As our world’s population has continued to rapidly increase, the pressure being put on the food industry, especially the livestock sector to produce commodities has also been unrelenting. Technology has helped significantly in the process of being able to raise the livestock and produce other food sources. However, this technology has had many detrimental effects on the environment.
Although environmental change is a well-known and frequently talked about subject, one of its main causes is not normally mentioned. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, by Nathan Pelletier and Peter Tyedmers from Dalhousie University, explains their findings about how food systems, especially livestock production, is one of the top contributors of anthropogenic emissions, meaning emissions of greenhouse gasses resulting from human activities. They found that the food industry contributes approximately 31% of the total emissions.
The authors of the study used previously published estimates along with projections and known data (ie. food production levels) to make predictions. They also looked at different scenarios based upon different levels of consumption of different kinds of meat and vegetables. The impacts of plant versus livestock protein-based diets were looked at.
As the world’s population continues to rapidly increase, the per capita demand for food is also increasing, which requires the rate of production to increase as well. This however puts extremely high pressures on the world’s ecological systems. It is forecasted that by 2050, the livestock sector will have expanded to past “humanity’s safe operating space.” Many of the detrimental effects of the livestock sector are deforestation in neotropical areas, land degradation, climate change and air pollution, water shortage and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity, The methane gas produced by the livestock has been a very big problem with air pollution. All of the effects are expected to help cause ecological change. By 2050, it is estimated that the mean surface temperatures of the earth are to increase by at least two degrees Celsius.
One of the many issues surrounding livestock production, is the increase in nitrogen emissions. In order to answer to the high demands of the public, the industry has had to resort to using industrial fertilizers and biological nitrogen fixation. Of course nitrogen is essential to all life, however our input in the nitrogen cycle has caused many consequences, such as increased radiative forcing, photochemical smog and acid deposition, and productivity increases leading to ecosystem simplification and biodiversity loss. The amount of excess nitrogen that we have been implementing into the environment is unbelievable. Since 1970, levels of atmospheric nitrogen have doubled.
The authors of the study believe that it should be a priority for the policy makers to attempt to decrease the per capita consumption of livestock products. Bearing in mind that the consumption of meat products in developed countries is twice the recommended levels presented by the United States Department of Agriculture.
As the world’s population increases along with its demands for resources, the competition for those limited resources will ultimately be dramatically amplified. The resources laid out in the study being, energy for fertilizers, pesticides, fuels, arable land for crops destined for direct human consumption. They believe that there will be political pressures for expanded biofuel production, which will lead to difficult decisions.
The study suggests that the limited attention that the livestock section in environmental governance receives, is a huge problem, when it comes to preventing environmental change. They believe that the livestock sector would be an essential topic in avoiding irreversible ecological change and hopefully moving humanity toward a sustainable future.
By Stephanie Moloughney
Reference:
Pelletier, Nathan, and Peter Tyedmers. "Forecasting potential global environmental." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2010): 1-4. Web. 14 Oct 2010
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