Who does really pay for our Burgers?
Institutional Causes, Effects and Solutions to the Meat Industry’s Contribution to Global Warming

WHO DOES REALLY PAY FOR OUR BURGERS? 1. Introduction ‘All across the world, in every kind of environment and region known to man, increasingly dangerous weather patterns and devastating storms are abruptly putting an end to the long-running debate over whether or not climate change is real. Not only is it real, it's here, and its effects are giving rise to a frighteningly new global phenomenon: the man-made natural disaster’ (Obama, 2006). Global warming is one of the biggest threats to the environment and human well-being; today but even more for future generations. Global warming refers to the rise of the average temperature on earth. The greenhouse effect makes earth feasible for life. Without its protecting layer of several greenhouses gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide, methane or nitrous oxide, the average temperature on earth would not be a life-sustaining fifteen degree centigrade but minus six degree (FAO, 2006). By trapping part of the infrared radiation which would have otherwise bounced back into the cosmos, greenhouse gases keep the warmth. Adding to an ancient natural level human GHG, emissions have increased the amount in the atmosphere of e.g. carbon dioxide and methane since the beginning of the industrial revolution by 36 and almost 150 % respectively with an increasing tendency (EPA, 2007). While scientific research and campaigns finally start raising awareness of anthropogenic GHG emissions’ disastrous effects by e.g. industries or transportation, one main cause of these emissions usually stays unnoticed: the meat industry. The livestock sector’s production process is estimated to account for up to almost one fifth of anthropogenic GHG emissions, even more than the entire transportation sector (FAO,