Cattle & Climate Change
We should be eating less meat.
Climate Change and Global Warming
When methane is released into the atmosphere it mixes with other harmful gases. This leads to global warming. With temperature rising, more and more ice is melting and causing sea levels to rise. If the sea levels continue to rise at this rate, many different places in the world can be gone in the next 10 years.
The Problem
Many things cause methane to be released into our atmosphere. For example, cows release methane into the atmosphere when they digest their food. Methane is also released into the atmosphere because of slaughterhouses and during meat production. More and more methane is being released into the atmosphere and warming our planet. To prevent any more damage, we need to do something about this.
Enteric Fermentation
Enteric Fermentation is how cows digest their food. When bacteria breaks down and ferments, methane is released. Studies say that a single cow releases 220 pounds of methane in a year. There are about 94 million cows in the United States which means about 20 billion pounds of methane are released into the air in one year.
Slaughterhouses
Slaughterhouses release a lot of greenhouse gases into the air. A lot of electricity is used in slaughterhouses which contributes to the amount of greenhouse gases slaughterhouses release. The processes of killing, cooling ,packing, and moving the cows also releases methane and carbon dioxide into the air.