Transport, energy and food: the largest producers of greenhouse gases

In Mexico, transportation and the energy and agriculture sectors (food production) are the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.. Among the environmental problems that the planet is undergoing, the greatest alarm is placed on these emissions, because air pollution generates the most drastic changes in the Earth's system, causing global warming.

Rafael Olea, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics (FMVZ) of UNAM, said that according to figures from the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC, 2018), transportation accounts for 25% of emissions; in the energy sector on the 24th; and agriculture on the 17th (only animal production reaches 10.3%). They are followed by manufacturing and construction industries, among others.

As part of the International Mother Earth Day, celebrated on April 22, the academic added that the changes produced on the planet are of such magnitude that the proposed era was proposed under the name of Anthropocene. The industrial revolution (characterized by excessive consumption of fossil fuels) has been proposed.

Prior to this period, the human impact on the environment was low and nature was responsible for balancing it; now he does not have the ability to cushion him and, since the end of the Second World War, he has become uncontrollable, warned the expert.

The United Nations has set up this celebration to recall that the planet and its ecosystems give us life and sustenance. With this day, the responsibility of fostering harmony with nature is badumed and the opportunity is given to raise awareness of the issues that affect different life forms.

Rafael Olea pointed out that advances in medicine have increased life expectancy and that several generations inhabit the planet at the same time. "Today, we are more than seven billion, population growth is dizzying since the middle of last century".

The university considered that no environmental problems would be generated if there was no overcrowding. "Imagine that in a department of two people, we have 14, the same goes for our world, we must add that all countries want economic growth, but our home does not allow more."

A clear example is the agricultural sector, the production of food contaminates by its large volumes; In addition, the rural area is closely linked to poverty.

This industry contaminates air, soil and water because its wastes are not placed in the right place or in the right form, where nature can include them in virtuous circles of use. . "If we bond them well, the soil will have nutrients to produce good plants, which in turn will provide nutrients to the animals, which will not become meat, milk or eggs cycle again."

It is necessary that agricultural production approaches natural cycles. This is one of the great challenges of this century, Olea emphasized.

Intensive livestock production, for example, particularly affects air and soil. It must be considered that, in parallel with population growth, meat consumption has increased; "We eat more than we should."

As far as food is concerned, what Mexicans spend the most is bread and meat. We know that when the economy improves, food expenditure increases, especially those of animal origin. "We spend little on buying fruits and vegetables."

We consume more chicken meat and its production, as well as that of eggs, generates less greenhouse gas emissions than beef. In the country, the national production of birds is about three million tons. cattle, 1.8 million and 1.3 million hogs.

In addition, cattle produce methane; but it is not the only greenhouse gas (GHG) thatWe are at the origin of the production of food. Nitrous oxides are also important.

GHGs are related to food and are known to nature, but there are others, such as hydrofluorochlorocarbons (HCFCs), which have been created by humans; lnature does not know how to get rid of it and some may be more harmful than others: methane contaminates 25 times more than carbon dioxide; eNitrous oxide makes 265 times more; and HCFCs, 850 to 15,000 times more, depending on their chemical composition.

"We need to improve our consumption habits, because producing 150 grams of meat is equivalent, in terms of pollution, to living in the north of the city and driving us south, back and forth. to do?As responsible consumers, we have to choose between traveling by bicycle or public transport and eating meat, or transporting ourselves by car and not eating meat that day. However, in Mexico, we consume on average 55 kg per year. "

Increased greenhouse gas emissions and rising temperatures will result in extreme droughts or rains, as well as natural disasters and food shortages. "If we do not stop this situation, we will bring about an environmental change causing great loss of species, including human ones."Olea concluded.