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(emphasis mine) source
Writing in this month's Physics World, Calvert calculates that the animals we eat emit 21% of all the carbon dioxide that can be attributed to human activity. We could therefore slash man-made emissions of carbon dioxide simply by abolishing all livestock.
Moreover, there would be no adverse effects to health and it would be an experiment that we could abandon at any stage. "Worldwide reduction of meat production in the pursuit of the targets set in the Kyoto treaty seems to carry fewer political unknowns than cutting our consumption of fossil fuels," he says.
source (emphasis mine)
By far the most important non-CO2 greenhouse gas is methane, and the number one source of methane worldwide is animal agriculture.
Methane is responsible for nearly as much global warming as all other non-CO2 greenhouse gases put together. Methane is 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2. While atmospheric concentrations of CO2 have risen by about 31% since pre-industrial times, methane concentrations have more than doubled.
...
Animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tons of methane a year. And this source is on the rise: global meat consumption has increased fivefold in the past fifty years, and shows little sign of abating. About 85% of this methane is produced in the digestive processes of livestock, and while a single cow releases a relatively small amount of methane, the collective effect on the environment of the hundreds of millions of livestock animals worldwide is enormous. An additional 15% of animal agricultural methane emissions are released from the massive “lagoons” used to store untreated farm animal waste, and already a target of environmentalists’ for their role as the number one source of water pollution in the U.S.
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Two indicators of potential environmental degradation from animal feeding operations are total nitrogen excreted and excess nitrogen and phosphorus. Total nitrogen is an indicator of the potential for both air and water pollution from the entire operation (production facility, manure storage, and land application). Excess nutrients are manure nutrients produced on the farm in excess of the farm's crop needs. Excess nutrients are susceptible to running or leaching off the field and into water resources unless steps are taken to move the manure off the farm to additional land or to other industrial uses such as energy production or commercial fertilizer production.
In 1997, animal feeding operations controlled 73 million acres of cropland and permanent pasture. This land was estimated by Gollehon et al. (2001) to have the capacity to assimilate only 40 percent of the nitrogen and 30 percent of the phosphorus in the manure recoverable from animal production facilities and available as a crop fertilizer. Large farms, which constitute 2 percent of the total number of farms, accounted for almost half of the excess onfarm nutrients.
In 1997, 68 counties had manure nitrogen levels that exceeded the assimilative capacity of the entire county's crop and pasture land (fig. 4.5.3). Many more counties (152) have surplus manure phosphorus (fig. 4.5.4).
...
The major source of environmental degradation from confined animal production is the wastes (manure, urine, bedding material) that are produced. Animal waste can be transmitted through runoff of nutrients, organic matter, and pathogens to surface water; leaching of nitrogen and pathogens to ground water; and volatilization of gases and odors to the atmosphere. Pollutants may originate at production houses/lots where animals are kept; manure storage structures such as tanks, ponds, and lagoons; or land where manure collects or is applied.
Or are our faces too buried in burgers and wings to bother contemplating other possibilities?
Protein
It is very easy for a vegan diet to meet the recommendations for protein as long as calorie intake is adequate. Strict protein planning or combining is not necessary. The key is to eat a varied diet.
Almost all foods except for alcohol, sugar, and fats are good sources of protein. Vegan sources include: potatoes, whole wheat bread, rice, broccoli, spinach, almonds, peas, chickpeas, peanut butter, tofu, soy milk, lentils, kale...
For example, if part of a day's menu included the following foods, you would meet the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein for an adult male: 1 cup oatmeal, 1 cup soy milk, 2 slices whole wheat bread, 1 bagel, 2 Tablespoons peanut butter, 1 cup vegetarian baked beans, 5 ounces tofu, 2 Tablespoons of almonds, 1 cup broccoli, and 1 cup brown rice.
Originally posted by Aimless Searcher
And all dairy products - milk, ice cream, cheese, yogurt....
The only food left would be fish. What about those who are allergic to, or won't eat, fish?
You're talking a full on vegan - not vegetarian - diet. That's not something our bodies were designed for; we are designed for eating protein, meat. Even our teeth are designed for that; ripping, tearing, then mashing/grinding.
