ALL ANIMALS: Plant-based ag offsets 68% of CO2 emissions, UK animal testing ban to be debated, plus other news from the animal world
Bringing you a digest of news and opinion pieces you might have missed from the past week, covering all things animal agriculture, animal protection and environmental justice.
WORLD: Phase-out of animal agriculture could stabilise GHG for 30 years and offset 68% of CO2 emissions, says new study
A new study suggests that a worldwide shift away from an animal-based food system would have a significant impact in stabilising greenhouse gas levels, equivalent to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions.
Michael Eisen of the University of California, Berkeley and Patrick Brown of Stanford University and Impossible Foods presented their findings in the journal PLOS Climate on Tuesday.
"We wanted to answer a very simple question: What would be the impact of a global phase-out of animal agriculture on atmospheric greenhouse gases and their global-heating impact?" said Patrick Brown, a professor emeritus in the department of biochemistry at Stanford University, as reported in ScienceDaily. Brown is also the CEO and founder of Impossible Foods, and co-authored the paper with Michael Eisen, a professor of genetics and development at UC Berkeley and advisor to Brown’s company.
Animal agriculture contributes significantly to global warming because of the methane, nitrous oxide and carbon emissions of livestock and their supply chains, and because carbon-sequestering biomass is often displaced on land used for grazing and for growing animal feed.
But unlike emissions from fossil fuel combustion, the emissions from animal agriculture would be largely reversible as that industry diminishes, through biomass recovery on land previously cleared for livestock and spontaneous decay of methane and nitrous oxide. This means that replacement of animals in the global food system could help to put the brakes on climate change.
UK: Ban on 'cruel' animal testing to be debated by MPs after thousands sign petition
New demands to put a stop to animal testing will be heard on Monday after a government online petition garnered tens thousands of signatures, the Daily Mirror reported today (Sunday).
Anti-vivisection activists demanded that alternatives to experiments on live animals be developed to end the cruelty and needless harm inflicted upon rats, rabbits and other laboratory animals.
The e-petition was backed by 110,276 signatories, and called upon senior MPs to “change the law so laboratory animals are included in the Animal Welfare Act”.
“Laboratory animals are currently not protected by the Act and are therefore victims of 'unnecessary suffering',” stated the petition.
USA: COMPETES Act passes the House with big wins for animals
The America COMPETES Act, a bill aimed at bolstering US innovation, passed the House of Representatives on Friday with several provisions that would benefit animals. The Animal Welfare Institute said it was largely thanks to the efforts of members of Congress who support animal welfare.
The provisions included protections for sharks, banning the sale, purchase and possession of shark fins in the US, effectively removing a huge market from the global shark fin trade; marine mammal conservation measures, funding local governments and non-profits to rescue and rehabilitate sick and injured marine animals; bycatch reduction by phasing out large mesh drift nets, and more federal money allocated to the fight against wildlife trafficking.
Several notable provisions concern the prevention of future pandemics, including a diplomatic priority to work with other governments and NGOs to shut down certain wildlife markets and reduce the demand for wild animals. The Bill also includes a three-year emergency ban on the importation of wildlife that could pose a zoonotic threat, effectively shutting down trade with the US.
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TECHNOLOGY: WWF to sell a new line of NFTs with endangered species motifs to raise funds
The World Wildlife Fund UK has launched a line of NFTs called "nonfungible animals," or NFAs, reported CNET on Thursday.
The digital art focuses on 13 endangered animals, with the numbers of each group of NFAs corresponding to that species' population. This means that there are two Northern white rhino and about 1,800 giant panda NFAs available, raising awareness of just how few of each species remain in the wild.
The WWF said proceeds from each NFA would go towards global conservation work: "We're helping to safeguard our most cherished wildlife – including magnificent rhinos, leopards and gorillas - from threats such as poaching and habitat loss."
NORWAY: Wolves ‘saved for this year’ as animal justice groups fight cull
Norway has halted a major cull of wolves after activists successfully secured a court injunction, the Guardian reported on Monday.
Around 25 animals, distributed across four packs, are in the so-called “wolf zone”, an area earmarked to protect the wolves. It is these who have been granted a stay of execution by Norway’s legal system after campaigners argued that wolves in a protected conservation area had the right to live.
At the beginning of January, 51 wolves were set to be killed following lobbying by Norway’s hunting and farming groups. Only 80 wolves are thought to live in Norway, meaning that more than half would have been slaughtered as part of the cull.
“The wolves are saved for this year, as the hunting season only goes on for two more weeks and then it is the breeding season, when they cannot be shot,” Siri Martinsen, the chief executive of the animal rights organisation Noah, told the Guardian.
Andrew Gough is Media and Investigations Manager for Surge.
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