Climate 101: Eating for the planet Part 2: Land Use

Eating for the Planet Part 2: Land Use

by Climate Leader, David Gladson

How does what we eat contribute to climate change?  In our last article we looked at how converting plant food into animal food requires us to grow more food and increases the carbon emissions from farming activities.  Today we’ll look at how land use also contributes to climate change and how not eating meat can help.

Land Use:  The largest store of carbon on our planet is in our soils in the form of organic matter, and that organic matter is what gives our soils life.  Plants, animals, insects, and microbes work together in an coordinated symphony to turn sunlight into sugar and unlock the minerals we need from the dirt.  When left undisturbed, or managed well in regenerative agriculture, the soil is our number one ally in our fight to clean up the atmosphere.

The animals we eat eat a lot of food themselves, which increases the amount of land we need to farm.  Growing food to feed to animals doubles the amount of agricultural land we use. Conventional agriculture produces a lot of food per acre of land, but at a high cost to the environment.  It releases the soil carbon into the atmosphere, which is bad in and of itself. But this also reduces the land’s ability to grow crops for the next year. Farmers either rely on chemical fertilizers (which burn a lot of fossil fuels to produce), or they must convert new land into farmland, driving deforestation.  By eating meat and animals products in the quantities we do, we drive deforestation and carbon emissions.

It is possible to raise animals in ways that don’t contribute to environmental destruction.  For example, silvopasture is a farming technique that raises cattle in a forest environment.  When done right, the cattle can actually contribute to the forest storing more soil carbon.  But, we could not raise enough animals using these techniques to meet our current demands for meat.  Switching to regenerative agriculture would require us to reduce our meat consumption by over 90%. Either we all need to drastically reduce the amount of meat and animals products we consume, or we need a whole lot of people to go vegan.  

Raising animals to eat in conventional farms requires more farmland, driving deforestation.  Furthermore, conventional farming damages the soil, causing farmers to seek new farmland (and more deforestation) or to use large quantities of artificial fertilizers and pesticides.  

The simplest solution to this cycle is to consume less meat and animals products.  It is possible to raise a small amount of meat and dairy in ways that don’t contribute to climate change, but not anywhere near the quantities we currently consume.

In our next article, we’ll talk about how the waste products from animal agriculture further contribute to climate change.  Stay tuned!

Climate 101: Eating for The Planet Part 1: Food Conversion

Eating for the Planet Part 1: Food Conversion

by Climate Leader, David Gladson

So you’ve heard people say that you could stop eating meat to help the planet, and you are wondering, how does what I eat impact the atmosphere?  Great question. While you might at first think that a calorie is a calorie, it turns out that different kinds of foods have vastly different carbon emissions in their production.  Meat has one of the highest carbon footprints for three key reasons. We’ll look at the first one, Food Conversion, below.

Animals are not very efficient at turning plants into edible animal products. According to a recent National Geographic article, “For every 100 calories of grain we feed animals, we get only about 40 new calories of milk, 22 calories of eggs, 12 of chicken, 10 of pork, or 3 of beef.”

In more natural food system, animals would be eating things that humans can’t eat and adding food to the system.  Cows would be grazing grass in a field that was lying fallow, or chickens would be running around the barnyard catching bugs.  But that is not how our modern agriculture system works. More than 99% of the animals we eat are raised in some kind of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation, or CAFO.  Packed tightly together in large sheds for maximum efficiency, the animals are fed a diet designed to fatten them as quickly as possible - a diet of perfectly edible corn and soy, with some agricultural waste products mixed in.  

“For every 100 calories of grain we feed animals, we get only about 40 new calories of milk, 22 calories of eggs, 12 of chicken, 10 of pork, or 3 of beef.” National Geographic

Most beef marketed as free-range still spends time in a CAFO.  The cow might graze for the first year, but then spend 6 months fattening up in a CAFO up before slaughter.  

By converting human edible grains into animal products, we increase the amount of food we need to grow and increase the emissions from farming .  And while many of us grew up believing that eating animals products is essential to human health, they are not. The experience of millions of vegetarians and vegans around the world proves that a balanced and healthy diet without meat is not only possible but easy.  

In our next two articles, we’ll look at two other key ways that eating meat contributes to climate change: Land Use and Waste Products.

