Target: Joseph Biden, President of the United States of America
Goal: Include livestock in domestic and international conversations on how to reduce climate change.
Climate change is an issue that has spanned across generations. Every year, scientists and politicians join forces to address our shrinking deadline to act on reducing the increasing effects of greenhouse gasses from human activities. The revolving door conversation tends to focus on automobiles and the burning of fossil fuels for energy. Numerous subsequent plans created are as inevitable as their shortcoming to achieve targets for carbon emissions. One factor, however, is perpetually absent from the world’s solutions: livestock.
Meat and dairy production from livestock causes around 15% of human-produced greenhouse gasses, yet, somehow, this is absent from world climate talks. These contributions to climate change barely were discussed in the most recent UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26). Even during the Paris Agreement, President Biden’s amendments for contributions from the U.S. made no mention of livestock mitigation as a tactic for carbon emission reduction. Feed production, transportation, and the digestive processes of these animals are making their mark, and world leaders need to act now.
It is no surprise livestock has been omitted from talks on climate change. Alternative meat and dairy products are making meat farms nervous, causing them to lobby for increased protection for their businesses. Large farms that are most complicit are a multibillion dollar enterprise, and money talks. Yet the question remains, is it worth the cost of climate tragedy at a global level?
Sign the petition below to urge President Biden to include livestock in domestic and international climate conversations.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear President Biden,
Many in the country were thrilled to hear about you initiating our return to the Paris Agreement. Action must be taken at the local and global level in order to truly make strides with the damage already done by climate change, and reaffirming commitment from the U.S. was a wonderful step. After the COP26 meeting, however, many critics started noticing a major contributor of carbon emissions was missing from these critical talks: livestock.
Meat and dairy production make up a significant chunk of greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans but rarely are considered in plans to combat climate change. World leaders agree we are at a “now or never” point with the number of symptoms experienced from the heating of the planet. Will you take concrete steps on this issue?
With plant-based meats and dairy products gaining momentum, cutting down on animal production is another necessary action for the U.S. and world. We must take a pause from the more than sufficient profits of global agricultural companies and significantly reduce the number of animals and land used for livestock farming. The U.S. is a leader in this sector and has the opportunity to set a new bar for the industry as well as a much needed shift towards more plant-based alternatives.
We urge you to act now, before it is too late, and make livestock a prominent part of local and global climate change discussions.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo credit: Dicklyon
573 Signatures