Earlier
this week, the US animal agriculture industry once again came to the forefront
of the "climate change" debate. As you can imagine, it was not being
heralded as a beaming example of sustainability. Instead, it was being
chastised as the cause of many environmental hardships. In addition to
politicians and media, the Golden Globes got in on the action by serving a
vegan meal to save the world. Personally, I am very happy these celebrities
took their private jets all across the US to come together and sacrifice so
much in one meal for the sake of the environment. They are truly the examples
we need to follow.
Now obviously
I'm being facetious, but it did force me to think about the source of this
perception of agriculture. I believe it is a case of our sinful nature – not
wanting to take responsibility for our own lives and actions. It is far easier
to attack the 1.5% of the population who is raising the world's next meal, than
to look in the mirror and make personal changes. Is it easier to criticize
those I have never met than it is to critically examine my own actions?
Absolutely. I would love to be able to blame the world’s problems on everyone
else. Wouldn’t that be great? I’d never have to change my daily routine or
accept the consequences of my actions. Unfortunately, this is what is happening
to modern day agriculture. An overwhelming amount of the US population is no
longer living on the farm. Thus, it is easier than ever to blame those who
still are.
The real
tragedy of blaming the US producer is not that we are incorrectly identifying a
problem, but that we are ignoring a potential solution. The US
pork industry, over the past 50 years, has reduced their environmental
impact by using1:
Why?
Because that is what farmers do. It is a natural position for them to take.
They are charged with taking care of the planet and they are doing a phenomenal
job in the United States. Last fall I was at a meeting with over 100 top
decision makers for the industry. They were discussing how we can continue to reduce
our carbon footprint in order to become carbon neutral. Farmers don’t become
complacent. They continue to look to improve themselves and their farms –
sustainability is at the heart of that. This isn’t unique to the pork industry.
The sum of all US livestock production only contributes 4% of the entire United
States’ carbon footprint2. On top of that, it is only methane gas
being released which has a life span of 10 years in our atmosphere. Compare
that to the carbon emissions from cars and planes – carbon can last for 1,000
years in our atmosphere – and I can tell you which one I prefer.
So what
now? If US producers aren’t the environmental villains that our presidential primary
candidates, media, and celebrities perceive them to be, then what are they? They
are the solution. The US producer is putting out more food than any of country
in the world and they are doing it with the least amount of emissions possible.
Agriculture on a global scale still contributes 14% to total carbon emissions3,
that’s a much bigger number. Can we fix it? Yes. Have we proven that here in
the US? Yes. Do we proclaim this from the mountain tops and share our
information with the world? No. We don’t because every day the producer is bettering
the world, they are being told that they are ruining it. What if those same
politicians, media members, and celebrities heralded the producers as heroes
instead of villains. What if we said to the rest of the world, “Look what we have
done! Let’s help you get to where we are.” I think that would be much more productive
than giving speeches at award shows talking about other people causing problems.
In the
book, Good to Great, it says that great
leaders praise the people around them when things are going well but look in a
mirror when things are bad. I think we can all apply this to our daily lives.
Let’s look for the heroes of sustainability. Those who have made and are
continuing to make great strides in protecting the environment. Then let’s look
at our individual lives and see how we can make a personal, physical change to
match that drive for a better world. In the United States of America, we have some
of the best people sustainably feeding the world. It is about time we support
and share the stories of these people with the rest of the world; not demonize
them before we get back on our private jets.
P.S. For
some quick facts of on the sustainability of the US pork industry please visit porkcares.org
1 Retrospective Analysis of
US Pork Production from 1960 to 2015 Using LCA. https://www.pork.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/16-214-THOMA-final-rpt.pdf.
July 7, 2018
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