Animal Agriculture Missing From 93 Percent of Climate News
Groundbreaking new data shows that animal agriculture’s impact on the environment is significantly underreported in climate-related coverage.
Credit: Moving Animals
Mainstream media is largely overlooking the crucial link between animal agriculture and climate change in their coverage of environmental issues, according to an alarming new report by nonprofit research organization Faunalytics in collaboration with Sentient Media.
The study examined 1000 of the most recent climate articles from top US media outlets, including The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to assess how frequently the media addresses the impact of animal agriculture on climate change.
Data showed that just 7 percent - 70 out of 1,000 - mention animal agriculture, with much of that coverage highlighting the toll of flooding, drought, and heatwaves on livestock rather than acknowledging how meat production is a source of greenhouse gas emissions.
In contrast, the report found that mining, manufacturing, and energy production received significant coverage in 68 percent of articles, while fossil fuels were mentioned in 53 percent.
Credit: Moving Animals
The report, titled “Animal Agriculture Is The Missing Piece In Climate Change Media Coverage,” sheds light on the importance of bringing this crucial issue to the forefront of public awareness with more comprehensive reporting on the connection between animal agriculture and climate change,
“Our research shows that there is a major disparity between the amount of emissions caused by animal agriculture and how much media coverage this industry gets when climate change is the topic of discussion,” said Coni Arévalo, research associate at Faunalytics.
‘Missed Opportunities’
Of the limited articles that mentioned animal agriculture, most failed to adequately address the emissions and environmental degradation associated with the industry, according to the report, and neglected to emphasize the urgent need to reduce meat consumption or transition to a plant-based diet as a powerful tool for combating climate change.
Furthermore, discussions around diets often downplayed the efficacy of plant-based alternatives, with plant-based diets frequently presented as an afterthought rather than a powerful strategy for mitigating the climate crisis.
The findings also bring into focus the countless ‘missed opportunities’ to discuss animal agriculture in the context of climate change. Energy, transportation, emissions, and fossil fuels were mentioned in up to 68 percent of climate articles but were rarely tied to animal agriculture, despite the connections and parallels between them.
For instance, transportation is responsible for roughly the same amount of emissions as the animal agriculture industry and is part of that industry, yet just 8 percent of climate articles mentioning transportation also referenced animal agriculture.
Animal Agriculture: Choking the Earth
The findings emerge as scientists warn the world is very likely set to breach the critical temperature limit of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels in the next five years, launching the world into “uncharted territory”.
Raising livestock for meat, eggs, and milk generates 14 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions - the second highest source of emissions and greater than all transportation combined. It also uses about 70 percent of agricultural land and is one of the leading causes of deforestation, biodiversity loss, and water pollution.
In the past six decades, global meat production has more than tripled, with 70 billion land animals slaughtered annually for human consumption. And these numbers are predicted to continue to increase dramatically. Estimates indicate that by 2050, annual meat production could range between 460 to 570 billion kilograms.
Even just maintaining current emission levels will result in the food sector alone surpassing the 1.5°C global warming threshold, whereas, reducing meat consumption can significantly push the world closer to meeting our emissions target. In the US, this reduction would translate to the average person consuming approximately 70 percent fewer animal products each day, with the greatest reductions coming from red meat and chicken, according to the EAT-Lancet Commission.
The public’s understanding of animal agriculture’s devastating impact on the environment is limited, despite the vast amount of research available, say researchers. A recent study by Purdue researchers found that “the belief that ‘eating less meat is better for the environment,’ which is strongly supported by many climate and environmental researchers, is at an all-time low”. One reason for this disconnect is that the information people receive about the connection between animal agriculture and climate catastrophe is not clear enough.
“The media holds incredible influence over how we live our lives and the choices we make. We’re missing a huge piece of the story by continuing to ignore the role of industrial animal agriculture,” said Ana Bradley, executive director of Sentient Media. “With the release of this report, we hope to build a network of journalists and publications who want to fill this gap in coverage, and arm readers with the facts.”
To boost and improve media coverage of this important cause of climate emissions, Sentient Media hosted a virtual event entitled Making the Climate Connection to discuss the findings with climate journalists and researchers. They also published a reporting toolkit for journalists, and launched a new Food and Farming Media Network hub for reporters to collaborate and share resources.
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