Despite mounting evidence, both Indian and American regulators have failed to adequately recognise the contribution of meat and dairy production to climate change. On the contrary, India sold 16.74 per cent more meat and meat products between April and November of 2014 than it did during the same period the previous year. India is the worlds largest milk producer and is among the worlds largest beef exporters. The United States is the second-largest meat producer in the world, after China. Livestocks Long Shadow, the widely cited 2006 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, estimated that 7,516 million metric tons per year of CO2e, or 18 per cent of annual worldwide GHG emissions, are attributable to cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, camels, horses, pigs and birds raised for food and that livestock production accounts for more direct greenhouse gas emissions overall than all trains, ships, planes and road transportation combined, Report published by the Worldwatch Institute in 2009 estimated that 51 per cent of GHG emissions may be attributable to agriculture, specifically cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, camels and pigs who are raised to be killed and eaten and that Livestocks Long Shadowapparently underestimated the amount of land used for livestock and feed production by a large margin. International think-tank Chatham House recently released a report on the lack of public awareness of animal agricultures contribution to climate change, even though its responsible for more GHG emissions than the contribution of the entire transportation sector. A recent Oxford University study found that the dietary greenhouse-gas emissions among meat-eaters were between 50 and 54 per cent higher than among vegetarians and between 99 and 102 per cent higher than among vegans. When scientists at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden calculated various ways to combat climate change, they found that reducing meat and dairy consumption is crucial for bringing agricultural climate pollution down to safe levels. Ilmi Granoff of the Overseas Development Institute in the United Kingdom has urged officials that the fastest way to address climate change would be to dramatically reduce the amount of meat people eat. Also, a 2014 study published in New Scientist magazine found that just by going vegan, one person can reduce the amount of greenhouse gases his or her diet contributes to climate change by up to 60 per cent.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 23:34:40 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015