Text 25778, 55 rader
Skriven 2006-12-10 19:34:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Cows
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This is hysterical.  Peta will love it .....  This will get all of the nuts on
the left fired up.  Wait till we see what they propose to combat this crisis.

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http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2062484.ece

Cow 'emissions' more damaging to planet than CO2 from cars
By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor
Published: 10 December 2006

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 Organisation, 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 fertiliser 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 litres of water
to produce one litre of milk.

Wastes from feedlots and fertilisers used to grow their feed overnourish 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.

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