Pledge to Try Veg

Environmental Benefits

The effects of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef

• The Great Barrier Reef is in grave danger of threats from climate change, the two most significant being water acidification (when the absorption of carbon dioxide by the ocean triggers a series of chemical reactions which make the water more acidic), and rising water temperatures. If left unchecked, the long term effects will be catastrophic. Already we are seeing the effects manifesting as coral bleaching. This occurs when small changes in the water chemistry cause the microorganisms that nourish the coral to be expelled from the coral, leaving it white, or bleached. Unless conditions return to normal within four to six weeks the coral will die. Bleaching not only effects coral populations, it also endangers many other organisms in larger reef ecosystems¹.

Methane emissions more potent than CO₂

• Just over half of the total emissions of methane (a potent greenhouse gas that raises global temperature) is due to human activity² .
• The methane produced by Australia's cattle and sheep has more impact than the emissions from all coal-fired power stations in Australia³. Methane is 20-25 times more potent than CO₂ at trapping heat inside Earth's atmosphere, however breaks down much more quickly (7-10 years v's 200 years)⁴. This means, cutting CO₂ emissions will have no effect on global warming for decades, but reducing methane will have an immediate effect.

Livestock contribute to global warming

• More than a third of human activity related methane results from livestock activity, such as agriculture involving cattle, chickens, pigs and sheep⁵.
• A new report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation states the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO₂ equivalent - 18 per cent - than the burning of fossil fuels by transport⁶.
• With 28 million cattle and 110 million sheep, Australia has the highest ratio of cattle and second highest of sheep⁷ to people in the world.

• In cows, 95 per cent of methane is emitted through belching, not flatulence⁸ as commonly believed.

Switching to a plant-based diet will reduce emissions

• In just under five years the total dietary emissions from the meat of a family of four on the CSIRO Total Wellbeing diet will exceed those from building and running a large 4WD⁹.
• The difference between 14 serves of red meat a week as recommended by the CSIRO diet, and no serves is 5.7 tonnes of methane emissions annually¹⁰.
• Livestock are also the source of additional greenhouse emissions apart from methane. Fuel is used to transport animals to market and to cool the refrigerated distribution chain from abattoirs to consumers¹¹.

Reducing methane will have more immediate effect than reducing CO₂

• CO₂ is the greenhouse gas that has the biggest impact on temperature, but it is the hardest to do anything about.
• While methane breaks down in a decade or less, CO₂ stays around for up to two hundred years. Cutting CO₂ emissions will have no effect on global warming for decades, but reducing methane will have an immediate effect¹².

Grazing is the major user of water in Australia

• Dairy and beef production are the highest major water users in Australia¹³.
• It takes thousands more litres of water to produce a kilo of beef than it does to grow the same quantity of grains or vegetables¹⁴.
• Livestock production accounts for over eight percent of global human water consumption¹⁵.