www.kidskeeptheearthcool.org

Meat & Global Warming

The livestock industry, and because of it, eating meat, causes a significant portion of global warming. It is responsible for 18% percent of all global warming. You're probably wondering how it's responsible for so much. As you can see from the graph, Livestock Emissions Breakdown, The 3 largest portions for livestock emissions are

9 percent of all CO2, mainly from deforestation and other land changes caused by
making land for animals to graze or plant crops for the animals
35 percent of all Methane, from manure management and enteric fermentation (cows farting)
And 65 percent of all Nitrous oxide mainly from fertilizer production.

Methane is 23 times more powerful than CO2 in terms of global warming potential and Nitrous Oxide is 296 times more powerful. Methane, 31% of the greenhouse gases produced by the Livestock industry, cycles out of the atmosphere in 12 years whereas CO2 takes 50 - 200 years.

As you can see, if the demand for animal products decreased, it would stop a significant portion of all global warming. For this reason the easiest and overall best thing you can do to save the planet is to stop eating meat.

Written by Brennan