I quietly sat through a roundtable on where our industry should stand on the current global agenda of vilifying cattle for emitting methane. There was a piece missing in my argument that the carbon/methane/climate change/overpopulation narrative is a psychotic and dangerous agenda which we should discredit and then ignore. There is another factor we need to consider.
Throughout recorded history humans have attributed bad weather to divine wrath or human evil, a tendency still buried deep in our psyche which is currently accepting the ludicrous myth that human’s bad behaviour of using energy dense fossil fuels to bring humanity into prosperity will somehow lead to an existential crisis and environmental Armageddons. These baseless theories flourish in the absence of a proper understanding of scale and scientific processes. The climate alarmists provide simple, emotionally satisfying explanations where none are easily available, playing on our cognitive biases and need for clear narratives. These theories allow individuals to feel more in control by blaming a tangible source such as the fossil fuel industry or cows.
Sadly, it is very quick and easy to say cattle emit methane therefore cattle are bad. It takes a considerably longer and rational discussion to counteract the delusional assertion that cattle can be bad for the environment, it is about as logical as saying fish are bad for the oceans. The management of cattle is wholly a human decision and that can have positive or negative influences on the environment. If cows were not in the environment grass would still grow, the grass would either rot, releasing methane into the atmosphere or burn releasing more carbon than grazing animals ever could.
It is a lie that human induced climate change is caused by carbon emissions. Over the past 140 million years the earth’s Carbon Dioxide concentrations have been falling from 2,500ppm to 320ppm with a slight uptick to 421ppm since the beginning of the industrial revolution. If we had not arrested this decline all terrestrial life on earth would become extinct at 150ppm of atmospheric Co2. There were no run-away temperature increases over these past 140 million years because Co2 is not a strong greenhouse gas – 95% of the earth’s greenhouse warming is due to water vapor. Carbon Dioxide accounts for 3.6% and Methane 0.45%.
Human mismanagement of billions of hectares of brittle tending environments started when early humans began hunting in organized packs, often with fire and in more recent centuries organized agriculture. Human management over millennia has drastically reduced many green vegetative habitats to desert. This has resulted in a broken small water cycle locally and over enough areas has caused macro climate change, easily reversed with good management and cows. As 95% of the heat dynamics of planet earth are governed by water vapor would it not make logical sense to be dealing with the biggest factor?
Reducing human-induced Co2 emissions is simply not going to happen because the majority of emissions are coming from developing and developed countries. Even if they did decide to impoverish their population and reduce emissions it would make no difference whatsoever. There are about 950 giga tons of Co2 in the atmosphere, 3,000 giga tons of Co2 in the soils and 38,000 giga tons of Co2 in the oceans. Even if we draw down atmospheric carbon into the soils the oceans will act as a giant buffered system and will re-equilibrate Co2 into the atmosphere. Increasing soil organic carbon levels is clever management but why would we commit economic suicide to pursue a pointless and futile illusion of atmospheric carbon or biogenic methane being a problem?
Atmospheric carbon dioxide and water are used by plants to grow, the grass is eaten by a cow, the cow releases Biogenic methane which breaks down in the atmosphere somewhere between 1-12 years to become carbon dioxide and water in what is a very short cycle. Cows cannot produce atmospheric gasses; they can only cycle them.
Consumers are the only ones who put money into the supply chain, the vegan activists and climate extremists do not put anything in. Time and time again it has been proven that consumers will not pay extra for greenwashed initiatives, shoppers walk into supermarkets as environmentally conscious global citizens who are concerned about animal welfare and by the time they get to the register they are economists.
The factor I was missing in dismissing the current climate change swindle is that the Governments are acting as the gatekeepers on behalf of their citizens. Every Government in the world has the agenda of keeping its citizens at a point of contentment where they will either vote them back in or not overthrow them in a revolution. It is with the citizens at the consumer level that agriculture must connect if we want to maintain market access and market share. The activists are filling the information void we have created and are hugely successful at this strategy, the Governments are simply following their citizens sentiments.
The global farm advocacy model is a failed and broken mismatch of antiquated communication strategies. The fight is not against the activist groups, the fight is who can best connect with consumers and tell the most emotive and compelling story. Our story of “what it takes to put a steak on a plate” is the best in town. Next time you are talking to one of your industry representatives, ask them when they are going to get a modern two-way communication strategy that resonates with our consumers and allows us to connect in a meaningful way.
George King has contributed this article in his personal capacity as a cattle producer from NSW. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities he represents or this news website. We emphasise our commitment to fostering open, evidence-based discussions on all scientific matters. We encourage readers to explore diverse viewpoints and engage with the broader body of scientific research to form their own informed opinions.