the unique potential to significantly reduce atmospheric levels of all three major greenhouse gases, which, because we have dithered in responding to the climate crisis, is now necessary to avert climate catastrophe, said Eisen, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator at UC Berkeley. Food production is responsible for one-quarter of the world's "But opting for peas instead would be even better: their production results in 90% less emissions.". Theres a lot of uncertainty, there are a lot of unknowns, but I think probably the biggest uncertainty is whether people will look at this potential and act on it as a society.. The farmers and ranchers who supply the nation with hamburgers, pork chops, T-bone steaks and chicken fingers now confront several crises at once: Large processing plants are shutting down as workers fall ill, many producers were already strained by the trade war with China, and the sudden rise of plant-based fake meat alternatives had been starting to capture Americans imaginations. newsletter. The big question now: Will they become more popular in a time of economic crisis, or less? By 2020, China alone is expected to be eating 20m tonnes more of meat and dairy a year. Why the media ignores meat's role in climate change - Vox Two reports within the past year, however, addressed a different aspect of animal agriculture: the potential that grazing land has for regrowing vegetation and sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. And these are very lively grasses, completely different from a massive feedlot chicken operation with thousands and thousands of birds forced into confinement, unable to move. For example, agriculture is sometimes cited as a major cause of the Colorado River water shortage, which could lead readers to think that the current sky-high levels of water use for agriculture in the Western US are just an inevitable part of feeding the world. The European Commission, the bloc's regulatory arm, wants to relax rules on crops made with so-called new genomic technologies, or NGTs, which can improve tolerance to diseases, pests and . A major reason for the large long-term effect Eisen and Brown observe is that its benefits accrue rapidly. More and more people are going vegeterian or vegan in an effort to help fight climate change. Investigation: How the meat industry is climate-washing its polluting Plant-based meat substitutes like Beyond Meat burgers have shifted from curiosity to big business. The problem is so big because climate-changing emissions are released at every stage of the processfrom the . I'm Terry Gross. He noted its too early to tell how the competition might unfold, though early data suggests that sales of both traditional meat and plant-based alternatives spiked during the initial wave of coronavirus-induced panic shopping. There are hundreds of millions of pounds of beef, chicken and pork in storage, not hundreds of millions of tons. While both researchers would just as soon eliminate animal agriculture today, they chose a more realistic scenario: a phaseout over 15 years. Not so much. They found that the resulting drop in methane and nitrous oxide levels, and the conversion of 800 gigatons (800 billion tons) of carbon dioxide to forest, grassland and soil biomass, would have the same beneficial impact on global warming as cutting annual global CO2 emissions by 68%. Produced by Rob Szypko , Rachel Quester , Alex Stern and . Across the 1,000 articles we examined, only a handful of stories reported in depth on the connection between consuming animal products and climate change, the researchers wrote. On April 12, Smithfield Foods said it was closing its Sioux Falls, S.D., plant indefinitely after 230 workers became infected. Environmental Impacts of Food Production - Our World in Data Most research on the impact of animal agriculture has focused on the impact today of methane emissions from animals and their manure, nitrous oxide from fertilizer used to grow animal feed, and from the carbon dioxide produced raising and transporting animals and meat. I think that if we give industry too much credit by kid-gloving our treatment of farmers, then were making a mistake as journalists.. One thing it is not: sustainable. Meat consumption in the UK dropped by 17% in the decade to 2019, with the average daily amount eaten per person falling from from 3.6oz (103g) to 3oz. To hatch a chicken, you need genetics. Beef is also the worst food when it comes to climate emissions, although some estimates put shrimps up there too. Ultra-Orthodox and ultranationalist parties formed a coalition government with recently reelected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And then you have all these different trays of mycelium and different types of fungi being taken out and sliced and then eventually put in packages and getting out to the market. With livestock being one of the main contributors, the government's climate advisers have said the public should be urged to less meat to help protect the planet. The visualization here shows a summary of some of the main global impacts: But its on journalists and