Revisions:

For my revision to my blog post I added a paragraph after the blog that describes my target goals, audience, and distribution. In addition to this I revised my title and subheading (right under the title) to be more descriptive of what lies ahead within the blog. I broke up some of my paragraphs to be separate blocks of text with hopes of increasing the readability of my blog post. Lastly, I put my sources in alphabetical order.

The Nexus of Livestock Demand and Climate Change

Recognize how increases in demand for livestock products contributes to the co-production of climate change.

The intensification of climate change can be intricately linked to the various factors that contribute to increased livestock production. Accounting for more than 15% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, the agricultural sector has a significant impact on climate change. Processes such as feed production, grazing, and enteric fermentation not only escalate methane and nitrous oxide emissions, they also increase deforestation, land use changes, water pollution, and deplete biodiversity. The mounting impacts of climate change can be traced back to human activities, where population growth, global affluence, and advancements in agricultural technology collectively contribute to a rising demand for livestock products, triggering adverse environmental effects. 

With the global population increasing faster than ever before, the demand for livestock products such as meat, poultry, milk, eggs, and materials such as wool and leather are all on the rise. Currently increasing at a rate of more than 80 million people a year, it is estimated that the total world population will reach 9.8 billion by 2050. This combined with urbanization and rising affluence in many developing countries is causing a shift in diets to be more meat and dairy based. In recent years, developing countries such as Vietnam, Peru, and many South American countries experienced substantial increases to their overall meat consumption, rising close to 2 kg/capita/year. This can be tied to the fact that wages are increasing causing many consumers to have greater disposable incomes that can be spent on luxuries such as livestock products. As more countries experience economic growth and the agricultural industry tries to meet the growing demand, we need to pay special attention to the adverse effects of the processes that come with livestock production.

Along with population growth and urbanization, technological advancements in the agricultural sector have made it easier for farmers to tend to large scale livestock operations. Upgrades to meat production, such as better feed formulation, improved breeding techniques, and better veterinary practices are all reasons why it’s become easier to tend to mass amounts of livestock at once. Farmers now have the resources to prevent many diseases such as antiviral medications to treat swine flu, as well as many tools to make the process of caring for livestock more efficient and economical. The largest dairy farm to date is located in China with over 100,000 dairy cows and that covers a space of more than 22.5 million acres, producing one of the highest yields of livestock stock products in the world. Though technological advancements in the agricultural industry have brought greater access to meat and dairy products for many people around the world, one must not overlook the many environmental pitfalls that come with running such large livestock operations. 

With a rise in demand for livestock products, one of main causes of climate change that stems from the agricultural industry is the process of feed production and need for grazing. It is estimated that about 45% of emissions from the livestock sector can be tied back to feed production. Demands to meet high fields of meat and dairy production cause a concurrent increase in demand for feed to raise these animals. Almost 60% of the global biomass harvested goes towards creating feed or bedding for livestock operations. This comes from things such as the manufacturing of fertilizers and pesticides, manure excretion and application as fertilizer, machinery used within agricultural operations, processing the feed, and ultimately transporting the feed from point A to point B or even C. Extensive application of fertilizers can cause nitrogen runoffs, contaminating waterways causing algal blooms. In addition, the need for land to grow the crops and areas for the livestock to graze account for large scale deforestation, land-use change, as well as the lessening of biodiversity. The reduction of trees, coupled with the depletion of carbon reservoirs within natural landscapes and habitats, only serves to intensify the impacts of climate change by diminishing the Earth's capacity to absorb CO2. Finding ways to limit the demand for feed production and grazing could ultimately help limit the adverse effects that come from livestock production.

Another main cause of climate change that stems from the agricultural industry is the process of enteric fermentation. Enteric fermentation is the digestive process that occurs within many of the main livestock animals such as cows, goats, sheep, and more. The animals ingest feed such as feed and grass that are later fermented in their stomachs ultimately producing methane as a byproduct. Methane is a gas that traps heat at a rate 28 times higher than that of carbon. The methane is released mainly through animal belching. The release of this greenhouse gas accounts for more than 39% of emissions that originate from the agricultural sector. Annually, the equivalent of over 2.8 gigatonnes of CO2 are being produced through enteric fermentation. In addition to this, the equivalent of 0.71 gigatonnes of CO2 is produced through manure storage as Nitrous Oxide, a greenhouse gas thats global warming potential 265 times higher than carbon dioxide. All in all, it is getting increasingly harder for earth’s natural processes to offset these emissions leading to increasing amounts of heat energy being trapped in earth’s troposphere leading for many to push for change within the livestock industry.

