These striking sculptures of cows have appeared on green spaces and high-streets across the UK – to raise awareness about the impact dairy has on the planet
- 11 months ago
These striking sculptures of cows have appeared on green spaces and high-streets across the UK - to raise awareness about the impact dairy has on the planet.
The cow installations were made by artist Ptolemy Elrington who used old car parts, fast fashion and water fixtures to create the life-size livestock.
They were created due to cattle globally contributing the methane equivalent of 3.1 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually.
The sculptures use half a tonne of these scrapped materials and took 240 hours to pull together.
Ptolemy chose these materials to spotlight intensive dairy production’s impact on the environment following research revealing Brits are more likely to cut back on driving, water usage and buying fewer clothes to minimise their environmental impact - rather than reducing their dairy intake.
The cows have been placed in locations across London, Aberdeen and Newcastle as these are cities which consume the most dairy butter each week.
And overall, just 13 per cent would consider giving up dairy butter for a plant-based alternative found the study of 2,000 UK adults.
But of those who are steadfast when it comes to keeping it in their diet, 73 per cent simply won’t consider switching to a plant-based alternative because they prefer the taste, despite the environmental impact.
The research and installations were commissioned by Flora Plant, which has 75 per cent less climate impact than dairy butter, as part of its Skip the Cow campaign [https://www.flora.com/en-gb/floraplant].
Perran Harvey, senior global sustainability lead for the plant based alternative, said: “Given our research shows 63 per cent of people believe more needs to be done to raise awareness of the impact dairy production has on the environment, we are here to show people there is a really easy way to reduce your environmental impact.
“We’ve got no issues with dairy cows, we love cows - but the hard truth is that industrial animal agriculture is harmful to our planet.
“Livestock farming is responsible for at least 14.5 per cent of the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions and therefore we urgently need to reduce the overreliance on dairy in order to tackle climate change.”
It emerged from the research, over the course of a typical week, the average Brit has butter seven times.
And more than half (53 per cent) say it is a major part of their diet.
But while 65 per cent are concerned about the impact of food production, just 35 per cent would actually consider giving up certain foods because of its environmental impact.
And of these, it’s meat which would be quicker to go than dairy.
With beef, pork, lamb, turkey, shrimps and prawns all at risk of being ditched because of their negative impact before a single dairy product.
As one in three (32 per cent) revealed they are trying to eat less meat in an attempt to reduce their own carbon footprint.
The cow installations were made by artist Ptolemy Elrington who used old car parts, fast fashion and water fixtures to create the life-size livestock.
They were created due to cattle globally contributing the methane equivalent of 3.1 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually.
The sculptures use half a tonne of these scrapped materials and took 240 hours to pull together.
Ptolemy chose these materials to spotlight intensive dairy production’s impact on the environment following research revealing Brits are more likely to cut back on driving, water usage and buying fewer clothes to minimise their environmental impact - rather than reducing their dairy intake.
The cows have been placed in locations across London, Aberdeen and Newcastle as these are cities which consume the most dairy butter each week.
And overall, just 13 per cent would consider giving up dairy butter for a plant-based alternative found the study of 2,000 UK adults.
But of those who are steadfast when it comes to keeping it in their diet, 73 per cent simply won’t consider switching to a plant-based alternative because they prefer the taste, despite the environmental impact.
The research and installations were commissioned by Flora Plant, which has 75 per cent less climate impact than dairy butter, as part of its Skip the Cow campaign [https://www.flora.com/en-gb/floraplant].
Perran Harvey, senior global sustainability lead for the plant based alternative, said: “Given our research shows 63 per cent of people believe more needs to be done to raise awareness of the impact dairy production has on the environment, we are here to show people there is a really easy way to reduce your environmental impact.
“We’ve got no issues with dairy cows, we love cows - but the hard truth is that industrial animal agriculture is harmful to our planet.
“Livestock farming is responsible for at least 14.5 per cent of the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions and therefore we urgently need to reduce the overreliance on dairy in order to tackle climate change.”
It emerged from the research, over the course of a typical week, the average Brit has butter seven times.
And more than half (53 per cent) say it is a major part of their diet.
But while 65 per cent are concerned about the impact of food production, just 35 per cent would actually consider giving up certain foods because of its environmental impact.
And of these, it’s meat which would be quicker to go than dairy.
With beef, pork, lamb, turkey, shrimps and prawns all at risk of being ditched because of their negative impact before a single dairy product.
As one in three (32 per cent) revealed they are trying to eat less meat in an attempt to reduce their own carbon footprint.