environmentalists to be clear-eyed about the realities of the climate crisis, and cover ideas changing diets, yes, but also government food policy and farming practices and technologies to try and get us out of it. Part of the problem is that the media, like everyone else, operates in an information environment in which the meat lobby downplays and in some cases suppresses the full extent to which burgers, ribs, and chicken nuggets pollute the planet. An earlier version of this article stated incorrectly the amount of meat in cold storage. It's more expensive, but you also are getting more nutrients. Godfray et al. Its no wonder that public health researchers, in a paper published last year in the journal Sustainability, found that the media often engages in both-sidesism on meats role in climate change, treating it as more of an open debate than it really is. Does it seem that these products will get enough market share to have a real impact on climate change and these other issues? International Symposium on Food Safety and Control The study was published Feb. 1 in the journal PLOS Climate. We believe thats an important part of building a more equal society. All rights reserved. 'Raw Deal' takes a hard look at the state of the American meat industry But were not there yet.. "Replacing beef with pork may sound like a good choice," says Ms Caldart. The range of estimates has left room for meat lobbyists to muddy the waters, creating an environment of misinformation and exaggeration. What this means is that per year the products and byproducts of the meat industry are responsible for 51% of the CO2 emissions worldwide, growing feed crops for livestock is responsible for the. You know, there's another kind of meat alternative which rests on fungi - right? And more than 50% of the market in the U.S. is controlled by Tyson and a subsidiary they have. Thats because there are still hundreds of millions of pounds of beef, chicken and pork piled up in cold storage, particularly since producers are no longer selling to shuttered restaurants and schools. Im hoping that others, including entrepreneurs, scientists and global policymakers, will recognize that this is the most important opportunity humanity has to reverse the trajectory of climate change, and seize it, Brown said. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. There are a few investors who have tried it under lock and key. And we cant do that if we have a paywall. Given recent newsroom closures and mass reporter layoffs, news outlets arent likely to be hiring scores of reporters specializing in agriculture and the environment anytime soon. Meat and Climate Change | Soil Association Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Amy Salit, Phyllis Myers, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Ann Marie Baldonado, Thea Chaloner, Seth Kelley, Susan Nyakundi and Joel Wolfram. Food is a touchy subject, and telling people to change what they eat can turn some readers hostile. Before you add this to your list of criticisms of Musk, know that if youre anything like the average person or Musk himself you too probably underestimate just how much agriculture, especially meat and dairy production, contributes to climate change and other environmental problems. To be sure, in addition to journalists quoted in this article, there are a number of news outlets, non-profits, and writers that regularly report on how what we eat contributes to climate change. Theres a real vulnerability there for traditional meat producers, said Don Close, a senior animal protein analyst for Rabobank. Most emissions in livestock farming result from feed production (58%) and are released during animals' digestive processes (31%); ruminants such as cattle, sheep and goats produce large quantities of methane. She finds that market power in meat processing is concentrated in a handful of powerful, multinational companies and that the industry is dominated by factory farms and huge feedlots, where animals get antibiotics and consume feed grown with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Food authenticity and fighting food fraud. Meat consumption in the UK dropped by 17% in the decade to 2019, with the average daily amount eaten per person falling from from 3.6oz (103g) to 3oz. Not just beef! There is, he added, an enormous, previously unrecognized opportunity to sharply bend the trajectory of climate change within a couple of decades, with multiple additional environmental and public health benefits, and minimal economic disruption.. France riots: Football speaks out, but has anything changed? Examining greenhouse gas emissions tied to livestock farming does not tell us everything about the impact of meat consumption on the climate. None at all. For context: To become carbon neutral by 2050, every person on the planet would need to cut their emissions to an annual 2 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, or less roughly the amount attributable to European meat eaters. Choosing not to consume beef, lamb and mutton could have additional benefits. You write about a company called Cooks Venture that's working to