Climate Change: Industrial Agriculture As a Cause

Climate Change: Industrial agriculture as a cause

Our eating habits is a major cause of climate change. The diet contributes significantly to overall emissions of greenhouse gases and thus to global warming. A reduction of animal products is, therefore, a meaningful contribution to climate protection.
Estimates account for up to 40% of their total emissions to the food sector in the EU. The largest share of agriculture has. The amount of the world's man-made greenhouse gases per annum 45-50 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent, which is about one quarter due to agriculture. The Federal Environment Agency estimates that agriculture contributes even with around 30% to the global greenhouse effect.

In order to compare the climate impact of various greenhouse gas easier, experts expect, for example, the methane and nitrous oxide emissions in CO2 equivalents. These have then (over a specified period of time) the same global warming potential as the corresponding amount of carbon dioxide. 1 kg of methane corresponds depending on the calculation of the effect of about 25 kilograms of CO2 and 1 kg nitrous oxide corresponds to approximately 300 kilograms of CO2.

Main causes of climate change

Nitrous oxide and methane are essentially responsible for the direct production of greenhouse gases in agriculture. By fertilizing and grazing these gases escape into the atmosphere. Furthermore, agriculture promotes the greenhouse effect by destroying natural habitats through deforestation, Since animal calories are usually generated much more complex than vegetable, wearing animal husbandry including animal feed production much more to global warming than the crop. Already, nearly half of the world's arable land is used for animal feed production, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Methane from livestock - climate harmful than CO2

Methane emissions from agriculture are mainly produced by the digestion of ruminants. Cattle and sheep produce large amounts of methane in their rumen, which then emit the cut or in the excretion into the environment. This dairy cows cause most methane emissions. Even when spreading slurry and manure on the fields and in their storage leaking methane. It is about 25 times as harmful to the climate than CO2.

Nitrous oxide from livestock promotes climate change

Equally important for climate change are the emissions of nitrous oxide (nitrous oxide) from agriculture. Nitrous oxide is released mainly in the fertilization with slurry and manure, and the use of chemical fertilizers - especially if more nitrogen is discharged from organic or mineral fertilizers on arable and grassland, as the plants can absorb. The climate impact of nitrous oxide corresponds depending on the calculation up to about 300 times the carbon dioxide.

Other sources of greenhouse gases

Specifically, significantly lower greenhouse gas sources are agriculture of wet rice cultivation, the burning of crop residues and the energy consumption for the production of fertilizers and pesticides and operation of agricultural machinery and irrigation. Overall, these emissions reach the same magnitude as the emissions from fertilization or digestion. All of these direct sources together cause nearly 7 billion tons of CO2 equivalent, around half of the agriculture-related greenhouse gas emissions.

Land use changes to promote climate change

The other half of the greenhouse gases from agriculture comes from indirect emissions that occur as a result of massive interventions in the landscape. The classic example: the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest - one-fifty fives has been destroyed, just as much damage. The receipt of this nature reserve, however, is essential for stabilizing the climate, because it represents an important carbon storage. The progressive destruction of the tropical rainforest can at some point lead to a complete collapse of the entire Amazon ecosystem, with grave consequences for the global climate.

Serious consequences of deforestation

Deforestation is mostly to gain agricultural land as plantations or pastures. Deforestation is a major global CO2 emission sources and plays a decisive role in the destruction of biodiversity. Forests also fulfill important functions for the local climate and water supply. The drainage of peatlands also releases large amounts of carbon dioxide that were bound for centuries there. And the transition from grassland or savannah to arable land leads to significant emissions of carbon dioxide.

For up to 80% of greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and other land use changes, agriculture is responsible. At all man-made greenhouse gas emissions, the destruction of forests, peatlands, and grasslands for agricultural purposes has been a total share of at least 13%.

Loss of soil

Deforestation, the draining of wetlands and unsustainable land management consist of valuable soil humus or peat erosion. These valuable resources do not grow according to human time. The floors are damaged by heavy farm equipment, eutrophication, toxins and bodenauslaugende monocultures and carried away by wind and rain. Soil degradation, in turn, reduces the harvests. As a result, there are further upheavals natural surfaces.

Fertile soils are not only for food security is of great importance. They also protect the groundwater and are also a huge carbon sink. In them is three to four times more carbon stored as in the vegetation cover. Their destruction thus heated directly to the climate further.

Consumption of animal products promotes the greenhouse effect
The consumption of animal foods in Germany caused a far greater greenhouse gas emissions than the diet with plant products. Along with direct emissions of methane and nitrous oxide in the diet in Germany submitted more than two-thirds of the production of animal products, including animal feed.

CO2 footprint of products

On CO2 footprint of a product can be seen how much the production, use, and disposal of the product impact the climate. For food, the footprint is usually expressed in CO2 equivalents per kilogram. Meat and dairy products with a high-fat content cause over their life cycle, many greenhouse gas emissions, with vegetables and pasta caused emissions is usually much lower.

The production of 1 kilogram of beef is responsible depending on the calculation of the emission of 7-28 kilograms of CO2 equivalents. The CO2 footprint of other foods eaten frequently animal foods such as sausage and cheese is usually also at several kilograms. Herbal products such as potatoes, fruit and vegetables are on the other hand usually with only a few hundred grams of CO2 equivalents. Also, seitan, tofu, and soy pellets have a much lower CO2 footprint than meat: Would you replace in Germany only ground beef with soy meat, could be so much CO2 avoided as causing 4-7 million cars a year.

Meat harms the climate most

Considering the consumed in Germany amounts of the different food groups, the meat falls of around 40% share of the caused greenhouse gas emissions the most significant. Even dairy products have well over 20% a significant proportion. Total accounts for more than two-thirds of the dietary direct greenhouse gas emissions in Germany to the consumption of animal products. This proportion is too often underestimated. The transport of food is however generally overestimated far in its effect on the climate. He gives in Germany only a small proportion of the emissions in the field of nutrition, namely 3-8%. The majority of more than 90% is attributable to the production and processing mainly of animal products.

Various studies come to a conclusion: the consumption of animal products should be drastically reduced
The direct greenhouse gas emissions of agriculture are relatively well known, the indirect and from land use changes, there is, however, only rough estimates, which differ significantly from each other in part. Major uncertainties also exist in the calculations of processes in the field of nutrition, which are downstream of agricultural production, ie storage, packaging, transport, trade, preparation, and disposal.

Many studies differ in their assumptions and methods as well as the fact what factors they take into account at all. Therefore, the CO2 balance of individual food groups sometimes falls out very differently. King but most studies in their assessment that animal foods usually contribute much more to climate change than the vegetable.