• Question: do you believe that consuming animal products affects global warming?

    Asked by anon-238743 to James, Hannah, Claire, Chris, Alice on 8 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Hannah Blyth

      Hannah Blyth answered on 8 Mar 2020:

      I believe that a lot of human activities are contributing to climate change, including animal agriculture and meat consumption. However, these are (as far as I am aware) contributing less than the combined sources of fossil fuel combustion. That isn’t to suggest we shouldn’t be looking at ways to reduce the impact of animal agriculture, and food production in general, on global warming (as well as its other environmental impacts), because we absolutely should be looking to make reductions wherever possible! I personally have reduced the amount of meat and other animal products I eat, which makes them all the more enjoyable when I treat myself. Being lactose intolerant made reducing my dairy intake something my gut actually agrees with!

    • Photo: James Roberts

      James Roberts answered on 9 Mar 2020:

      I very much agree with Hannah, lots of human industries are contributing to climate change, and the animal agriculture industry is one of them. We need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions across every industry, and consuming less meat across the world is one way of doing that. I personally have also reduced the amount of meat that I have, as it is a significant personal change you can make (like getting public transport more or flying less)

    • Photo: Chris Carlton

      Chris Carlton answered on 24 Mar 2020:

      I think it does, mainly through the deforestation of the rainforest being undertaken in order to make room for cows. In and of itself, I am not convinced that individuals consuming meat makes a great difference

Comments

  • Photo: Anna

    Anna commented on :

    I know that for a fact, because the science tells us that the animal agriculture industry is the second largest contributor to human-made greenhouse gas emissions after fossil fuels and is a leading cause of deforestation, water and air pollution and biodiversity loss. And the way the animals are bread at an industrial scale is horrible for them. So I decided 6 years ago to slowly reduce eating meat until I stopped completely 4 years ago and I very rarely eat any dairy.