Governor Schwarzenegger has declared June 2009 “Real California Milk Month." Let’s celebrate it by making a commitment to responsible solutions to pollution by dairy farms. California has been a leader in addressing greenhouse gases in a responsible fashion. From 2000-2006, emissions from paper production were reduced by the equivalent of 430,000 tons of CO2, food processing emissions were reduced by 680,000 tons of CO2, and car emissions fell by 5 million tons of CO2! However, there’s one notable area where Californians have been increasing greenhouse gas production since 2000: greenhouse gases emissions from dairy farming.

See our map of the San Joaquin Valley’s Dairy Farms.

Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent in millions of tons of carbon dioxide by industry and year

*Belches and Flatulence
Data taken from the California Greenhouse Gas Inventory for 2000-2006 at http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/inventory/data/data.htm

For many Californians, carpooling with coworkers, recycling a newspaper, and switching off the lights when we leave a room has become habit. These are the everyday actions that have reduced California’s waste in crucial areas. However, production of the milk we put in our coffee is increasingly harmful to the environment. A 2006 report on climate change by the UN estimated that cows are more detrimental to the environment than cars and trucks combined. This is because dairy emissions contain high levels of smog-causing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and lung-damaging ammonia. (To learn more, click here (PDF).) The California Institute for Rural Studies (CIRS) estimates (PDF) that poor air quality in Fresno County causes about $1.7 billion in health-related costs per year—that’s $1,124 per person. If cutting emissions from our cars is pressing—then how important must it be to address dairy farm pollution in a more responsible way?

So what can Californians do? Many people choose to decrease dairy consumption as an immediate step. But we must also take into consideration how important dairy farming is to California’s economy. According to the California Milk Advisory Board, California produced 40.6 billion pounds of milk in 2007. California’s dairy industry produced $47.4 billion and 434,000 full-time jobs in 2004. In many ways, then, the dairy industry is good for California and for Fresno County. However, there are important ways that Californians, especially the residents of Central Valley, can encourage more responsible management of dairy pollution.

CIRS recommends enclosing barns, which can reduce VOC emissions by 80% and ammonia emissions by 65%. They also suggest using anaerobic bacteria to digest the waste and reduce harmful VOC’s by 46%. Implementing these health-preserving measures would cost no more than 3 cents per gallon of milk produced (PDF). Additional approaches include measures to capture methane and turn it into an energy resource, to actually change the bacteria in cow’s stomachs to produce fewer VOC’s, and a host of other solutions you can read here (PDF). The best thing you can do is to familiarize yourself with responsible real solutions to dairy farm pollution and make your knowledge count with your choices at the polls.

Happy Real California Milk Month!

See our map of the San Joaquin Valley’s Dairy Farms.