Op-Ed in NYTimes, Wednesday the 27th

[Guest guest]

Meat and the Planet

Published: December 27, 2006

 

When you think about the growth of human population

over the last century or so, it is all too easy to

imagine it merely as an increase in the number of

humans. But as we multiply, so do all the things

associated with us, including our livestock. At

present, there are about 1.5 billion cattle and

domestic buffalo and about 1.7 billion sheep and

goats. With pigs and poultry, they form a critical

part of our enormous biological footprint upon this

planet.

 

Just how enormous was not really apparent until the

publication of a new report, called “Livestock’s Long

Shadow,” by the Food and Agriculture Organization of

the United Nations.

 

Consider these numbers. Global livestock grazing and

feed production use “30 percent of the land surface of

the planet.” Livestock — which consume more food than

they yield — also compete directly with humans for

water. And the drive to expand grazing land destroys

more biologically sensitive terrain, rain forests

especially, than anything else.

 

But what is even more striking, and alarming, is that

livestock are responsible for about 18 percent of the

global warming effect, more than transportation’s

contribution. The culprits are methane — the natural

result of bovine digestion — and the nitrogen emitted

by manure. Deforestation of grazing land adds to the

effect.

 

There are no easy trade-offs when it comes to global

warming — such as cutting back on cattle to make room

for cars. The human passion for meat is certainly not

about to end anytime soon. As “Livestock’s Long

Shadow” makes clear, our health and the health of the

planet depend on pushing livestock production in more

sustainable directions.