A group of farmers-turned-environmentalists here at a smelly but impeccably clean research farm have a new take on making a silk purse from a sow’s ear: They cook manure from their 3,000 pigs to capture the methane trapped within it, and then use the gas to make electricity for the local power grid. Full Story »
Posted by Derek Hawkins
This is a very meaty story, with only enough flatus to provide color (and odor.) The statement that animals generate more greenhouse gases than cars, buses, and airplanes helps set the tone for the importance of the piece, but perhaps the statement could be better sourced and referenced. Quite informative, if you have not already been much in the councils of vegetarians.
The trillions of farm animals around the world generate 18 percent of the emissions that are raising global temperatures, according to United Nations estimates, more even than from cars, buses and airplanes.
people should eat less meat to control their carbon footprints. “We haven’t come to grips with agricultural emissions.”
Westerners eat more meat than is healthy anyway.
Producing a pound of beef creates 11 times as much greenhouse gas emission as a pound of chicken and 100 times more than a pound of carrots
No mention is made of the similar effects from the human animals. The move of the recent generations toward being vegetarian and vegan suggests the move toward higher meat consumption is not an inevitable movement. The effects of prophylactic antibiotics from modern meat production factories is another worthy related topic. Reduction of the human population load on the planet would also reduce meat consumption.