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Mitloehner: Including meat in global warming debate is ‘counterproductive’

An air quality specialist says some politicians are distorting the facts when it comes to meat consumption and global warming.

University of California-Davis professor Dr. Frank Mitloehner says if politicians such as New York City mayor Bill DeBlasio and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are really concerned about global warming, they should worry less about animal agriculture, and put more focus on the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases—those that use fossil fuels.

“Those include power production and use, transportation, and other industries such as cement, etc.,” Mitloehner says. “Those three main sectors combined produce 80 percent of all greenhouse gases in the United States.”

While all of animal agriculture contributes only four percent of greenhouse gases, he says.

Mitloehner says bringing meat consumption into the debate is counterproductive.

“We need to take this whole climate change issue seriously. We need to look at what are the main sources we need to fight and reduce. We need to go to work and stop the politics around it.”

Mitloehner spoke with Brownfield Thursday at Iowa Swine Day in Ames, where he was a featured speaker.