Sunday, October 4, 2015

Truth about carbon footprint in USA

How Green Are You?

 Today everyone in the world measures their 'Being Green' by their carbon footprint. We measure carbon footprint by the amount of resources we directly use - such as using paper or plastic, driving inefficient vehicles emitting carbon dioxide and other deadly gases, using electricity, and so on.

    As per the EPA, household carbon footprint calculator includes 'home energy', 'transportation' and 'waste' and suggests changes in these three categories once you want to address the global warming challenge with your personal efforts.
However, more accurate way to measure carbon footprint would be to also include the indirect emissions of harmful gases, especially when the indirect emissions cause more damage than the direct use. Would you agree?


What is EPA telling you?


As per Environmental Protection Agency, in 2013,
- 5500 million tons of CO2 was released
- 630 million tons of Methane was released
- 350 million tons of Nitrous Oxide was released

This of course would mean that by reducing CO2 emissions we achieve our goals of being greener. But there is one other thing EPA is saying which we all overlooked:

- Global Warming potential of Methane is 30 times that of CO2 and Global Warming potential of Nitrous Oxide is 298 times that of CO2.

So in reality, Methane and Nitrous Oxide released in atmosphere is far more harming than CO2. Moreover, while some of CO2 is naturally consumed by trees and forests across the USA, Methane and Nitrous Oxide continue to stay in atmosphere for a long time (12 to 114 years). 



Causes

 So the question is - where do Methane (CH4) and Nitrous Oxide (N2O) come from?

- 30% of 630M tons of CH4 was produced by Agriculture Industry.
- 80% of 350M tons of N2O was produced by Agriculture Industry.

 So, in reality, Agriculture Industry alone produced several times more CO2 than all the other sources combined if you also consider the global warming potential of these gases.

                       Further breakdown

 - Every crop that is produced need fertilizers and every animal that is raised for dairy or meat needs food, water and produces waste.

So further breakdown is -
- 65% of the N2O produced by farms was actually produced by the livestock.
- 75% of the CH4 produced by farms was actually produced by the livestock.

 - The fertilizers used for animal feed has a very high content of nitrogen to increase the production of the feed to meet the demands of the livestock. That is why the farms producing animal feed emits lot more N2O compared to other farms.
- Raising livestock also needs much more land than producing food for humans which leads to deforestation in many parts of the world, which then leads to lack of CO2 consumption by trees.




                                                            More Facts

 Animal Agriculture has
- desertified 1/3rd of the world's land
- been using 11 times more water than all homes (in USA)
- caused deforestation of 136 million acres of forests in the world
- been using 1/3rd of world's total freshwater supply
- been using 50% of the total grain produced in the world, just to feed the livestock.

Waste generated from a farm with 2500 dairy cows is equivalent to waste generated from a city with 411,000 humans.

Animal pastureland acreage across the world is 60% more than all the human-developed land.




                      Meat vs Dairy vs Plants

 In USA, 1.5 acres of land can produce 37000 lbs of plant based food for humans while the same land can effectively produce only 375 lbs of meat.

Plant based diet can feed one person for one year with just 1/6th acre of land. While meat-based diet will need 3 acres. 

On any given land, 15X more protein can be produced with plant based food than raising animals for meat.

1 lb of lamb produces 39 times CO2 compared to 1 lb of lentils.
Beef = 27X
Cheese = 13X
Turkey = 11X
Chicken = 7X
Pork = 12X
Eggs = 5X 
Milk/Yogurt = 2X 





  • Eating 1 lb of beef is as harmful to the environment as driving a car for 60 miles
  • Eating 1 lb of lamb is as harmful to environment as driving a car for 65 miles
  • Eating 1 lb of chicken is as harmful to environment as driving a car for 20 miles
Meat consumption on the rise

  In the last sixty years, meat based calories per  capita has increased by 30%.



With lifestyle being less-active than ever before, consuming more meat is unnecessary and causing more health issues for the general population.


                             Balancing Act

- A farm that raises animals sustainably will need much more pastureland causing deforestation, will consume much more water and food and will generate much less meat and dairy.
- A farm that produces more meat and dairy in non-sustainable way, will produce more N2O, will use much more antibiotics and will cause more problems related to waste management and will produce a lot of methane.
- So either way, raising animals for food is hurting the environment much more than any other human activity. It is like putting a large input to generate a very small output, like in a highly inefficient system.
- There is practically no way to produce more meat and dairy without increasing the environmental damage it has been causing. Most of the damage it has caused in last few centuries has been irreversible. 



                                                                     Wrap-Up

- Carbon Footprint calculation for a person/entity must include the type of food they eat/provide/consume.
- Once we have the data, we will all be able to choose wisely.
- There are several solutions proposed by several non-government agencies - most of which suggest to increase the plant based diet and reduce the meat and dairy to the lowest level possible. 



