Food Choices and Climate Change

...... or why eating plant based can significantly help save our World.

The following links were my primary sources of information for my Oct 28 presentation on Food Choices and Climate Change at Dorothy Greets’ class for Osher Lifelong Learning.

National Academy of Sciences report:
Land, irrigation water, greenhouse gas, and reactive nitrogen burdens of meat, eggs, and dairy production in the United States
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/33/11996.abstract

The Environmental Working Groups, Meat Eater’s Guide:
http://www.ewg.org/meateatersguide/a-meat-eaters-guide-to-climate-change-health-what-you-eat-matters/reducing-your-footprint/

NASA Global Climate Change - Vital Signs of the Planet:
http://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/

J. Morris Hicks web site: Tearing Down the Single Biggest Road Block to Sustainability
http://hpjmh.com/2014/10/23/tearing-down-the-single-biggest-roadblock-to-sustainability/?utm

Vegan Diet Significantly Minimizes Climate Change

You may wonder, where is the link? But I am sure most of you know the connection. Raising beef, pork and chicken...and even farm raised fish, is a very inefficient use of our limited resources, and the waste involved ultimately generates a LOT of greenhouse gases, like CO2 and methane.

And probably good numbers of you are vegan, or almost vegan (like me). Now for those that are not, maybe Dr. McDougall can give you some added inspiration through his long term relationship with Al Gore, who after 7 years of consideration, has just now declared himself a vegan.

A partial believer? but want a bit more convincing, try McDougall on potatoes.

Feeding the World....while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions

Cattle release methane, and lots of it. Methane is a greenhouse gas 23 times more potent than CO2. Plus with a World population over 7 billion and still growing, we are running out of resources to feed our World.

So do we really need to eat beef, chicken and pork to get our protein? Absolutely not!!!! Look at some of the earth's largest animals - Elephants, Hippopotamus, Rhinocerus, they are all vegetarians, but still very big and strong. In the US, 13% of the population is vegetarian or vegan. In India 31%. In OLLI, I am estimating significantly more than 13%. (A more precise survey would be welcome.)

From a global perspective, it boils down to more efficiently using our limited resources, which are fertile land and fresh water. Consuming crops is far more efficient than consuming animals which have been fed crops. This is due to limited ecological efficiency in converting energy from one trophic level to another. A rough approximation is that the conversion is only 10% efficient. See Wikipedia for more details.

So what are your plant-based eating resources. In OLLI there is an excellent class, Plant Based Eating 101 taught by Dorothy Greet. On the internet, there are an almost infinite number of resources, such as Marc Gunther on Reinventing Meat, or John McDougall's web site dedicated to improving your health through plant based eating.

At the very least, take a look at the health benefits You will gain, and the benefits to the World through better utilization of limited resources, and a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Sally and I both both do it.

Food Waste Greenhouse Gas Emmissions - 3rd Largest Emitter behind China and US

I am only posting this NBC link because the reported magnitude of the problem is so large. From what I have read, the emissions include all energy used to grow and process the wasted food, as well as the CO2 and methane emitted by the disposal of the wasted food. That seems fair, but also a complicated series of calculations.

What also seems so very unfortunate and unnecessary, is wasting this vast quantity of food with so many people on Earth needy and starving.

Bill

PS - Our class agenda for "Predicting Climate Change", Oct 23 through Nov 20 at Osher Lifelong Learning in Lewes DE, will be posted very soon. I am looking forward to an educationally stimulating and interesting fall.

Going Green for Our Health.... and Our Grandchildren's Future

 Lettuce and parsley in Fintel garden, May 2013, Bill Fintel photo

Salads grown locally. They make sense, and they are happening. The more greens we eat, and the less beef we eat, the better off we and our planet will be, and also the better off will be our grandchildren.

It is really very simple math. We can be very healthy eating a plant based diet...in fact much more healthy than eating a lot of plant fed animals. And we improve upon the energy conversion efficiency of taking in directly the solar energy processed by plants, instead of allowing it to pass through a second inefficient energy converting process of the cow or the chicken or pig, etc.

So who is making this all the more possible in the busy northeast? Bright Farms!

But you too can also grow and consume your own greens, or you can buy from a local organic gardener, like Hattie's Garden, and she also sells starter organic vegetable plants.

 Pirat Butterhead lettuce from Hattie, a Fintel favorite, Bill Fintel photo

Water Resources and Climate Change

According to most climate predictions, as the Earth warms, dry regions will get drier, and wet regions will get wetter. Looking at dry regions, like the Middle East, this poses many significant problems, such as how to manage limited fresh water resources so they do not run out, and so they are not overused by any one country.

A pair of satellites that are very sensitive to the Earth's gravity has proven capable of measuring the amount of water contained in underground aquifers. This satellite technology is known as Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment, or GRACE. For a very clear concise summary of the issues which can addressed with this technology, see Andrew Revkin's Dot Earth blog post.

Obviously, fair and conservative utilization of fresh water resources will play a significant role in stability in the Middle East.

