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The Forum > Article Comments > Factoring meat into our carbon footprint > Comments

Factoring meat into our carbon footprint : Comments

By Brian Sherman, published 30/7/2007

Reducing meat and dairy consumption, or even better becoming a vegetarian, is an easy way to help address global warming.

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"In reality it is more concerned with intensive farming practices and is using the global warming "vehicle" as means to an end."

Ah, a very wise observation, clearly the vegan Taliban are
alive and well!

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/yachtings-comfort-zone/2007/07/30/1185647827068.html

Given that the general population is living it up big time,
if you change to lettuce leaves, it might make you feel good about
yourself, but make little difference to the big picture :(

As to animal welfare, people already have choices and are free
to buy free range eggs, free range pork, free range lamb etc.
It seems that about 20% do, the other 80% are more concerned with
their wallets.

Farming is certainly not all gloom and doom, as projected by
the vegans. I note that we have the first automated dairy,
where cows can choose to visit and be milked at their leisure,
spending the rest of their time grazing. Sounds like it works
great!

Choice magazine tells us that organic food is a waste of money,
as those "evil" chemicals are not there as is claimed. Dickie
is free to take her campaign up with Choice. I have found them
to be more reliable so far :)

Dickie might well be aiming to become 95+, but then Dickie,
chances are high that you'll be joining the other old folks
queing up at the old folks home reception, to check on what
their own name is. Give me a good old heart attack a bit before
that, thank you!

The real problem with our diets is not meat, people are living
longer then ever. The real problem is the American food
manufacturing industry. In many parts of Europe, where people
eat smaller portions, fresh produce etc, they live to a ripe
old age. What has changed is that food manufacturers have become
extremely good at marketing. They can fill their products up with
lard etc, which is dirt cheap, put it in nice little packets and
some people buy the stuff. As we have followed the American
trend, so obesity has risen in Australia.
Posted by Yabby, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 2:38:50 PM
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Oh more from the vegans and veggies.

From my armchair understanding, the reason man evolved as he did was because of the protein he obtained from eating meat and fish.

I guess this proves what I have often thought, the intellectual competency of vegetarians is reflected through the deficiencies in their diet.

If we want to see evolution roll backward we can just study successive generations of vegetarians and vegans, that’s assuming they have the energy to procreate.

My vote is clearly and squarely against the desires of the celery stranglers and mung bean molesters to take us into that strange world of exclusive veggie diets.

Anna101 “For those of you who just cannot see past yourselves and your stomach- who have a lack of compassion for those who quite frankly don’t want to die- please don’t eat those animals from intensive prison systems.”

Nothing like good old fashioned hyperbole to up the blood pressure.

The intellectual competency of a chook is little different to that of a gold fish.

Assigning human emotional values to critters is one of the dumbest thing possible.

However, when I consider that half the population have IQ of 100 or less, I can understand how such a projection and transference of feeling can occur.

So as dear Marie Antoinette said “let them eat cake, while I munch on this nice cut of rib-eye.”
Posted by Col Rouge, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 4:50:26 PM
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People fail to acknowledge that a large proportion of the world is grassland. Grass isn't particularly appetising, nor for that matter nutritious. Ruminant animals, by virtue of their digestive systems, enable the conversion of grass and other low energy plants to a useable foodsource.
Sure we can grow more wheat etc, however the flora and fauna that share the worlds pasture with domestic animals may not be so appreciative of more monocultures.

Maybe we need to eat primarily pork and chicken. Feed conversion ratios are much better and don't have the same digestive systems, so less methane emissions. Since 75% of animal methane emissions are associated with cattle, maybe sheep aren't that bad either.

Rice growing produces nearly the same methane emissions as animal production, perhaps we should stop doing that too.
Wetlands produce more methane, do we drain them?
Recent studies suggest the greatest man induced methane emissions are from storage dams.
In the US, a notable cattle producer, more methane is emitted from landfill than animal production, and more methane is emitted as a result of burning natural gas than from animals.

If methane is reponsible for 15% of global warming, and animals contribute around 20% of methane output, their overall contribution is 3%. I'd suggest there are bigger fish to fry (sorry vegans).

I suspect it is a bit more "natural" to eat a steak with regards to carbon emissions, than to sit in the glow of an incandesent bulb watching TV, drinking a coldie from the fridge with the AC going having completed the fossil fueled drive home
Posted by rojo, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 5:06:24 PM
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It appears that most accredited scientific forums on the web are concerned about the amount of atmospheric pollution released by livestock.

The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), in a November 06 report, advised that farm animals are responsible for 1/5 of the pollution blamed for global warming.

"The livestock sector poses a growing environmental threat. The GHG, methane has 23 more times the warming potential of CO2 and nitrous oxides has 296 times the warming potential of CO2.

"Livestock produce some 35 - 40% of anthropogenic methane and 65% of a/nitrous oxide.

"Urgent action is required to remedy this situation," said FAO's Henning Steinfield.

The USEPA advise that globally, the livestock sector is the largest source of man-made methane gas.

Apparently, New Zealand's 55 million farm animals produce 90% of the country's methane emissions.

Of equal concern for the planet and its already crowded human inhabitants , is the UN's prediction that meat production will double by 2050 to cater for the increase in consumption!
Posted by dickie, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 5:16:34 PM
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Truly it can be said, "Bullsh-t baffles brains"
Posted by VK3AUU, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 9:03:35 PM
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We might be eating 'soylent green' crackers soon if we dont fix up someting, or is it stop something or start something? as if we arnt carefull there wont be any bee's to fertalise our almond trees etc, then us vegans might have to chew carcass's. Are lettuce pollinated by bees?
Posted by mariah, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 11:49:10 PM
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