Hear the word climate change and no doubt you will hear all about cows and how awful they are for the environment, or about all the emissions that agriculture and food production creates. Headlines go so far to even say that water should be heavily regulated and limited in agriculture so as not to “waste” it.
With so many people worried about the future of Earth, and rightly so, there’s a lot of high emotions out there. It’s a scary thought to think there might be trouble in the near future! It seems like more and more we have “dooms dayers.” From literally calling on us to eat bugs to blaming cows for farting, their voices are getting louder and more powerful. It’s easy for us to be overrun by our own stress and emotions as we check out the daily headlines.
Our emotions allow us to believe one headline after another without us stopping to check the facts and really listen to what climate activists are trying to push. Do we realize that it’s the agriculture industry that provides us with food and not the grocery store? That without water to our crops we won’t have food on our tables? That a plant based diet is sorely lacking essential nutrients? We have to remember the best thing to do for every problem is to look at the facts before letting emotions get so loud we don’t hear common sense.
For a quick perspective, transportation accounts for 28% of U.S. greenhouse emissions in 2021, while agriculture accounts for only 10%. Many of your “elitists” and celebrities are fighting hard to get cattle and agriculture highly overregulated and literally off the table. Many of those same people just flew over 800 private jets to the Super Bowl. Taylor Swift herself uses her private jet and creates the largest carbon footprint of all celebrities , being 1,928 times the global average. Yet she claims she believes that climate change is a “horrific situation” we find today and many others throw money at simply getting rid of cattle instead of sacrificing anything they want. The Super Bowl just in advertising alone emits as much carbon dioxide as 100,000 Americans. In the State of Utah, many of the cities don’t have water regulations and requirements, building more heavily in areas than they should and yet are heavily regulating agriculture and the use of water almost to the breaking point.
Now, let me make myself perfectly clear: I am not judging Taylor Swift or any celebrity for their life choices or the free system the Super Bowl has thrived under. I applaud all of them for working immensely hard and achieving all they have done. I’ll even admit I own a few Taylor Swift albums and had our own Super Bowl party recently (go 49ers!). However, if we’re going to seriously look into what changes need to be made, we must be realistic. We need to cut our wants and, quite honestly, unnecessary splurging before we ever go after our food sources and the agriculture industry.
Remember that everything we do has a cause and effect on greenhouse gasses, not just livestock. We know that life and human activity do add to the levels of gasses into our atmosphere so of course we have the responsibility to do our part and be stewards of the Earth. No one knows that better than those in agriculture. We were among the first environmentalists, always nurturing and caring for our land! But we can’t do that responsibly without looking at real numbers and history together as a united people. And it’s certainly not as easy as simply looking at what emits more. We have to look at true science and every part of what goes into climate change as a piece to a puzzle, not individual playing pieces on a game board.
The Earth has already gone through multiple climate changes before fossil fuels were even discovered, and most likely will again. Any geology or even biology class makes that clear. We have proof that our continent has been home to dinosaurs and thereafter a major ice age; what once were jungle paradises are now deserts. If I was writing this 14,500 years ago, the majority of my state would be immersed in a huge body of water that was left from melting glaciers. It’s now a desert. Fast forward to 10,500 years ago when cattle were first being domesticated. And we’re just now calling them the problem? Cattle are a natural part of the earth and its life cycle. It just doesn’t add up.
We all are taught about the Earth’s ecosystem, and how every living creature (including humans) have their own place and role in nature. In some form or other, we’ve all heard the four laws of ecology: everything is connected to everything else, everything must go somewhere, nature knows best, and there is no such thing as a free lunch.
My favorite one? Nature knows best. Nature created cattle with numerous benefits for not only humans but also for our atmosphere. Did you know we can use 100% of the cow into our everyday products? From meat, milk, and cowhides, to products like vitamins, collagen, bandages, adhesives, toothpaste, surgical sutures, and yes, even toilet paper. Because nature knows best, it also equipped cattle with a remarkable ability that many people misunderstand: the biogenic carbon cycle.
