In a recent post, I talked about how animals are contributing to the climate epidemic. However, not all livestock is created equal, and unfortunately cows are a BIG part of the problem. On average, a cow releases between 70 and 120 kg of methane per year. Methane is a greenhouse gas, but is 23 times worse than carbon dioxide (CO2). So while people are concerned about what comes out of their car, the cute cow at the farm is probably doing more damage.How does a car compare to a cow?
- 1 cow produces 100 kg of methane or the equivalent of 2’300 kg CO2 per year
- The same amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) is generated by burning 1’000 liters of gas
- With a car using 8 liters of gas per 100 km, you could drive 12,500 km per year (7,800 miles per year)
With 1.5 billion cows and bulls world-wide, we emit about two billion metric tons of CO2-equivalents per year. Now, do you really need that piece of steak?
How do Cows Compare to Other Livestock?
Cows are the hummers of the livestock world because of the amount of methane they produce. So just how bad are they? The following tables indicates the CO2 equivalents per kg that each animal produces:
| 1 kg of meat from |
produces kg CO2 |
| beef | 34.6 |
| lamb | 17.4 |
| pork | 6.35 |
| chicken | 4.57 |