ELEVENTH HOUR: Veganism, the climate crisis, and ‘A Multi-Billion-Dollar Opportunity’
By repurposing support and subsidies to harmful animal agriculture and focusing more on food crops for humans, we will be reaping many benefits to our health, to the climate, and the environment as a whole.
SHIELA R. CASTILLO: A few years ago, this statement came splashed all over the newspaper, magazines, and social media: “A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use, and water use.” It came from Joseph Poore, an Oxford researcher. Poore looked at the overall impact of our food systems on the environment…
The Oxford study examined 40,000 farms in 119 countries and some 40 agricultural products consumed by humans. They found that the production of animal-sourced food (ASF) like meat and dairy accounts for the use of 83% of all farmland. It also produces 60% of agriculture’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while only providing 18% of calories and 37% of protein for humans. So where do we get the 82% of calories and 63% of proteins? You guessed it right, from plants…
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that animal agriculture emits 18% of all GHGs, more emissions than the transport sector. Different studies and sources estimate much higher, from 25% to 51%, and claim that many animal agriculture emissions are unaccounted for. However, even FAO’s conservative estimation still accounts for almost 1/5 of all emissions. Clearly, animal agriculture is a climate issue we could no longer ignore…
Considering all of these, animal agriculture is not as innocent as large producers want us to believe. Most of the subsidies that it receives pull down the price tag of ASF while increasing externalized costs. Externalized costs, or what economists call negative externalities, refer to the harmful impacts of a transaction to an unrelated third party or even the larger society. An example of an externalized cost is the pollution of water bodies where animal farms dump excretions.
In mid-September this year, the United Nations (UN) Environment Programme, FAO, and UN Development Programme (UNDP) came out with a report which reveals that 87% of all agriculture subsidies in 88 countries, including the Philippines, distort pricing and are environmentally and socially harmful. The report titled “A Multi-Billion-Dollar Opportunity” says that around USD470 billion of this agricultural support goes to price incentives, chemical inputs harmful to humans, and the environment such as pesticides and fertilizers, among others. It was also found that the most emission-intensive products such as meat and dairy, receive the highest subsidies…
The UN report proposes the repurposing of these harmful subsidies to support climate-smart practices and innovation towards the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) and just climate transition… The climate crisis requires all hands on deck. This means that every little bit helps—from reducing individual emissions through a vegan diet and more mindful, earth-friendly lifestyle to large-scale shifting to renewables and phasing out of industrial animal agriculture. The UN says we have a multi-billion-dollar opportunity to make a difference now. By repurposing support to harmful animal agriculture and focusing more on food crops for humans, we will be reaping many benefits to our health, to the climate, and the environment as a whole. SOURCE…
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