Warning! There’s lots of data here, and the numbers are astronomical. After all, we’re talking about the entire planet’s atmosphere. So this should help give you a sense of the numbers:
In terms of cost, I invite you to consider that each ton of CO2 added to our atmosphere causes an estimated $220 in economic damage (I will let you, dear reader, examine the cost of almost 7 gigatons).
That said, I want to make an important additional point. By comparison, rice production (the main plant-based source) contributes about 2.7 gigatons CO2 equivalent per year. (link) I include this to point out that there are plant-based sources which have a big impact as well. According to Dr. Masanobu Fukuoka, a well-known permaculture farmer in Japan, rice farming can be done less impactfully by reducing the amount of time that rice fields are flooded.
Dr. David Steele of EarthSave Canada wrote an eloquent piece, describing other factors not included in the UN study. In this case the most significant being the Carbon Dioxide exhaled by the millions of cows daily (just like we do). His conservative analysis estimates that 3.2% of world emissions can be attributed to the breathing of livestock. He also suggests an additional 2% increase due to the gas exhaled by farmed fish, which I agree is important. Adding the sum total, we get an additional 3 gigatons of CO2 equivalent.
[I further believe that if we had more detailed information on omnivores who eat mainly poultry (the least impactful domestic animal) or people eating a vegan diet which is high in rice then the comparison would become even more interesting.]
Additionally, unhealthy vegan foods such as white rice and bleached flour can actually increase the risk from diseases such as diabetes. (link)
What I hope to impress on you with this essay, is that personal choices based on a single area of impact are merely one chapter in a larger and more beautiful novel. If you take in the full breadth of issues affecting the world and consider how interconnected everything is, that will help you develop a broader and richer level of awareness. You might already be a passionate activist, protester, or social justice advocate. You may believe that where you are right now is good enough. But that’s not the end of the story. While most of us think about being earth-friendly in single-issue terms; being vegan, political campaigning, ditching plastic, etc. The truth is that there are many choices that we make every day, and all of them have an impact either positive or not.
