Fight Climate Change By Going Vegan (original) (raw)

This chapter outlines the role of livestock in the production of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that contributes to climate change. Livestock contribute both di‐ rectly and indirectly to climate change through the emissions of GHGs such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). As animal production systems are vulnerable to climate change and are large contribu‐ tors to potential global warming, it is vital to understand in detail enteric CH4 emission and manure management in different livestock species. Methane emissions from livestock are estimated to be approximately 2.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalents, accounting for about 80% of agricultural CH4 and 35% of the total anthropogenic CH4 emissions. Furthermore, the global livestock sec‐ tor contributes about 75% of the agricultural N2O emissions. Other sources of GHG emission from livestock and related activities are fossil fuels used for as‐ sociated farm activities, N2O emissions from fertilizer use, CH4 release...

Methane (CH4) is a well-known greenhouse gas (GHG) with a global warming potential 28 times that of carbon dioxide (CO2). The agricultural sector contributes significantly to anthropogenic (human-caused) CH4 production, although estimates vary depending on calculation method. The consensus states that the agricultural industry contributes somewhere between 7 and 18% of total anthropogenic GHGs and around 6% of total CH4 emissions. The breakdown of plant material in the rumen (enteric fermentation) constitutes approximately 87% of total agriculturally produced CH4. This CH4 production from enteric fermentation also represents a loss of energy for the animal (up to 12%) which could otherwise be used for growth or milk production. It is therefore not only crucial for the benefit of the environment and in climate change mitigation to reduce CH4 emissions, but also to increase the production efficiency of ruminant livestock. Ruminants themselves are not the only producer of CH4 on the fa...

36 Emission of greenhouse gas, developing management and animal farming systems to assist mitigation Jean-Yves Dourmad1, Cyrille Rigolot2, Hayo van der Werf3 1INRA, UMR 1079 Systèmes d'Elevage Nutrition Animale et Humaine, 35000 Rennes, France 2INRA, UMR 1080 ...