Kick the Habit: A UN Guide to Climate Neutrality

Annual methane emissions from the farts and burps of a cow

... of a pig

230

... of an ox

... of a goat

370

3 500

1 740

... of a sheep

320

Increasing numbers of livestock in modern energy intensive farming systems are given high-energy feed like soya, often produced in devel- oping countries (and often used in developed ones). To find the land to grow it ranchers will sometimes turn forests to pasture. So our meal of choice has direct consequences for the climate. A report by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization found that, globally, livestock ac- counts for 18 per cent of GHG emissions (37 per cent of human-related global methane and 65 per cent of global nitrous oxide emissions), a figure that includes deforestation to clear land for animals, and associ- ated emissions. Agriculture is only one of the reasons for deforestation. Activities that result in land disturbance such as opencast mining or the building of sprawling cities are other pressures on virgin forests. Destruction of wetlands and peat bogs also destroys carbon sinks.

THE PROBLEM KICK THE HABIT

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