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Leaders of the world’s countries gathered in Dubai for the 28th United Nations Convention of Parties (COP28) on climate action this past November. This is where the world’s elitists get to hop in their private jets and carbon footprint their way to meet other elitists and ultimately decide how to stop the world’s pending climate doom. Basically, what this means is that they will be deciding on what to do about you and me, including our insatiable appetite for meat.
This year, the animal-rights activists have jumped straight in with both feet. According to Bloomberg, at COP28, “The world’s most-developed nations will be told to curb their excessive appetite for meat as part of the first comprehensive plan to bring the global agrifood industry into line with the Paris climate agreement.”
Apparently, cows emit a lot of methane—through both burping and farting—and it is having an effect on climate change... or so they say. But a simple look at the numbers might say differently.
According to medium.com, “Cows produce 250 to 500 L of methane per day. Collectively, the earth’s 1.5 billion cows emit 120 million metric tons per year, responsible for roughly 2% of climate change.”
But what about when there were more than 60-million bison and a much larger number of deer, moose and caribou running around in North America, not to mention millions of other critters.
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| Really... cow farts lead to "global warming?" |
An estimated 98-million cows are farting their way across pastures throughout North America. But this number pales in comparison to the aforementioned critters. Even if you add in another 65-million pigs and 5-million sheep, there are fewer animals today than there were when bison roamed the plains. And these animals had to fart and burp too!
“Science tells us they may have emitted up to 20% more methane than modern animals,” said author Ronan Cray. This is a process that has occurred since the earliest days of life on earth, animals have always emitted methane.
But this doesn’t matter to the animal-rights crowd that want to see an end to meat, no matter how it is obtained, hunting or otherwise.
According to the United Nations Food Agency, the average American consumes 280 pounds of meat each year, while they recommend people consume no more than 35 pounds of meat per year. A big difference. So, how do we feed everybody if we end meat consumption? We go vegan, that’s how! But humans fart too, which also contributes to climate change, and if you’re vegan, according to a study at mdpi.com, you fart seven more farts a day than non-vegans do, so us meat eaters are better for the planet’s climate health than those that don’t eat meat.
Okay, flatulence aside, Alberta’s Wild Game for the Foodbank Program sees hunters donate elk, moose, deer and antelope meat each year to help feed those in need. In Alberta alone, over the past 27 years, since the program’s inception, 315,000 pounds of high-quality wild game has been donated to Alberta Foodbanks. So, if we stop consuming meat, including wild game as those at COP28 would like to see, are we going to save the planet from so-called pending doom? Or are we just placing further hardship on those in need?
According to Dr. Sara Place, an animal science professor at Colorado State University, “...if we eliminated all livestock from US farms, our diets would be deficient in vital nutrients—including high-quality protein, iron and vitamin B12—that meat provides.”
And the entire “cow farts and burps are bad crowd” got their information from a flawed U.N. study titled, “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, which made false claims, and the researchers have since conceded it was an unfair assessment. But that doesn’t stop the climate crowd from repeating the initial claims of cow farts and burps being bad for the planet.
And for the PETA types, COP28 is just another platform in which to mandate reductions in meat intake and further an anti-hunting agenda. This type of stuff has been going on for years, but it’s time to take a stand—animal-rights activism isn’t a serious solution for anything. And neither is an end to cow farts and burps. ■
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