The researchers measured the investment in environmental resources for the production of the main source of protein for US residents and it became clear that the production of beef requires 28 times larger areas and 11 times larger amounts of water than those required to raise pigs, poultry and even more than what is needed to produce milk.
People have been farming and raising farm animals for thousands of years. Chickens, geese and ducks, sheep, goats, pigs and cows, form a significant part of the economy of many different human populations and recently their "contribution" to the environment is becoming clearer and clearer.
Much has already been written about the damage caused by livestock to the environment, and now a study is being published that measures the damage caused by the various farm animals. The research published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It states unequivocally that "beef production is 10 times more harmful to the environment than raising other farm animals".
The researchers measured the investment in environmental resources for the production of the main source of protein for US residents and it became clear that the production of beef requires 28 times larger areas and 11 times larger amounts of water than those required to raise pigs, poultry and even more than what is needed to produce milk.
These things have been known and accepted for a long time, but this is the first time that researchers quantify what is accepted and give "numerical validity" to the environmental damage caused by beef production, by using a calculation method that was applied to the main animals in the livestock industry (pigs, poultry for meat, poultry for eggs, cattle for meat, cattle and sheep for milk), the use of land, water and nitrogen, as well as greenhouse gas emissions, were measured.
By using the US Department of Agriculture data from the years 2000-2010, the resources required to raise the animals intended for food were calculated, the amounts of hay, silage and concentrated feed (cotton, corn or soybean seeds) required to produce a kilo of meat (for each species) were calculated .
Methods were developed to compare the relative impact of different protein sources (different animals), as well as the effect on land and water use, and it turns out that cattle emit five times more greenhouse gases and consume six times more methane than chickens. As a ruminant, cattle can subsist on a wide variety of plants, but the efficiency of converting energy from food is low and the result is that "among the animals that are raised for meat, cattle cause the greatest damage to the environment."
According to the researchers "a reduction in the production/breeding of beef cattle would have a significant positive environmental impact," which is less true of other farm animals.
The researchers continue and claim that "even without vegetarianism it is possible to behave fairly by calculating the damage to the environment, removing beef from the menu and replacing it with animal protein sources that are produced efficiently (eg eggs) will result in a greater environmental improvement than switching to vegetarianism."
In a final summary, the researchers state that: "More than 60% of the burden of raising farm animals (in the USA) on the environment comes from raising cattle for meat",
Other researchers from the UK's Center for Ecology and Hydrology recommend the implementation of the research conclusions in the US as well as in Europe, noting the harm of beef cattle breeding due to the combination of low production efficiency and very large volume.
And I will add that this is not a call for vegetarianism (certainly not for veganism) but an attempt to guide fair and reasonable consumerism.
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White - If you think that veganism will save the world, you are very wrong, you thought what would happen if all the people in the world decided to adopt a vegan/vegetarian diet??? There won't be enough plants to feed everyone, what do you think to yourself? That the problem of world hunger will be solved because everyone will switch to vegetarianism? Did you know that for a field of soybeans and wheat, the rainforests are destroyed for all the plants and animals that live only there?
And I have to say - as someone who abstained from beef years ago, I just suffered, my hemoglobin was very low and I felt unwell most of the time. I'm back to eating pasture-raised beef. It is possible to improve the conditions in which the animals live, you don't have to go to extremes. What will people like me do that vegetarianism is not good for them???
Stop thinking that veganism will save the world. What will save the world is if humans bring as few children into the world as possible. Two at most will be enough.
son
If you're right - why aren't vegetarians healthier than those who eat a healthy meat menu? Why don't they have fewer diseases?
Did I miss something in your explanation?
Propaganda video.
Which consumerism is fairer and more reasonable than modesty?
Consumerism that if the world adopts the earth will be saved, the problems of hunger in the world will be solved, animals will not be used as commodities, will suffer, suffer and be murdered just because they are "tasty".
The plant-based diet has been proven to be healthy and good for humans. While consumption of animal protein causes all the diseases of the West.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV-mlTfM070
There is no choice but to switch to another ball
They are also raised 10 times more densely, that they have no room to move, this is an industry of abuse.
Roy
They say that per unit area - meat is better than plant. This makes sense, because mirror animals make better use of the energy in the plant. If this is true - then there is no choice but to eat meat.
You will never have a choice but to switch to a plant-based diet.
By the year 2050 they will populate the Earth above
from 9 billion people.
If there is no drastic change in food consumption and transition to a plant-based diet.
The situation will be irreversible
And he is already very bad.
After all the Ram, it turns out that even in Israel the stupidity that comes from the USA is rampant,
Today I saw news that there are about 300 idiots in Israel
who define themselves as "moving to a Paleolithic menu and lifestyle"...
My mother used to say that "most of the time they don't know what to do",
And I call it simply ... stupidity.
Forty years ago I read that beef is ten times more expensive. And rice with peas gives what chicken meat gives and is five times cheaper.
Unfortunately, the trend is the opposite - due to the fact that a lot of Chinese are getting rich, they are starting to consume meat (mainly pork) instead of soy. For a few decades - synthetic meat will become the norm, and its production by bacteria will be relatively more efficient than even pork.
Now all that remains is to invent kosher pork and the problem of global warming will be solved!