Just like when eating high-fat food one thinks about weight gain and exercise, one should also think about the environmental damage before they eat their next chicken, cheese, turkey, beef or lamb. If everyone did that, we can reverse the climate crisis.

Thank you 

 

                                  References

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Saturday, October 3, 2015

My Tribute to The Mahatma



The Mahatma

One of the best things that the Mahatma taught Indians was to conserve and preserve resources for the greater good of the society. He always believed in ecological balance. Today will be an appropriate day for me to share this message and truth that I learnt recently from various sources.
Climate crisis

United Nations and most of the world today know that climate crisis is real and global warming is no longer a myth. UN is on a mission to spread the awareness of the crisis. India has welcomed this and decided to join hands.

BUT just like other countries, India is likely to do it all wrong…….
 Causes


Popular belief is that global warming is caused by burning fossil fuels (petrol, coal, etc) and thus the solution is to drive less cars, and to use solar or wind energy as much as possible. But the real truth is very different and shocking.

The biggest contributor to global warming IS the meat and dairy production industry - the industry that raises animals such as pigs, sheep, cows and chickens for meat, milk and other dairy products.

Facts

  • Raising animals for food means
    • More than 25% of world’s water is consumed
    • 33% of world’s fertile land is used to produce food for these animals
    • 45% of world’s land is used for these animals
    • 51% of world’s greenhouse gases are caused
    • Methane gas produced by farm animals is 25 times more “warming” than carbon dioxide.
    • Nitrous Oxide gas produced in this industry is 295 times more “warming” than carbon dioxide
    • It’s not the industry, it is the rising demand for meat which leads to production practices that causes much greater damage.

More Facts

  • It takes 9000 litres of water to produce half kilo beef
  • It takes 1700 litres of water to produce half kilo eggs
  • It takes 900 litres of water to produce one litre of milk
  • In last 10,000 years, humans have killed 99% of the wildlife and destroyed 80% of forests to make space for animals raised in farms for food that generates just 20% of calorie intake for humans.
  • In the same piece of land where we can raise 81000 kg of plants, only 825 kg of meat can be produced.
  • On the same land where animals are raised for meat based protein, 15 times more protein can be produced by raising plants.
 

Even more facts

  • Eating 1 kg of beef is as harmful to the environment as driving a car for 100 kilometers
  • Eating 1 kg of mutton is as harmful to environment as driving a car for 110 kilometers
  • Eating 1 kg of chicken is as harmful to environment as driving a car for 30 kilometers.
  • A meat-eater uses 6 times more land for their food demand compared to a vegetarian.

And more

  • If a poultry farm has to pay for the costs of all environmental damage they caused in running the farm, the cost of the chicken will be 10 times higher.
  • Since 1961, in India and across the world meat-consumption has increased 3-times.
  • In last sixty years, people who eat meat have doubled their meat-consumption which has led to more health problems than ever.
  • Interestingly, many western countries have seen significant rise in number of vegetarians while India is experiencing an opposite trend. Most meat-eaters in India today have switched to being non-vegetarian thanks to the MNC’s (fast-food chains) selling meat cheaply.
  • Between 2007 and 2011, Indians consumed 2000 more tons of meat while USA reduced the consumption by 4000 tons. If this trend continues, India will be the leading reason for global warming in 10-20 years from now.

What if

  • If all Indians reduce their meat & dairy consumption by just one-third...
    • there will be no more deforestation in India
    • there will be 26,000,000,000 litres of water saved for humans
    • there will be lot more land available for farming for humans
    • there will be surplus of plant food for the poor and hungry
    • it will be like taking lakhs of cars off the road and reducing pollution significantly

  • If one eats meat, they are causing at least three other people to go hungry in India.
  • Imagine what will happen if everyone in the world reduce their meat-consumption by one-third….
 

Wrap-up

  • There is no way to increase meat production in the world without causing a permanent irreversible damage to the planet so the only way to reverse the crisis is to act now and reduce consumption of meat and dairy products.
  • It is possible that India would be investing 30 years and crores of rupees trying to be greener about our energy usage but in the meantime if we did not control the demand for meat then the damage will be so great that no amount of money or efforts will help.  
    Just like when eating high-fat food you think about weight gain and exercise, think about the environmental damage before you eat your next chicken, mutton or beef.
 Thanks

  • If you support these facts, please share and promote this message.
  • If you want to know more about climate crisis, read the articles in references section at the end.
  • If you are a meat-eater by choice, you can still make a different choice. Just reducing your consumption will go a long way.
  • If your parents or grand-parents were not eating meat and you have started it, it’s not too late to change back.
  • Jai Bharat!





References

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Location: San Jose, CA, USA
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