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"Time" magazine, a publication not generally accused of being a bastion of liberal, tree-hugging, veggie, sandal-wearing, anti-American radicalism etc etc has come out and said what many of us - er, well, liberal, tree-hugging, veggies have been saying for a while: the meat industry is bad for the planet...
The Global Warming Survival Guide
# 22 of 51
Time, March 30 – April 05, 2007
(www.time.com/time/specials/2007/environment/article/0,28804,1602354_1603074_1603171,00.html)
22. Skip the Steak
By Bryan Walsh
"Which is responsible for more global warming: your BMW or your Big Mac?
Believe it or not, it's the burger. The international meat industry
generates roughly 18% of the world's greenhouse-gas emissions - even more
than transportation - according to a report last year from the U.N.'s Food
and Agriculture Organization.
Much of that comes from the nitrous oxide in manure and the methane that
is, as the New York Times delicately put it, "the natural result of
bovine digestion." Methane has a warming effect that is 23 times as
great as that of carbon, while nitrous oxide is 296 times as great.
There are 1.5 billion cattle and buffalo on the planet, along with 1.7
billion sheep and goats. Their populations are rising fast, especially
in the developing world. Global meat production is expected to double
between 2001 and 2050. Given the amount of energy consumed raising,
shipping and selling livestock, a 16-oz.T-bone is like a Hummer on a
plate.
If you switch to vegetarianism, you can shrink your carbon footprint by
up to 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide a year, according to research by the
University of Chicago. Trading a standard car for a hybrid cuts only
about one ton—and isn't as tasty." |
(With thanks to Jamie of the yahoo group Hippoworld for the heads-up)
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