Certain factors that cause climate change come to mind when you think of global warming, like the burning of fossil fuels, excess usage of water, overuse of landfills, etc., and these factors are all covered by the news and government workers attempt to fix and cut back on these issues mildly every year.
It has been eye opening to learn about some unknown facts about climate change. It is very difficult to find the real statistics but from what I have learned from some heavy digging is that over 50% of global warming and carbon emissions is caused by livestock and the methane that they produce. Not to mention the amount of water it takes to keep them all alive and the amount of land they need to live. Beef accounts for a large majority of all the carbon emission alone. This makes you think twice as to what the government truly wants the people to know about the environment and the factors changing it.
Rainforests:
The number one reason for the clear cutting of the rainforests in the amazon is to create clearings to raise cattle. Sometimes the trees that they cut down are not even used for lumber back in North America. Before I did my research I would not have assumed that livestock had this much of an immediate affect on the environment. Many of the statistics out there currently have forestry and land change covering a large majority of carbon emission but the forestry is largely related to the usage of livestock and this is not mentioned.
Effects of methane:
Methane is 86 times more environmentally destructive than carbon dioxide over a 20 year period. Agriculture is expected to grow by 80% by 2050 so even if transport is improved and fossil fuels were to be cut in half the green house emissions would continue to rise.
Water usage:
Animal agriculture uses 34 – 76 trillion gallons of water every year. Many people try to keep their water usage down by taking shorter showers, watering their grass less and being conscious not to waste what they can use. Per pound of beef approximately 2500 gallons of water must be used. The truth is simple, it will take more than conscious water consumption to change the overall water usage anywhere in the world. Drought is largely caused by livestock and purchasing beef and dairy products is contributing to their usage.
Facts can be shoved in the face of all individuals but true impact won’t happen until big change happens.