Energy for Development - References from Curt Davis

Following is the list of books, web site links, and Youtube videos that Curt promised in his OLLI presentation on Nov 5, 2012. Many thanks again to Curt for a fascinating and informative presentation of his hands-on experiences helping provide clean, renewable energy to low income people in remote regions around the world.  Bill

OLLI Energy for Development presentation by Curt Davis, November 5, 2012

-Here are the names of the books mentioned in class:

Kamal, Sajed (2011). The Renewable Revolution: How We Can Fight Climate Change, Prevent Energy Wars, Revitalize the Economy and Transition to a Sustainable Future. London: Routledge (Earthscan)

Owen, David (2012). The Conundrum: How Scientific Innovation, Increased Efficiency, and Good Intentions Can Make Our Energy and Climate Problems Worse. Short Books

-Here is a link to how to build the solar cooker demonstrated in class:

http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/CooKit

-Organizations that I work with:

Flexera Solar and Wind

http://www.flexera.net/

The Pan Himalayan Grassroots Development Foundation

http://www.grassrootsindia.com/

Grupo Fenix

http://www.grupofenix.org/

ICSEE / Maasai Solar Project

http://www.maasaistovessolar.org/

-Here is a list of interesting videos of small-scale renewable energy or small-scale that has been scaled up to meet larger demands.

Solar Cooker in the snow: (2:45)

(posted from http://www.youtube.com/user/solarwindmama)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddd8RUtv9VU&feature=plcp

Grassroots India household biogas overview. (8:03)

(posted by https://www.youtube.com/user/GrassrootsIndia)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQrr4KhP4Dc

Micro Hydro Power Animation

(posted by http://www.youtube.com/user/GreenpeaceUK)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4B2gODY3Mk

Micro hydro Archimedian screw animation

(posted by http://www.youtube.com/user/bigbrother1970E)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLEA3FF83DC8D9FCA0&feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=ka5174hVhbg

Turning Green in Oxford, England

(posted by http://www.youtube.com/user/alunhill)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1Q1-iAExPo&feature=rellist&playnext=1&list=PLEA3FF83DC8D9FCA0

Micro hydro in Indonesia

(poster by http://www.youtube.com/user/AshdenAwards)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm-PaJNlRp8&feature=plcp

ARTI India: Biogas from food waste. (5:26)

(posted by http://www.youtube.com/user/AshdenAwards)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGSl72xZHNk&feature=relmfu

China; domestic biogas for cooking and light. (4:47)

(posted by http://www.youtube.com/user/AshdenAwards)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=ZMreH1YUs90

Industrial-scale liquefied biogas in Sweden. (4:07)

(posted by: https://www.youtube.com/user/Goteborgenergi )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Vsk6AnilIfs

Husk Power Systems: Bihar (5:53)

(posted from http://www.youtube.com/user/AshdenAwards)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0XcoeqVoaI

Grupo Fenix. (6:35)

(posted by https://www.youtube.com/user/elgrupofenix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54ILxrFVc34

Tanzanian sawdust stoves. (5:53)

(posted by http://www.youtube.com/user/AshdenAwards)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIlOamR9wAg&feature=plcp

Aprovecho Rocket Stove; Malawi (5:15)

(posted by http://www.youtube.com/user/AshdenAwards)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSQOIVKgWbY&feature=plcp

Rice husk gasifier in Bihar (2:56)

(posted by http://www.youtube.com/user/acumenfund)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MpTmckocYQ

Eating to help save the world

I am jumping ahead on this class topic, but I thought you would like to be updated now, and in a very clear way, on how the foods we eat are grown AND LABELLED.

My view? Accurate labeling is only being honest. Why would an honest business not want to be truthful about what is in its products? 

PS - I also believe eating more plants, plus animals low on the food chain, is a key ingredient to our Earth being able to sustain the population here now and on the way.

US Seafood Deficit

As an avid fisherman, this concept caught my interest. Per the article, Deep Sea Farming by Marc Guenther, the US has a 10.4 billion dollar seafood deficit. This is mostly due to importing farm raised fish from Asia.

One answer, deep sea farming of mussels and oysters, as proposed by entrepreneur Phil Cruzer for deep waters off the California coast. These two shellfish have the special advantage over most other types of aquaculture in that they get all their food from the seawater, and do not require any processed fish food, which is typically made from forage fish. This is an optimistic approach to more sustainably feeding the world.

Agriculture's response to climate change

The technology of selective breeding crop plants and ranch animals is being used to make both more tolerant of hotter, dryer conditions. The lead sentences from a USA Today article:

"Across American agriculture, farmers and crop scientists have concluded that it's too late to fight climate change. They are trying to adapt to it with new generations of hardier animals and plants specially engineered to survive, and even thrive, in intense heat, with little rain."

Unlike trying to reduce carbon emissions, this adaption process faces few challenges, and those using it come out ahead pretty much as they do it. Switch from coal to solar power generation, and you generally become less competitive with those who remain on coal. Were fossil fuel power generation to pay for its total costs, environmental degradation included, renewable energy would definitely be competitive.