Letter to UT Editor by Climate Leader, Scott Murray

A "Climate Playbook" proposed by my Congressman, Scott Peters, will work as well as a playbook against the New England Patriots in New England while they are looking over your shoulder.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the gold standard source for policy makers, says we need to take grand, bold action if we are to avoid the worst of climate changes effects.  Think drought, wildfires and sea level rise. Peters’ playbook is not that action. 

Congressman Peters has a unique opportunity to help fill in the framework of a Green New Deal to make sure our San Diego values are represented. Our communities in San Diego have unique strengths and weaknesses, and unique challenges and opportunities, and our representative should be actively involved in crafting real meaningful solutions. We need an engaged leader to lead the way and take grand and bold steps. Co-sponsor a Green New Deal.

Let's Quit Waffling on Climate Change

By Fr. Emmet Farrell

In 1988 Jim Hansen, a recognized scientist, said: “It’s time to stop waffling”. It is now an urgent necessity for the people of this democracy “of the people, by the people and for the people” to speak up. We cannot and should not allow the elected leadership of our country to waffle on climate change. Almost one hundred percent of scientists agree that climate change is real and the principle cause is human activity. This refers to the excessive carbon dioxide emissions caused by our burning of fossil fuels, particularly petroleum, gas, and coal.

The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, IPCC, and the Pontifical Academy of Science, PAS, have both stated, in essence, that we have one decade to lower fossil fuel emissions to avoid further and catastrophic weather conditions. We are already witnessing more frequent and severe hurricanes and flooding, melting of the polar ice cap causing rising sea levels, the hottest years on record in our air and ocean waters, plus the worst wildfires on record in California, due in part to drought and drying heat conditions. Is it time for people to speak up? 

In December of 2015 at the Paris Accords one hundred and ninety-five nations signed a commitment to decrease the fossil fuel emissions. The present U. S. administration backed out of that accord. Our government is going the wrong direction and doing so against the thinking of the majority of our people and that of the great majority of nations of the world. Is it not time for the populace to speak up, to insist that our nation is headed in the wrong direction and to work together in greater solidarity to help us change directions.

Recently one observer told me that we have the technology, but what we do not have is the political will and the financial support to promote and develop it. Our government is joining the oil producing countries to become the world leader in oil production. Our governmental representatives proposed further coal and natural gas use at the COP 24 meeting taking place in Poland and were heckled. Historically, we saw big tobacco avoid the truth in order to continue their profitable business for years before the voice of doctors, scientists and people forced them to change their ways. We are now seeing the same denial by big oil. They have people paid to sow doubt about climate change and its harmful effects in order to continue to protect and promote their profitable sale of fossil fuels.

The one thing we should NOT do is to be indifferent. Pope Francis speaks of the “globalization of indifference”. Edmund burke said: “The only thing necessary for evil to thrive is for good people to do nothing”. Dietrich Bonhoeffer stated: “Silence in the face of evil, is evil itself”. As a person of faith, I feel obliged to speak out and ask others if they too should not speak their minds also.

Benefits & Features of San Diego's Free Tree Program

By: Dave Gladson

The space between the sidewalk and the curb is a kind of no-man’s land — owned by the city, but the responsibility of the homeowner to maintain.  It is walked on too much to plant flowers, and too close to the road pollution for vegetables. So what do you do with this little strip of land?

Plant a tree!  In fact, if you live in the city of San Diego, the city will come plant a tree there for free as long as you agree to water it.  Here are three ways that this program can both fight climate change and help us adapt to the changes we are already seeing.

Image courtesy the city of San Diego

1) Breaking Up The Urban Heat Island

The concentration of asphalt, concrete, and roofing baking in the sun creates an effect called the urban heat island, raising local temperatures significantly.  But, adding trees along a city street can reduce temperatures by up to 2C (4F).  The trees both provide shade and cool the air through the water they transpire through their leaves (just like sweating helps keep you cool).  

During the peak of summer a couple degrees can make a big difference in people’s health, as well as reducing energy consumption by up to 5%.

2) Carbon Sequestration

Trees pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere to build leaves, branches, and roots.  They even transfer some of the sugar they produce to soil microbes, storing that carbon safely in the soil.  

US emissions of CO2 rose 3.4% last year, and we’ll need to do more than plant trees to bring emissions back to a safe level.  But every little bit helps.

3) Improving Air Quality

Trees absorb pollutants released in the exhaust from gas powered cars, including sulfur dioxide, ozone, nitrogen oxides, and soot.

If you are a homeowner with a parkway in front of your house, I’d encourage you to reach out to the city and ask for a tree today.  One very small step you can take to help make our world a little bit better.