gas emissions

Did you know that every time you sink your teeth into that juicy beef burger, you are actually contributing to the global carbon gas emission? Have you ever thought that what you eat (and worse, if you waste it) could potentially harm the environment?

In an inspiring documentary, Cowspiracy, it features the agricultural industry and how it is actually the leading cause for various environmental problems such as global warming, water depletion, deforestation, species extinction, ocean "dead zones" and many others. Animal agriculture/ animal farming is actually livestock production, that refers to the keeping of livestock such as cattle, poultry and fish at high stocking densities than usual, compared to other forms of animal.

Livestock and their by-products account for at least 32000 million tons of CO2 annually, which is 51% of global greenhouse gas emissions! Not just carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxides are also released during agriculture. Cows produce 150 billion gallons of methane daily. Methane is 25-100x more destructive than CO2, and has a global warming potential 86x more.

The statistics shown are pretty interesting huh. Maybe we should all pledge to shy away from meat more often or something? It might be difficult for some but we can all try!

Here's an interesting website which lists the carbon equivalents of common food that we usually eat , such as eggs, breakfast and milk, stir-frys etc - http://www.eatlowcarbon.org/food-scores/# The "carbon dioxide equivalent" scores describes the amount of GHGs emitted throughout its entire production, such as the materials used in producing it, or the energy required to transport or process it.

Some tips before I end this post, 

1. You bought it - you eat it. Don't waste food
2. Make "seasonal and regional" your food mantra
3. Moooove away from beef and cheese
4. If it's processed and packaged, skip it

and finally, Take the low carbon quiz! Share with me your score if you've done it! :p
That's all for today, bye!

References:
COWSPIRACY (n.d). The facts. [Online] Available from: http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts// [Accessed 7/10/2015]

EAT LOW CARBON (n.d). [Online] Available from: http://www.eatlowcarbon.org/ [Accessed: 7/10/2015]

RICHARDS J (n.d). Food's carbon footprint. [Online] Available from: http://www.greeneatz.com/foods-carbon-footprint.html [Accessed: 7/10/2015]