5.8 C
Hannover
19. März 2024
CLIMATE CHANGE FOOD

Meat consumption and climate

According to Water Footprint Network, 16,000 liters of water are necessary for the production of a kilo meat (for comparison: one kilo wheat requires 1,350 liters). Every German consumes on average, i.e. children and vegetarians, including around 60 kilograms of meat annually – that’s 165 grams a day. For this purpose, around 3.7 million cattle, 59 million pigs and around 630 million chickens and turkeys are slaughtered annually in German slaughterhouses. But humanity cannot afford that much meat worldwide. Even if meat is more cheap than ever. While a worker had to work for a kilo of pork in 1950, less than 45 minutes are enough today.

Industrial factory farming

This was made possible by industrial factory farming, side effects such as rotten meat and nicotine eggs. Because the basic problem in meat production is already in the unfavorable ratio of effort and benefits: In order to obtain a kilogram of pork, five kilograms of cattle feed must be produced.

The agricultural area required for this therefore costs twice. Since meat consumption increases worldwide, huge areas are cleared every year, for example to grow the protein -rich soybean. Each year, species -rich forests dodge corn and soybäckers to plant cattle food instead of food and that has a devastating effect on the world nutritional situation.

Effects on food distribution

Measured by the global agricultural area, an incredible 80 percent are used for cattle production and feed cultivation – mainly in southern countries. Animal foods do not even make up 20 percent of global food energy supply. A third of the global grain harvest disappears into the animal stomach. The areas on which animal feed such as grain, corn and soy is grown could be used many times more efficiently for human nutrition in the form of plants.

The most prominent example: Brazil. Soy production has almost doubled there in the past seven years. In the majority, it is large criminal landowners who produce a total of around 50 million tons of soybeans in Brazil, which are then landed in the feeding troughs of the mast animals in Europe or are “refined” directly in the country.

Catastrophic climate balance from high CO2 emissions

With around 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, global animal husbandry is one of the most important causers of global warming. This includes both direct emissions such as the methane released from the stomach in cattle, but above all emissions in feed production including deforestation for land conversion.

Especially ruminants have an extremely high CO2 emissions: 13.3 kilos of CO2 are released per kilo of beef. For comparison: the same amount of mixed bread produces 0.75 kilos of CO2, apples 0.5 kilos of CO2, and tomatoes 0.2 kilos of CO2.

Organic food – a safe alternative

We can change a lot by handling our food. The effects of the production of food on the worldwide climate depend on the type of production, the season, transport and packaging. Colorful packaging with green meadows and happy cows promise consumers from a natural agriculture. But appearance is very often deceptive. Organic food is a safe alternative for the environment.

Organic is cool for the climate, because organic farming consistently does without the use of energy -intensive art fertilizers and toxic pesticides. With an organic menu, up to 40 percent of CO2 emissions that arise during food production can be saved!

And the saving of CO2 emissions is also urgently necessary, because according to the UNO, the warmest year has been in 2010 since the temperature records began.

(As of January 2014)

Quelle: https://www.greenpeace.de/themen/landwirtschaft/fleischeslust-was-das-stuck-lebenskraft-tatsachlich-kostet

Bildquelle: https://www.pexels.com/de-de/foto/kalt-eisberg-schnee-meer-53389/

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