Landfills are the largest human-related source of methane in the U.S., accounting for 34% of all methane emissions. epa.gov
In every society where incomes rise, people move up the food chain, eating more animal protein as beef, pork, poultry, milk, eggs, and seafood. The mix of animal protein products varies with geography and culture, but the shift to more animal protein as purchasing power increases appears to be universal.
Of the three countries just cited, life expectancy is highest in Italy even though U.S. expenditures on medical care per person are much higher. Those who live very low on the food chain or very high on the food chain do not live as long as those in an intermediate position. The Mediterranean diet includes meats, cheeses, and seafood, but in moderation. Nutritionally, this is the healthiest way to eat.
What this means is that those living high on the food chain, such as the average American or Canadian, can consume less grain and improve health at the same time. For those who live in low-income countries like India, where diets are dominated by a starchy staple such as rice, sometimes supplying 60 percent or more of total caloric intake, eating more animal products can improve health and raise life expectancy.
Originally posted by Aimless Searcher
Or are our faces too buried in burgers and wings to bother contemplating other possibilities?
And all dairy products - milk, ice cream, cheese, yogurt....
The only food left would be fish. What about those who are allergic to, or won't eat, fish?
You're talking a full on vegan - not vegetarian - diet. That's not something our bodies were designed for; we are designed for eating protein, meat. Even our teeth are designed for that; ripping, tearing, then mashing/grinding.
Originally posted by Diseria
Writing in this month's Physics World, Calvert calculates that the animals we eat emit 21% of all the carbon dioxide that can be attributed to human activity.
What do you think?
Methane concentration in the atmosphere has more than doubled during the last 200 years. Its current atmospheric concentration of 1.7 ppm by volume, up from 0.7 ppm in preindustrial times, is much lower than the 345 ppm of carbon dioxide, up from 275 ppm. But one molecule of methane traps approximately 30 times as much heat as does carbon dioxide.
~ ~ ~
Recent global estimates of emission rates from wetland rice fields range from 20 to 100 Tg/yr (IPCC 1992), which corresponds to 6-29% of the total annual anthropogenic methane emission.
Originally posted by Diseria
P.S. While I'm thinking of it -- what is the difference between a vegetarian and a vegan diet? Vegans don't eat _anything_ from an animal? (not even eggs?)
Originally posted by Aimless Searcher
Or are our faces too buried in burgers and wings to bother contemplating other possibilities?
And all dairy products - milk, ice cream, cheese, yogurt....
The only food left would be fish. What about those who are allergic to, or won't eat, fish?
You're talking a full on vegan - not vegetarian - diet. That's not something our bodies were designed for; we are designed for eating protein, meat. Even our teeth are designed for that; ripping, tearing, then mashing/grinding.
I don't think it's reasonable. However, less red meat in one's diet is always a good thing...
Regards-
Aimless
Originally posted by QuasiShaman
Originally posted by Aimless Searcher
Or are our faces too buried in burgers and wings to bother contemplating other possibilities?
And all dairy products - milk, ice cream, cheese, yogurt....
The only food left would be fish. What about those who are allergic to, or won't eat, fish?
You're talking a full on vegan - not vegetarian - diet. That's not something our bodies were designed for; we are designed for eating protein, meat. Even our teeth are designed for that; ripping, tearing, then mashing/grinding.
I don't think it's reasonable. However, less red meat in one's diet is always a good thing...
Regards-
Aimless
Not true as already stated!
Humans teeth and length of intestins (digestive tract) suggest that we are supposed to be herbavoires.
After watching a Liberty News: Truth About Food! (A must see) segment on the meat industry, I've decided to ween myself off meat. I had already stopped eating red/processed meat. Most humans are not designed to properly digest and process red meats. Red meat also contains sodium nitrate which is linked to various cancers, mostly pancreatic cancer.
www.libertynewstv.com...
www.newstarget.com...
By using a combination of feasible mitigation technologies, however, there is great potential to stabilize or even reduce methane emission from rice fields while increasing rice production, without dramatically changing culture practices.
Originally posted by ANOK
Protein
For example, if part of a day's menu included the following foods, you would meet the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein for an adult male: 1 cup oatmeal, 1 cup soy milk, 2 slices whole wheat bread, 1 bagel, 2 Tablespoons peanut butter, 1 cup vegetarian baked beans, 5 ounces tofu, 2 Tablespoons of almonds, 1 cup broccoli, and 1 cup brown rice.
Source