Going vegan won’t do much for the planet,” says Frank Mitloehner, a professor at UC Davis in California and director of the UC Davis CLEAR Center. Another point he refutes is the role of ruminants (cattle, sheep, and goats) as sources of greenhouse gases—even if humans didn’t raise them, it wouldn’t stop global climate change.
Prof. Mitloehner visited the Czech Republic in February 2024, was a guest of MTS, spol. s ro, breeders’ associations and other institutions. He left an important message here, which is needed to correct the distorted thinking of the public, but also of parts of the scientific community.
Veganism won’t save the planet
The FAO has published its latest situation report, called the Pathway job seekers database report. It shows, in the form of bar graphs consisting of the share of individual gases, where we want to be in terms of emissions in 2050, or reduction factors. The FAO report considers dietary changes, i.e. reducing milk, meat, fish or eggs in the human diet, to be less significant emission reduction factors from a global perspective. “This means that the theoretical transition to other ways of eating does have an effect, but it is very small and is not a solution. It is interesting that we often read something different in the media,” notes Prof. Mitloehner.
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“It is certainly true that everyone should have the right to eat what they choose. Another thing is what it will bring if, for example, I, as an omnivore, decide to be vegan for a year. It will probably bring somewhat abstract information.
Where do greenhouse gases in the atmosphere come from?
By far the largest human contribution to greenhouse gas where is data stored on android phone emissions, according to Mitloehner, is the burning of fossil fuels. Oil, coal, natural gas, and all the industries that burn them. This is carbon that has been stored beneath the surface of the earth for hundreds of millions of years as the mass of decaying plants, animals, etc., when they died and decomposed and fossilized. As a part of the development of society, we began to mine and burn this carbon. The products of combustion are gases that accumulate in the atmosphere and prevent the reflection of sunlight from the surface of our planet, thus warming it. The combustion mainly produces CO 2 . This is the main component of the human-caused part of climate change.
Why are cattle farmers constantly under attack in the media?
Methane is almost 30 times more potent than CO2 in terms of its contribution to global warming . Nitrous oxide is almost 260 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Methane is without a doubt the most important greenhouse gas in agriculture. We have to do something about all gases. But methane is nothing more than a gaseous form of energy. Even the gas used for heating homes and cooking is methane. So it’s energy. Methane is useful, but it becomes harmful when it escapes into the air. But if we also use it, for example by converting it into fuel for car engines or electricity, then let’s not talk about a problem, but about a benefit.
Let’s summarize the sources of methane production in agriculture: There thailand data are several sources, first of all, enteric emissions, i.e. methane produced in the rumen. Second is methane from stored manure, and third is methane from rice paddies. There are other sources, but these three are the main ones. No, it’s just a popular topic. There is always a hot topic in the media. A few years ago it was the ozone hole, then acid rain, now it’s global warming,” says the American scientist.
Cows are ruminants and this has one interesting feature, namely that they can digest some plant foods in a unique way. For example, cellulose, plant biomass. Without ruminants’ forestomas, cellulose cannot be digested. That is great for us.