The Danish Gift to the Earth
Many people perceive Denmark as an eco-friendly nation. In October 2013, the WWF gave Denmark the special ‘Gift to the Earth’ award for having an ambitious climate and energy policy. But the WWF’s Living Planet Reports from 2010 and 2012 showed that Denmark has one of the world’s absolute biggest global ecological footprints, only exceeded by the oil-states Qatar, The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Scientists point to Denmark’s intensive farming and high consumption of meat as an explanation.
By Anja Pil Christoffersen
It is a warm June morning, and the clouds in the sky are slowly disappearing. In a beautiful open field by the beach in the south of Zealand, Denmark, a herd of 30 cows is peacefully eating grass and “mooh’ing” with joy. They belong to the farmer Helmer Jensen, who took over ownership of the land and the cattle from his father, who took it over from his father. The cows spend their days in a 75-hectare field, with rolling hills and lush green trees – all to the sound of the waves from the ocean. When you look at one of the cows, it stares back at you with a calm gaze. It has brown eyes and long eyelashes. They are not afraid, and will even let you pet them on the muzzle or attempt to lick your hand with a coarse tongue.
“They live a good life, and they take care of the land,” Helmer Jensen explains, and gestures towards the open grass fields. The cows eat the grass, which ensures that the whole field is not overgrown with trees and bushes. But the cattle are also for meat production, and when the calves are a certain age, they are sent to a slaughterhouse nearby. Here they are turned into the delicious veal that we Danes are so fond of.
Danish Meat Consumption
Danes do love their meat. Research done by the World Resource Institute in 2002 showed that Denmark was the biggest meat-eating country in the world. Results showed that Danes ate 146 kg of meat every year, which amounts to approximately 400 grams of meat every day. Later studies have showed that this number is too high, because it fails to take into account the extensive Danish meat exports. However, there is no doubt that Denmark is one of the global heavyweights in terms of meat consumption. Meat farming is tough on the environment, and the Danish love for meatballs and pork roast has ranked us overwhelmingly high in studies done on the different countries’ ecological footprints.
The Living Planet Reports
According to the World Wild Foundation (WWF), The Living Planet Report is “the world's leading, science-based analysis on the health of our only planet and the impact of human activity.” It displays the global ecological footprint per capita in every country in the world. In 2010, Denmark ranked as the country with the third-largest footprint, only exceeded by oil-countries Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. When the study was repeated in 2012, Denmark ranked as the fourth worst. But Denmark is commonly known for being a pioneer in wind power, and in 2009 it hosted the United Nations Climate Change Conference. However this perception of sustainability is challenged by the results of the Living Planet Reports.
Global Ecological Footprint vs. CO2 Footprint
It is important to note that The Living Planet Report measures the countries’ global ecological footprint, and not only the CO2 footprint, which is a more common concept. The global ecological footprint is measured by looking at a given population’s CO2 emission, regardless of where on the planet it is emitted. This means that Denmark’s ranking as the fourth worst country in the world is based on an extended calculation of CO2 emission.
Culture plays a part
Scientists point to Denmark’s extensive farming as one of the reasons for its ranking as one of the world most eco-unfriendly countries. Jørgen E. Olesen, who is a Research Professor at Aarhus University in the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, has done research on greenhouse gas emission from farming. He is currently teaching at a Danish/Chinese university in Beijing, but took the time for a Skype-interview.
According to Olesen, Denmark is way behind on many areas regarding sustainability. “We could learn a lot from some of the other Northern European countries. Take Sweden as an example. Sweden has much more focus on an appropriate consumption of foods. They eat less meat, and make sure to minimize the waste. In Switzerland, Austria and Germany, they are extremely good at recycling. I think culture plays a big part in it,” he says.
Olesen explains that Danish farmers are actually quite eco-friendly. “There is a lot of focus on how to benefit from the resources put into the production, and how to use gentle insecticides. However the problem is that our farming is so extensive. It takes up so many resources and so much land, that it inevitably makes our carbon emission and greenhouse gas emission higher than countries with less intensive farming.”
Cattle farming
He points to cattle farming as one of the important factors in Denmark’s problems with sustainability. ”It is a common misconception, that pig farming is more harmful to the environment than cattle farming. I think it might have something to do with the fact that cows look so cute. But actually there are way bigger problems connected to cattle farming. Cattle farming requires an area three times bigger than pig farming, and then you have the extensive problems with greenhouse gases.” Olesen explains how cows emit methane gas every time they burp. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, thirty times more harmful than CO2. The greenhouse gases rise up and work as a duvet around the planet, which keeps in all the heat. This leads to climate change and more powerful precipitation. Cattle farming also leads to laughing gas emissions, which both works as a greenhouse gas and damages the ozone layer. “No matter what we come up with, we can’t decrease the emission of greenhouse gasses more than with 10-20 percent”, Olesen says. “There is not much to do.”
A Question of Life Quality
“But we do not want to live from beans and pasta alone,” Olesen exclaims. “There is a great deal of life quality connected to eating meat – especially for men.” According to Olesen, it is unfair to blame the farming industry for Denmark’s bad conscience in terms of environment. The Danish consumers are unwilling to give up the benefits of their current lifestyle. Production of meat requires an area five to 15 times bigger than what you need to produce vegetable products. And there is a huge amount of waste in terms of the resources we put into the farming. When we feed the animals, we only consume around 30 per cent of the protein in the fodder, which leads to a 70 percent waste of protein.
