Comments on: An Inconvenient Omission

By: Freddie

Freddie — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 01:09:18 +0000

Sean, I probably need to touch base with my friends from the environmental sciences and agricultural economics fields, but as a lay person (“not a farmer”), it’s difficult for me to imagine that sustainable (read: organic, smart seasonal rotation, scientific, etc.) non-livestock agriculture would not have a measurably lighter footprint in terms of contributions to global warming. Again, I reiterate that I’m not calling for a global ban on meat; I’m pointing to a major statistical omission that, like some of the other challenges, could probably begin to be addressed if given the attention being given to the energy production piece of this puzzle. E.g., $25 million prizes being awarded in recognition of problem solving.

By: Sean Braisted

Sean Braisted — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 22:54:55 +0000

I guess because the purpose of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” is to find ways to reduce global greenhouse emissions. The assumption made by groups like PETA is that you can do this buy eliminating consumption of animal flesh. However, if we were to stop animal agriculture, it would have other, possibly more disastrous effects to our ecosystem. Therefore, it really doesn’t matter if animal dung is a contributor to greenhouse gases, because we can’t do anything about it; unlike with traffic pollution and energy consumption, where there are solutions to those problems available.

By: Volunteer Voters » Global Warming Til The Cows Come Home

Volunteer Voters » Global Warming Til The Cows Come Home — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 22:42:53 +0000

[...] One would assume that Freddie O’Connell, a long time environmentalist and vegetarian, would be predisposed towards being a supporter of Al Gore’s climate change awareness campaign. However, Freddie has a large type beef (emphasis on beef) with one glaring ommision in Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth: Yes, you read that right: animal agriculture is actually the leading cause of global warming. The author of another report cited in the article reveals that methane actually has 23 times the impact of CO2. [...]

By: Freddie

Freddie — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 22:02:41 +0000

Sean and Karenina, I’m a little curious as to why each of you leapt to extremes, here. Nothing about my post suggested that I thought we should eliminate animal agriculture; I was merely highlighting what I find to be a significant omission from Gore’s one-man climate change campaign.

Karenina’s point is a good one though: This is all about finding a sustainable balance.

By: Karenina

Karenina — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 21:16:48 +0000

Not to be a contrarian here, but if everyone in this country went to an all vegan diet and discontinued use of any and all animal products; we would be in some serious trouble.

Continued farming on the same lands cause serious degradation of the soil and also kills various forms of animal life in and of itself.

An alfalfa field alone is responsible for killing over 50% of the grey tailed vole population, not to mention the other birds, varmints and assorted insects it kills.

Apparently, there just isn’t any ONE answer that we can resort to. It’s finding a balance.

By: newton

newton — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:42:05 +0000

as a vegetarian and an aspiring vegan, i too was dumbfounded on how gore could so conveniently skip over the impact that the mass production of livestock & meat has on the environment.

thanks for bringing it up.

By: Sean Braisted

Sean Braisted — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 17:43:17 +0000

There is something about this argument that makes me scratch my head…

35-40% of global methane emissions (chiefly due to enteric fermentation and manure)
64% of global nitrous oxide emissions, chiefly as a result of fertilizer use.

Now, I’m no farmer, but from what I recall the main ingredient in most fertilizers used by farmers is manure. If we were to stop mass production of animals, where would we get the manure that replenishes the nutrients in the soil lost to the farming process?

Its part of the whole cycle of life, and if we were to cut out meat consumption, our plant consumption would increase dramatically, thus further decreasing the quality of the topsoil, which needs to be replenished with animal dung.

By: Freddie

Freddie — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 17:26:35 +0000

Well, and that’s where the buy local, buy organic part of the equation comes in. I guess it’s all about where we want our costs to arise and how we want to pay for them.

Besides, you left out the interesting section entitled “Livestock” under your excerpt:

Livestock

Livestock and livestock-related activities such as deforestation and increasingly fuel-intensive farming practices are responsible for over 18% of human-made greenhouse gas emissions, including:

9% of global carbon dioxide emissions
35-40% of global methane emissions (chiefly due to enteric fermentation and manure)
64% of global nitrous oxide emissions, chiefly as a result of fertilizer use.

Livestock activities also contribute disproportionately to land-use effects, since crops such as corn and alfalfa are cultivated in order to feed the animals.

Worldwide, livestock production occupies 70% of all land used for agriculture, or 30% of the land surface of the Earth.

By: Casey

Casey — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:18:32 +0000

Pretty interesting. I went wikipedia to see if I could find out a little more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming_and_agriculture

It seems that more than just livestock is a contributor to the problem.

Agriculture contributes to greenhouse gas increases through land use in four main ways:

* CO2 releases linked to deforestation
* Methane releases from rice cultivation
* Methane releases from enteric fermentation in cattle
* Nitrous oxide releases from fertilizer application

Cutting out meat might help but possibly be offset by the need for additional produce.

By: Nashville is Talking » Udder Catastrophe

Nashville is Talking » Udder Catastrophe — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 15:46:01 +0000

[...] Freddie at Liberadio(!) on another Inconvenient Truth Until recently, my relatively minor criticisms of the movie were shared with another friend of mine. They include the following items: [...]