Overview
- Offers balanced assessment of pro-meat and anti-meat arguments in relation to climate change
- Outlines approaches farmers in each livestock system can take to improve their carbon footprint
- Explains how consumers can minimize the carbon footprint of their diet
Part of the book series: Food and Health (FH)
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Table of contents (9 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
In the ongoing effort to combat global climate catastrophe, animal agriculture has long been a subject of contention. On the one hand, most agree that across the world increasing meat and dairy consumption are accelerating anthropogenic climate change. On the other hand, proponents of the livestock industry argue that modern advancements reduce greenhouse gas emissions from efficient livestock production to negligible quantities. Some even maintain that grass-based livestock production has a net positive impact on the environment, due to the carbon sequestration caused by grazing. Whom are we to believe?
This book shows us that the answer is not so clear-cut. Beginning with the implications of the UN’s Livestock’s Long Shadow report, it breaks down the blind spots and highlights the insights of the most prominent pro-meat arguments, as well as of the push for a global switch to vegetarianism. While advances in efficiency might reduce greenhouse gas emissions per unit of meat or milk produced, attendant decreases in cost can enable overconsumption and thus produce more waste. And while carbon sequestration is beneficial, it is not a reliable cure-all for the industry.
Due to the economics of farming, however, eliminating meat consumption may not even reduce emissions at all. The truth about livestock production is much more nuanced but, luckily, also far more holistic. The future of agricultural policy will have to take into consideration factors such as human health and economics, as well as climate. Eschewing ideology for empirical rigor, this book paves an actionable path forward for both consumers and producers, offering unique solutions for each livestock system and simple, everyday adjustments for the average omnivore.
Editors and Affiliations
About the editor
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Our Carbon Hoofprint
Book Subtitle: The Complex Relationship Between Meat and Climate
Editors: Diane Mayerfeld
Series Title: Food and Health
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09023-3
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life Sciences, Biomedical and Life Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-09022-6Published: 02 January 2023
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-09025-7Published: 03 January 2024
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-09023-3Published: 01 January 2023
Series ISSN: 2509-6389
Series E-ISSN: 2509-6397
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VIII, 231
Number of Illustrations: 23 b/w illustrations, 73 illustrations in colour
Topics: Agriculture, Climate Change, Food Science