Anthony,

How are you? It’s been a while.

Taking umbrage with another article that’s guilty of misinformation — I applaud that. We need to be science-based and fact-based in our reportage and discussion of climate change first and foremost.

The problem is, the EPA report you cite is also misleading, since it’s just one of many studies done on the impact of agriculture--and livestock--on climate change. Those studies range between livestock producing 11.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions to 19.5%. Here’s an article that cites them, and spells it all out a lot better than I could:

https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/food-agriculture-environment/livestock-dont-contribute-14-5-of-global-greenhouse-gas-emissions

You also seem to be picking a fight — calling the characterization of the 2019 report as a “new report” being “deceptive.” How new is new?

Finally, your article then seems to veer towards what I call the panacea fallacy, where you dismiss the importance of reducing meat consumption because, I guess, the numbers aren't big enough in your analysis, and you re-plant your flag on the renewables hill.

The way I see it, there are two things we can do in response to climate change. We can engage in the panacea fallacy by arguing which is the best way to mitigate (or even curb) climate change: the transition to renewables or de-growth. We can debate solar, nuclear, wind. We can talk overpopulation versus sustainability. And then we are safe either doing nothing (because nothing is good enough) or only doing the one thing we’ve deemed The Best and True.

But nothing is perfect.

It can be even simpler. If something is a driver of climate change, reduce or eliminate it. Period. Simple. If something could take the edge off climate change, like solar panels on your house, even if they’re imperfect, go for it. If reducing meat and dairy intake, particularly meat from industrial animal agriculture, can help the situation, even a little bit, why not do it?

And just one thing about meat consumption and its impact (as the breakthrough article also points out): methane emissions and deforestation are a part of the problem, but so is all the transportation to get the meat shipped from all over the world to our stores, the packaging, all the antibiotics given to the animals, driving antibiotic resistance in humans, and many scientists agree animal ag will be the likely cause of the next pandemic.

https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Animal-agriculture-viral-disease-and-pandemics-FINAL-4.pdf

TJ