“If we want to change how farming affects nature, we need to simply cut out a part of our production,” Olesen says, while predicting that this will be a tough struggle, because Danish consumers are not willing to change their ways.
“There is nothing we can do”
Helmer Jensen calls one of the cows by a nickname. It is one of the oldest ones, and according to Helmer Jensen it has a particularly good temper. It is brown and white, and has a little calf, in matching colors, by its side. He shrugs at the question of what characterizes the cows as creatures. “Well – they are quite trustful and very easy to take care of. If you have the conditions for it, that is. I would say that they are friendly.”
For many years Helmer Jensen was on the board of the Danish meat company Steff-Houlberg – now called Danish Crown. “Back then, we did not talk about sustainability or the environment. It was more of a farming professional discussion,” he says. All in all, Denmark’s global ecological footprint does not seem to be a concern for Helmer. “Greenhouse gases is not something we farmers worry about,” he says. “Because there is simply nothing we can do about them. Humans emit greenhouse gasses as well, and I do not believe the gasses from my cows are the ones tipping the scale.”
Helmer is a farmer with a capital F, and his honesty and directness is unusual. His cows live under the best conditions possible. They have 75 hectares of grassy hills to eat and live their lives on. As he says, farming has “always” been the family trade – with or without the knowledge of greenhouse gases, carbon footprints and inefficient resource exploitation.
Placing the Responsibility
According to Jørgen E. Olesen, there are two possible solutions to Denmark’s ecological predicament. “First of all, we need to acknowledge that the responsibility can not be placed with the farming industry alone. It is equally divided between the consumer and the industry.” Olesen is a firm believer that the Danish consumers need to adopt a more responsible attitude towards meat consumption, since meat production has grave consequences for the environment. “And then we need to start making some demands for change on a EU or international level, especially in terms of developing technology in the area. Technology is what is going to save us all,” he says in a slightly raised voice.
Olesen also mentions the problems connected to the extensive Danish export of meat, and the issues of competitiveness. “The conditions of competition are no way near equal as it is. If we look at the World Trade Organization (WTO) for example, they do not worry for a second about the environment or the climate. Those topics are not on the agenda, which makes it extremely hard to make any progress in this field.” As Olesen explains, making restrictions and requirements for the Danish farming industry might make them unable to compete internationally. “There is not much use in demanding that the Danish farmers reduce their emission with X tons of CO2, if that leads to the Danish faming industry going bottom up.”
He proposes introducing restrictions for the consumer instead. “Maybe we should raise the price of meat. If it were more expensive, people would probably lower their daily intake. You have to approach the problem from several angles, but I think it all comes down to changes in consumption and advances in technology,” he concludes.
“Eco-pigs”
“We no longer have the right to put the label “eco-pigs” on the USA or the oil-states, because we ourselves are one of the heavy-weights.” This is what General Secretary of the WWF Denmark, Gitte Seeberg, said to the Danish newspaper Politiken back in 2010, when the first Living Planet Report came out. However according to Seeberg, the farming industry is responsible for finding solutions to the problem. “We need to focus more on the origin of the fodder, and give our CO2 emission a thorough check-up,” she said. “More wind power, more work on new technologies, and of course support for a business policy, that works with the solutions of the future. Because it is the industry, that has to come up with new technological solutions.”
Whether it is the industry, the consumer or the politicians who are responsible for the problem remains uncertain. The 2014 Living Planet Report will be out in two months time, and if Denmark remains in the top 10 countries in terms of ecological footprint, it will hopefully spark some debate. One thing is for sure: the Danish halo needs a proper polishing. Denmark might not be the environmental saint it has the reputation of being – a fact that might be especially surprising to the Danes. Scientist Jørgen E. Olesen blames this ignorance on the Danish press and its provincial nature. “We get our information from a Danish international press, which is extremely focused on local matters. We walk around thinking we are eco-friendly, and we are on some areas, but we transfer that perception to other areas. The way we treat nature in this country, is not as good as it could be.”
***
“Do you hear the nightingale?” Helmer Jensen asks me. I have no idea how a nightingale sounds, and for a while, we are completely quiet, and focus on the little bird and its low chirping. “The pollution from the cows, and the effect on the climate – I do not have much to say about that. Do you want to know what the real problem for nature is?” he asks with a sinister tone in his voice. “At least out here, the real problem is the eagles. The eagles live in nests over there,” he gestures towards an island nearby, “And when they go hunting, they completely annihilate all the small birds and small creatures in the entire area. We hardly have any small animals left. Someone should write about that,” he mumbles as we walk to the car.
The 10 countries with the biggest, global ecological footprint
Qatar
Kuwait
United Arab Emirates
Denmark
U.S.A
Belgium
Australia
Canada
The Netherlands
Ireland
Source: WWF Living Planet Report
Did you know…
… that food is more harmful to the environment than transport?
The Danish population’s food consumption leads to a CO2 outlet of 15 million tons every year, while all Danish cars emit a total outlet of 7,4 million tons CO2 each year.
The production of one kg beef, leads to the same amount of greenhouse emissions as driving a car all the way across Zealand, Denmark.
Source: videnskab.dk