raise chickens that eat more sustainable plant food. There are variations across different farming systems and in different parts of the world, but the bottom line is that meat and dairy are less sustainable than plant-based foods. What hadnt been recognized is the much more impactful potential to unlock negative emissions by eliminating that industry, Brown said. Journalists have risen to the occasion before: Coverage of climate change has increased in recent decades, especially in the last few years. While Eisen and Brown acknowledge that animal products are key to nutrition in most countries they supply about 18% of the calories, 40% of the protein and 45% of the fat in the human food supply they point out that worldwide, about 400 million people already live on entirely plant-based diets. This means that greenhouse gas emissions vary considerably depending on the kind of meat produced and consumed. The Sunday Read: 'A Week With the Wild Children of the A.I. Boom' We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Meat and dairy foods tend to have a higher carbon footprint There are also large differences in the carbon footprint of the same foods Food production has a large environmental impact in several ways What are the environmental impacts of food and agriculture? For example, in recent years the beef industry has promoted a misleading method of counting the warming impact of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas emitted by cows. On Wednesday, the National Pork Producers Council highlighted a study estimating that the industry could face $5 billion in losses this year and warned that many farmers could go out of business without further federal aid. The only people likely to downplay this are those who have a vested interest. It found that that plant-based foods account for just 29% of greenhouse gases emitted by the global food industry. Let me reintroduce you. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. She's a staff writer at Forbes. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? We went from having no cellphones to cellphones being ubiquitous in less time than that. Just 15 plants, mostly in the Midwest, slaughter nearly 60 percent of the nations pigs each day. One of the reasons for this is that farmed animals need to eat a lot of crops but yield a lot fewer calories in their meat or milk than they consume. When we talk about emissions, we usually think of carbon dioxide (CO2). But so far, there's been billions of dollars invested and so little actual sales. The farming and consumption of animals is a key driver of climate breakdown, according to well respected institutions such as Oxford University, Harvard, and Chatham House. I really wanted to tell that story because 99% of all chicken in this country comes from just two companies. Her new book is "Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, And The Fight For The Future Of Meat." What could cause a malaria comeback in the US and what could stop it, Sign up for the Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. Copyright 2023 NPR. (SOUNDBITE OF DAVE HOLLAND AND KENNY BARRON'S "DR. DO RIGHT"). And the chickens then also are spreading their own manure through the soils. So, as well as cutting down on red meat and dairy, people who want to make their diets more climate-friendly can follow principles including minimising waste and trying to choose fruit and vegetables that are in season. The National Cattlemens Beef Association, the industrys leading lobby group, runs a climate messaging machine, food journalist Joe Fassler recently wrote in the Guardian, that trains influencers to confuse the public and downplay beefs emissions. It can be concluded that about 15% of global greenhouse emissions result from livestock farming almost on par with those produced by the transport sector. Plants like these are at the heart of a $140 billion meat industry that processes some 9 billion chickens, 32 million cattle and 121 million hogs each year. That's OK. That's good. (Chart courtesy of PLOS Climate), My awareness of the potential impact was a major motivation for launching Impossible Foods, Brown said. Why have I heard that eating meat is bad for the climate? But at least 70 percent of the water diverted from the Colorado River for agriculture is used to grow feed for beef and dairy cows, and animal products generally require much more water than plant-based foods. A recent study showed that a pound of beef produces, on average, around 15 times as much CO 2 as a pound of rice 3 and around 60 times as much as a pound of wheat, corn or peas. View UCBerkeleyOfficials profile on Instagram, View UCZAXKyvvIV4uU4YvP5dmrmAs profile on YouTube, Berkeley leaders, scholars react to Supreme Courts decision on affirmative action, After 15 years, experiment yields evidence of cosmic gravitational wave background, State funds development of first-of-its-kind police misconduct database. Its the [beef] industry choosing metrics which make their impact look small, Drew Shindell, a professor of Earth science at Duke University, told Bloomberg about the industrys alternative math.
