During this question and answer session, Scholtz revealed that livestock is not the biggest producer of methane gasses, as people make it out to be. Here is Burges and Scholtz…

See below PODCAST

Scholtz says the debate around the impact of livestock on the environment started when a publication by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United States (FAO), titled “Livestock’s long shadow”, stated that livestock is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gasses. He says the FAO subsequently lessened the number but the initial publication is still being used by activists to discredit livestock products.

He explains that one of the campaigns these activists in America embarked on, is “Meat-free Monday”. Scholtz further adds, in light of this, it was later revealed that if all Americans follow the above-mentioned campaign, the greenhouse gas contribution will only be cut by 0,3%.

The duo also touched base on how the planting of crops too is a contributor to releasing carbon in the atmosphere. Scholtz explains that one should take into account the electricity used for irrigation, the diesel and transportation to plant and harvest the crops.

He says it was recently revealed during a presentation by the American Society for Animal Science that the carbon footprint for crops such as beans and soya per unit of protein was higher than that for beef.

Furthermore, Scholtz states that when livestock no longer grazes natural fields, game will utilise it and also release greenhouse gasses but with very little advantage to humans in respect of nutrition. Secondly, the field can burn and release carbon dioxide.

Scholtz reveals that the atmospheric lifespan of carbon dioxide is between a staggering 100 to 200 years, while the atmospheric lifespan of methane is 12 years. However, the heating potential of methane is 23 times more than that of carbon dioxide. Scholtz is of the opinion that this fact might be what causes the overemphasis on methane when countries want to meet the Paris Agreement.

This agreement, which is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, was signed in 2016. It deals with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance.

Lastly, Scholtz alludes that animals are needed to keep the range lands healthy. He says livestock eats the grass and produces methane, but in order to regrow, the grass absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

He says livestock is not the problem, one should take a look at, amongst others, the energy and mining sector as well as municipal refuse dumps.

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