With the commencement of the United Nations Climate Change Conference next week, The Humane Society of the United States is urging policy-makers and consumers to address animal agriculture's contributions to global warming by releasing a white paper today that focuses on the issue.
The paper, entitled An HSUS Report: The Impact of Animal Agriculture on Global Warming and Climate Change, points to the significant role that meat, egg and dairy production play in climate change and other serious environmental problems.
"Given the urgent environmental problems posed by animal agribusiness, it's critical that policy-makers develop concrete mitigation and adaptation strategies for the farm animal sector," said Danielle Nierenberg, The HSUS' animal agriculture and climate change specialist. "As a society, we can also help reduce environmental degradation by reducing the total number of animals who we raise and kill for food."
The HSUS recommends several steps that animal agriculture should take to help mitigate some of its environmental problems, including moving away from intensive farm animal confinement systems and the use of energy-intensive fertilizers and grain.
To help draw more attention to this issue, The HSUS will be leading a break-out session on animal agriculture and climate change at the annual National Council for Science and the Environment conference in January 2008.
Facts:
- According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, meat, egg and dairy production are responsible for nearly one-fifth of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, even more than transportation.
- Animal agriculture is responsible for 9 percent of human-induced carbon dioxide emissions, 37 percent of methane emissions (which has more than 20 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide) and 65 percent of nitrous oxide emissions.
- According to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, growth in farm animal populations, particularly in large, confined operations, has greatly increased emissions of methane from both animals and their manure.
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cited an increased numbers of birds raised for eggs and meat and the escalating confinement of pigs and dairy cows as catalysts for rising emissions of powerful greenhouse gases.
Timeline:
- September 2007
Enviroshop is maintained by dedicated NetSys Interactive Inc. owners & employees who generously contribute their time to maintenance & editing, web design, custom programming, & website hosting for Enviroshop.