Drought - a first hand perspective

Much of the US is presently in a record breaking drought, and I am guessing that many of us don't have a real good perspective of how bad this can be, so from Steve Lyons at the Dickinson Press:

"Of all the ways nature has to kill you, drought may be the cruelest. The desiccation proceeds day after punishing day. The afternoon sun pounds the Earth like a brazen hammer. As I write, the temperature here in Perry County, Arkansas, has reached 108 degrees."

For the full article: Climate change real - ask the cows

Spaceship Planet Earth

How many people can Planet Earth host in a sustainable way? We are currently at 7 billion, and seemingly headed to 9 billion, and beyond. Are we already beyond Earth's healthy carrying capacity? I think  at very least, we are right at very the limits of it.

For a stunning example of what happens when the carrying capacity of a finite environment is exceeded, see the first few paragraphs of Home Planet in the Cornell Alumni magazine.

One last quote from the above linked article by Frank T. Rhodes, Cornell President for 18 years: “......it’s easy to forget that we share the planet with two million other named species, and the effect we’re having on them is huge. We just assume that every other species gets out of the way while we take what we want. But there’s a limit to how long we can go on doing that, because like it or not we depend to varying degrees on many of these other species. We injure not just them, but ourselves, by the casual way in which we plunder the planet.”

Sustainable Seafood

Sustainability has become a very popular term, hopefully because it makes so much sense, and because it is very needed in so many ways. Sustainable food production, which includes aquaculture and commercial fishing, in the long run is really the only means of feeding the world in a healthy manner, without degrading our environment. Sustainable energy production is ultimately the only way to meet the world's energy needs, without catastrophically altering the world's climate.

So, should you eat farmed fish? Marc Guenther addresses this complicated question and provides some optimistic insights into what the aquaculture industry is doing to become more sustainable. New to me was the size of the aquaculture industry. "Already, roughly half the world’s supply of fish is farmed."

“Aquaculture’s big,” said Jose Villalon, a fisheries biologist who leads the aquaculture program at the World Wildlife Fund. “It’s the fastest growing food industry in the world. It’s not a trend. It’s here to stay.” He said that aquaculture has been growing about 9% a year for at least a decade, and that fish farming can become one of the most sustainable sources of healthy food.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium  is a leading non-profit working to  promote sustainable seafood through their Seafood Watch program. They offer free pocket seafood guides which clarify which fish species are harvested in a sustainable manner. Monterey Bay also offers an app with their Sea Watch program. One key criteria for sustainability is that the fishing technique does not have a large bycatch, and that it does not seriously harm the marine environment.

Another approach to sustainable seafood which gaining in popularity is voluntary certification. There are two organizations involved in a world-wide effort: the Marine Stewardship Council and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council.

So if you refuse to become a vegan, you can still switch the cattle, dairy, poultry portion of your diet to healthy, sustainable seafood, as I have done.

Meatless Monday and Meat the Truth

Meatless Monday is a global movement to help our climate be healthier......and to help YOU be healthier!!!

From the title link:
"If everyone in the US went meatless one day a week: The carbon savings would be the same as taking 19.2 million cars off U.S. roads for a year."

Meatless Monday is a big web site, so explore the other pages as well as the linked page.

What have I done? I have gone from a weekly average of eating meat 2x per day to eating meat less than 1x per day, or more than a 50% reduction in meat consumption.......and the meat I eat is 99% fish. What has Sally done? She is 100% meatless....a vegan.

Where's the Beef?

It would be good for Earth and all life on it, if this was a current valid question. But it is not. Anyway, some tidbits from the linked Washington Post article by Ezra Klein from July 2009:

• "livestock accounts for 18% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions."
• "switching to a vegan diet would have a bigger impact than trading in your gas guzzler for a Prius."

And from me, more vegetables and less livestock is also a much healthier way to eat. Thanks to Dorothy Greet for providing this article and her great class on Plant Based Nutrition at Osher Lifelong Learning, Lewes, DE.

Earth and Its Climate in 2031 (Osher class title)

Following is the agenda for the next 4 classes of this Osher Lifelong Learning Course at the University of Delaware in Lewes, DE. The overall question to be addressed: "What will the Earth be like in 2031 in regard to the following subjects?"

October 24 - Global weather changes, and the effect on agriculture, potable water and feeding a growing world.

October 31 - Geographic population shifts and climate refugees.

November 7 - Wildlife and vegetation changes, plus the role of forests.

November 14 - Tipping points, what are the most troublesome ones, and how likely are they to occur?

Feeding a Growing World

For those in the Osher Climate class, and for everyone else, here is a very good summary of the Earth's increasing dilemma as population grows, the planet warms, and food production becomes far more difficult to increase. From the Scientific American title link:

".....there can be no permanent progress in the battle against hunger until the agencies that fight for increased food production and those that fight for population control unite in a common effort," Borlaug said in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. "[Man] is using his powers for increasing the rate and amount of food production. But he is not yet using adequately his potential for decreasing the rate of human reproduction. The result is that the rate of population increase exceeds the rate of increase in food production in some areas."

For the healthy perspective:...."ultimately, a little change in diet might do a world of good. Global demand for beef is an inefficient way to get protein, possibly unhealthy, and a major driver of deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. "