Animal agriculture is linked to climate change

Floods, wildfires, heatwaves — British Columbia has had more than its fair share of disasters and tragedies this year, including this month’s flooding and mudslides displacing people, which is simply devastating.

Farm animals are also impacted and it’s estimated hundreds of thousands drowned from the recent floods, while farmers now face financial loss. Once officials and citizens in B.C. have a chance to recover from this, the focus must be on why it happened.

Experts have said this is an example of climate change and more extreme weather occurrences are expected in Canada and globally.

On the heels of the United Nations climate change conference (COP26), global leaders negotiated on policies to prevent and mitigate the further damage from greenhouse gas emissions from various sectors, however, one topic missing from the agenda was the contribution of animal agriculture to climate change.

Globally, animal agriculture produces about 14 per cent of human-induced climate emissions. And in Canada, nearly 30 per cent of methane emissions come from the agricultural sector.

If we want to get serious about climate change, the impact of animal agriculture needs to be addressed.

This would not only benefit humans, it would also benefit the billions of animals farmed worldwide.

Most farm animals in Canada and globally are raised in an industrial system. Every year, more than 800 million animals are slaughtered for food in Canada.

And Abbotsford, B.C., is one of the most intensively farmed areas in Canada. It is home to roughly half of all the dairy farms in the province.

In industrial systems, farm animals are often forced to live in cages and crates and would have no chance of escaping floods or other disasters. Their short lives are spent in barren, often unsanitary conditions, causing stress to these sentient creatures. One can only imagine how terrified these animals must’ve been when the recent floods hit and it’s heartbreaking to think of them in their final moments.

It’s clear that the industrial farm system isn’t working for humans, other animals and the planet.

Governments must support farmers to transition to more sustainable farming systems and to make animal welfare a priority. This includes giving animals more space to move around inside barns and having access to the outdoors.

There must also be a shift to increase plant-based farming and financial support for farmers to do so. This will make a significant contribution to reducing our carbon emissions to help meet our goals under the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Canadians can also play a role, by consuming less meat and dairy as per Canada’s food guide.

This truly is a wake-up call for all of us that it’s time to change our food system. If we are to build back better that means not reconstructing and building more intensive farming systems that contribute to climate change.