As the impacts of climate change intensify, addressing human activities that contribute to the rise in livestock production becomes progressively crucial. Though many factors such as population rise, increasing affluence, and technological advancements are not things we can control, one might turn towards personal life-style changes or shifting cultural beliefs to slow the rate of climate change. Many people have turned towards plant-based diets to try and limit the amount of livestock products they use in their life. Furthermore, pushing for more environmentally friendly farming practices such as rotational grazing, limiting the amount of tilling and , and investing in higher quality feed that will produce less methane during enteric fermentation all help produce less emissions that speed up climate change. Ultimately, by spreading awareness of the livestock industry and the adverse effects of climate change that come with it can help decrease demand for livestock products and give people the knowledge and know-how to consume responsibly.

Sources

Giampiero Grossi, Pietro Goglio, Andrea Vitali, Adrian G Williams, Livestock and climate change: impact of livestock on climate and mitigation strategies, Animal Frontiers, Volume 9, Issue 1, January 2019, Pages 69–76, https://doi.org/10.1093/af/vfy034

M. Melissa Rojas-Downing, A. Pouyan Nejadhashemi, Timothy Harrigan, Sean A. Woznicki, Climate change and livestock: Impacts, adaptation, and mitigation, Climate Risk Management, Volume 16, 2017, Pages 145-163, ISSN 2212-0963, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2017.02.001

NASA. (n.d.). Which is a bigger methane source: Cow belching or cow flatulence? – climate change: Vital signs of the planet. NASA. https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/

Torrella, K. (2023, July 1). Why the media too often ignores the connection between climate change and meat. Vox. https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23778399/media-ignores-climate-change-beef-meat-dairy

It may be uncomfortable, but we need to talk about it: The Animal Agriculture Industry and Zero waste. Environmental Center. (2024, January 29). https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2022/03/15/it-may-be-uncomfortable-we-need-talk-about-it-animal-agriculture-industry-and-zero-waste#:~:text=Raising%20livestock%20for%20human%20consumption,biodiversity%20loss%20and%20water%20pollution

Whitton C, Bogueva D, Marinova D, Phillips CJC. Are We Approaching Peak Meat Consumption? Analysis of Meat Consumption from 2000 to 2019 in 35 Countries and Its Relationship to Gross Domestic Product. Animals (Basel). 2021 Dec 6;11(12):3466. doi: 10.3390/ani11123466. PMID: 34944243; PMCID: PMC8697883.

Intended Goals, Audience, and Distribution

Through this blog post I hoped to raise awareness amongst meat consumers about the ecological footprint of their dietary habits. Hopefully after reading my informative blog they will have a broader understanding of the environmental impacts associated with specific life-style choices and ultimately continue on as more mindful inhabitants of our planet. I intend to distribute this blog post in a new outlet that houses op-eds such as The New York Times and/or The Washington Post. In addition to this it might also be featured on more food/lifestyle based outlets such as Tasty, Food Network, or Bon Appetit. With this in mind my target audience for this blog post will be people from a wide age range who might consume such media. This encompasses teenagers who are just starting to figure out their lives and who they wish to be as a person, but also the middle-aged mom looking to spice up her life and find a new way to make an impact on this planet for the better. Anyone with a high school diploma should be able to understand the jargon within my blog post and have enough background knowledge of topics such as climate change to understand the environmental impacts discussed within my post. For many looking to make a juristic change to their lifestyle in regards to saving the environment, my blog offers enough high-level ideas to invoke critical thinking and consequential action. However, it is also suitable for anyone just looking to broaden their world view during their lunch break, maybe not effectively converting them to veganism in that moment, but definitely offering substantial changes in the way they think and perceive livestock products in the future. Ultimately, the goal of my blog post is to encourage change, if not directly through action, then through changes in the way people think about their lifestyle choices with relation to livestock product consumption.