The biogenic carbon cycle is pure genius, and a way nature already has provided one way for us to keep things moving and recycling. This cycle has been around since the beginning of life itself. In a nutshell, plants need carbon dioxide in order to create oxygen and energy in sugars (that are indigestible to humans, thus another great benefit of cattle turning grass into beef!) The grass is then eaten by cattle. The cattle eat and convert it into methane as they burp, which is then released into the air. Over the next 12 years that methane is then broken down once again into carbon dioxide and water, where our plants then absorb it and the cycle repeats itself.
Both carbon dioxide and methane are natural gasses that are needed to keep life going. Even when released from the soil as the farmer plows, the plants he seeds and grows will absorb more carbon dioxide. Without cattle, the carbon dioxide would stay converted as oxygen and would not be able to be absorbed by new plant life. Cattle also stomp manure (another bonus from nature as it gives nutrients back into the soil!) and gasses into the ground for further absorption of the plants. Without carbon dioxide, plants will only survive a few days. Also, plants can only grow so much before they can no longer photosynthesize as efficiently. The cattle graze it, causing the plant to “reset” itself, thus creating another beneficial cycle for the environment.
It's also crucial to state that "the biogenic carbon from cattle and wetlands is returned to the atmosphere as that is where it started, while fossil carbon is brand new atmospheric carbon, and hence, new warming."
Also, note that "what is notable about methane, is that it’s possible the amount being emitted can equal the amount being destroyed. For example, if a herd of cattle emits the same amount of methane over 12 years, they are contributing to warming for those 12 years. But afterward the same amount being emitted is the same that is being destroyed through oxidation, and thus warming is neutral."
Nature also knows best by allowing cattle to be one of the most efficient food sources. Cattle take grasses that humans cannot digest and turn them into something delicious and full of nutrients: beef. No other source is as bioavailable, so nutrient dense, and, might I add, tasty. Even plant based diets are lacking in nutrients like Vitamin Bs where beef has it abundantly. Plant based meats have way too much sugar in them to be comparable to beef as a healthy meat source, not to mention the extra resources we would need to manufacture it and replace all the byproducts cattle give to us naturally. As mentioned before, not a single part of the cow needs to go to waste after beef consumption. Literally from the head to the tail is used in a more resourceful, healthier, more natural way than we ever could create a product within a lab or a factory without our cattle.
Nature also created cattle in a way that through regenerative grazing and sequestering carbon, they can actually help trap more gasses in the soil than what they emit while eating. Regenerative grazing is a term first coined the term in the 1980s, but the actual practice has been around much longer than that. As mentioned before, agriculturists were among the first to be environmentalists and be true stewards of the land. It’s their livelihood; without the land they won’t survive. They know this. Respect for the ground and their cattle has been passed down from generation to generation. If we want to know anything about the land and how to run it, we should be listening to them.
Everything in life has a pro and a con. Yes, there are minor setbacks to grasses and effects of cattle, nothing is perfect. But overall what weighs more? According to the EPA Global Greenhouse Emissions Data, none of the data includes the approximate 20% of gasses in the agriculture sector that ecosystems remove from the atmosphere but this data must not be forgotten. Being able to convert gasses naturally and clean up the environment with its own waste is a pretty big deal. No other sector can do this. Tell me, what does a private jet do to erase the emissions it creates?
Even if we did limit our beef consumption, cattle and other ruminant animals account for only 4% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. According to Beef: It’s What’s for Dinner, “Many plant-based food advocates promote Meatless Mondays and vegan diets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower their carbon footprint. However, research has demonstrated that removing all livestock and poultry from the U.S. food system would only reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by only .36%. And further, if all Americans participated in Meatless Monday, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions would perhaps be reduced by 0.37%. Removing beef from the diet would remove a high quality protein from diets, both in the U.S. and around the world.”
Nature knows best and cattle are natural creatures in our ecosystem. If we’re going to regulate and limit anything it needs to be in sectors that are truly just wants and desires of people that are unnatural to our ecosystem. Agriculture and livestock are absolute necessities both for human consumption and products, and recycling of greenhouse gasses.
Cattle play a vital role in Earth's biogenic carbon cycle, contributing to the balance of ecosystems and supporting global agriculture. Their endless contributions, from nutrient-rich manure and essential products, are resources we cannot afford to lose.