← on nowLGR-045 · v0.1.0 · model · estimate manure: how much, per second and per year
manure · from farmed animals, tonnes
produced
3.5 billion
a year
111
a second
9.6 million
a day
human sewage, for scale
500 million
a year
15.8
a second
1.4 million
a day
method FAO livestock excretion estimates; US EPA for the livestock:human ratio; human sewage as an order-of-magnitude comparator.
- it is where the ammonia comes from, and the ammonia is where much of the farm air pollution comes from, and the air pollution is on this ledger under humans.source: US EPA; Domingo et al. 2021
- spread on fields it is fertilizer. in lagoons it is a lake. when the lagoon breaks, the river dies.source: NC hurricane floyd 1999; EPA CAFO reports
live. this is the channel itself. embed it anywhere:
<iframe src="https://thetoll.earth/?channel=manure" width="100%" height="520" style="border:1px solid #D9DDDB" title="the toll · manure"></iframe>
or the whole broadcast, every channel, the same for everyone:
<iframe src="https://thetoll.earth/?embed=1" width="100%" height="520" style="border:1px solid #D9DDDB" title="the toll · on now, everywhere"></iframe>
how this number is built
- method
- FAO livestock excretion estimates; US EPA for the livestock:human ratio; human sewage as an order-of-magnitude comparator.
- range
- 3–4 Gt/yr (fresh weight)
- confidence
- estimate
- weakness
- wet vs dry weight is a factor of several; the site uses fresh weight for both sides.
- dispute
- dispute LGR-045 · corrections are credited
- data
- channels.json (sign-in) · full entry · CC BY 4.0