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Cow 'emissions' more damaging to planet than CO2 from cars

By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor


Meet the world's top destroyer of the environment. It is not the car, or the plane,or even George Bush: it is the cow.

A United Nations report has identified the world's rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate, forests and wildlife. And they are blamed for a host of other environmental crimes, from acid rain to the introduction of alien species, from producing deserts to creating dead zones in the oceans, from poisoning rivers and drinking water to destroying coral reefs.

The 400-page report by the Food and Agricultural Organization, entitled Livestock's Long Shadow, also surveys the damage done by sheep, chickens, pigs and goats. But in almost every case, the world's 1.5 billion cattle are most to blame. Livestock are responsible for 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together.

Burning fuel to produce fertilizer to grow feed, to produce meat and to transport it - and clearing vegetation for grazing - produces 9 per cent of all emissions of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas. And their wind and manure emit more than one third of emissions of another, methane, which warms the world 20 times faster than carbon dioxide.

Livestock also produces more than 100 other polluting gases, including more than two-thirds of the world's emissions of ammonia, one of the main causes of acid rain.

Ranching, the report adds, is "the major driver of deforestation" worldwide, and overgrazing is turning a fifth of all pastures and ranges into desert.Cows also soak up vast amounts of water: it takes a staggering 990 liters of water to produce one liter of milk.

Wastes from feedlots and fertilizers used to grow their feed over nourish water, causing weeds to choke all other life. And the pesticides, antibiotics and hormones used to treat them get into drinking water and endanger human health.

The pollution washes down to the sea, killing coral reefs and creating "dead zones" devoid of life. One is up to 21,000sqkm, in the Gulf of Mexico, where much of the waste from US beef production is carried down the Mississippi.

The report concludes that, unless drastic changes are made, the massive damage done by livestock will more than double by 2050, as demand for meat increases.

What a scam !! What are we gonna do, stop the cows from pooping ??

LMAO !!

What? Are our tax dollars funding scientists while they invent synthetic poopless cows?? LMAO !!!

Geezzz, what would happen if we switched to Soy Milk and Soy burgers? Would that enable us to eliminate beef? OMG OMG, the sun is going to burn out in 5 billion years...what am I gonna do??

Somewhere, we are going to have to decide to fight the battles we can and accept the ones we can't.

Red

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2005 Titan KC SE, Helwig, True-Track, ARE MX Canopy

That's kinda, sorta my thought. Like the Chicken Little thing, "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!" I figure I've got 20 yrs MAX, left in this life. After that, you're on your own, not my problem! To my way of thinking, if it doesn't happen in 20 yrs, it doesn't exist.

Yeah, all these "World is coming to an end" stories are getting old. All these crazy theories about why the earth is changing, heres another crazy theory, the changes are natural, the earth will change over its life time.. The world hasn't changed much since I was born and I doubt there will be any serious changes by the time I die....