가축이 종전 추정보다 기후변화에 더 많은 원인이 됩니다. 2006년에 유엔식량농업기구는 축산업이 지구온난화 원인에 18％를 차지한다고 추정했었습니다. 그러나 과학자들에겐 축산업이 더 중대한 역할을 하고 있다는 것이 점점 더 분명해지고 있습니다.

유엔 기후변화 정부간 패널(ＩＰＣＣ)의 의장인 라젠드라 파차우리 박사는 2008년 9월 지구 온난화를 대처하기 위해 육식을 줄이는 것의 역할에 관하여 강연하는 도중 이것에 대해 암시했습니다.


라젠드라 파차우리 박사 – 유엔 기후변화 정부간 패널 의장, 채식주의자: 오늘 여기서 제가 강연할 것에 대해 이해한 후 사람들은 18％라는 숫자는 과소평가라는 많은 이메일을 제게 보냈습니다. 그것은 낮춰 평가한 것이고 사실 그보다 훨씬 더 높습니다.

리포터: Greenhouse gases are emitted during virtually every step of the meat producing process.  
Of the three major greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, methane is up to 72 times more potent than CO2, while nitrous oxide is up to 300 times more potent.

To arrive at the potency of these gases, the general method is to average over a 100-year period.
However,methane in particular is a much shorter-lived gas. Scientists have thus determined that it is more accurate to average methane’s potency over 20 years.
This gives methane a 72 times greater potency than CO2 as a greenhouse gas.

US physicist Noam Mohr of the New York University Polytechnic Institute stated the following in a telephone interview with Supreme Master Television.

Voice of Noam Mohr – Physicist, New York University Polytechnic Institute, USA, VEGETARIAN (M): When measured over 100 years, the United Nations said animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of global warming emissions, which is an enormous amount, far more than all transportation put together.

 If you look at it on a shorter term, methane has an outsized effect, and so that number goes up. The true value in the near term when we take all these things into account is much higher.

Professor Barry Brook (M): So, if you look at these reports they will suggest it has about 25 times the impact of CO2. But really when it’s up there in the atmosphere doing its work, it’s 72 times the impact and that makes a big difference.

At 37% of global methane emissions, livestock is the single largest source of human-caused methane. Dr. Kirk Smith Professor, University of California – Berkeley, USA (M): Sure we have to deal with CO2, but if you want to make an impact on climate in the next 20 years, the place to do it is with the shorter-lived greenhouse gases, most important of which is methane.

So, of the emissions in the next 20 years, the CO2 in this year’s emissions will only be about 40% of the total warming.

The other 60% or more will be from the shorter-lived gases, most important of which is methane.

VOICE: In addition, according to US physicist Noam Mohr, livestock has an even larger share of emissions when yet another unaccounted factor is acknowledged:

aerosols, or particles released along with CO2 from burning fossil fuels that despite their detrimental health aspects, actually have a cooling effect.

Voice of Noam Mohr – Physicist with degrees from Yale University and University of Pennsylvania, USA, VEGETARIAN (M): When you consider aerosols and consider the net effect of burning fossil fuels, the carbon dioxide released heats the planet, the aerosols cool the planet, and the net effect roughly cancels each other out.

 That means that most of the warming we have seen historically and are likely to see in the future comes from other gases, namely methane.   

커크 스미스 박사– 미국 국립과학원 회원, 미국 버클리 캘리포니아 대학 교수: 이미 가축이 모든 온실가스 방출의 20％를 차지하며, 육류 계통은 동물과 그들들 위해 키우는 식량들 육류의 수송과 동물 사료를 재배하기 위한 화학비료를 포함하는 것입니다. 현재의 메탄 배출 수준이 그대로 라고 가정했을 때 그렇지요.

커크 스미스 박사: 더 정확히 고려하면 20％나 30％정도 오를 것입니다. 그러므로 30％는 향후 20년 내에 육류 생산에서 비롯될 것입니다.

VOICE: Dr. T. Colin Campbell, a renowned researcher and internationally bestselling author of “The China Study,” also indicated that livestock’s role in heating the planet is much bigger.

Dr. T. Colin Campbell – Renowned nutrition researcher, Cornell University, USA, VEGAN (M): I just had some information just recently, that the new figures now indicate that at least half of the greenhouse gases that are up there now, not that 15 or 20%, at least half – and maybe considerably more – are due to livestock production.

리포터: 뜻 깊은 정보를 알려주신 유명한 과학자들께 감사합니다. 여러분의 연구가 앞으로도 계속되어 우리의 결정을 가장 현명한 방향으로 비춰주길 바랍니다. 인류가 육식 소비와 육류 제품을 줄이기 위해 용기 있게 행동하여 더욱 안전한 상태가 되길 바랍니다.