On Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:37:02 -0700, Kathryn Rosenthal  
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> In a groundbreaking 2006 report, the United Nations (U.N.) said that  
> raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the  
> cars and trucks in the world combined . Senior U.N. Food and Agriculture  
> Organization official Henning Steinfeld reported that the meat industry  
> is "one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious  
> environmental problems ."2
>
> http://www.goveg.com/environment-globalwarming.asp

Certainly in this country and many others, it is the FEEDLOT system that  
is causing all that pollution.  As the UN article says, 33% of the world's  
arable land is used to raise grains and soy to FEED to cattle and other  
domestic animals.  Raising these feeds is also a HUGE user of petroleum.   
Petroleum is used to create the herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers,  
as well as innumerable tractor passes over the field.  This is a complete  
and utter waste of resources.

The manure produced in feedlot operations is a big source of methane and  
other gases, as well as being a huge pollution problem.  Permaculture has  
a general principle that pollution represents a wasted resource, which is  
particularly true here.

Cattle can be entirely grass-fed up to the point of slaughter.  Correct  
management and stocking rates will actually improve grasslands rather than  
degrading them.  The manure produced by the cattle is immediately  
incorporated back into the land to improve the yield.

Another concern in the article was the use of petroleum to send the cattle  
across the country to big processing plants, then refrigerate the meat and  
distribute it to faraway markets.  Another phenomenal waste of resources.   
The huge meat processing plants in conjunction with the mis-feeding of  
cattle causes E coli infections, which get distributed in million-pound  
lots and recalled when disease-causing bacteria are discovered.  Waste  
Waste Waste Waste Waste.  And it affects our health as well as the health  
of the planet.

Just Say No to Feedlot Beef, CAFO pork and chicken.  If you look around,  
you should certainly be able to find local producers of grassfed meats.   
You need to vote with your dollars on this question.

> Last year researchers at the University of Chicago took the Prius down a  
> peg when they turned their attention to another gas guzzling consumer  
> purchase . They noted that feeding animals for meat, dairy, and egg  
> production requires growing some ten times as much crops as we'd need if  
> we just ate pasta primavera, faux chicken nuggets, and other plant foods.
Only true if you're talking about CAFO-produced meat, dairy and eggs.   
Pastured meat, dairy and eggs requires growing maybe one-tenth as much in  
crop area, not ten times as much.  Vegetarian food still requires the  
high-petroleum monocultures that are part of the problem rather than part  
of the solution.

And they neglect to mention that not all lands are suitable for row  
crops.  They require good soil and plenty of water, as well as PLENTY of  
petroleum to grow them.  Much of the water used to grow the vegetarians'  
wheat, corn and soy is fossil water from aquifers that are dropping every  
year.  Unless the vegetarian food is 100% organic, they are eating GMOs  
with potentially serious side effects in the natural world.  When I eat my  
grass-fed beef, I am consuming NO GMOs, and saving butterflies and a  
multitude of other creatures, as well as family farms.

On top of that, we have to transport the animals to
> slaughterhouses, slaughter them, refrigerate their carcasses, and  
> distribute their flesh all across the country. Producing a calorie of  
> meat protein means burning more than ten times as much fossil fuels--and  
> spewing more than ten times as much heat-trapping carbon dioxide--as  
> does a calorie of plant protein. The researchers found that, when it's  
> all added up, the average American does more to reduce global warming  
> emissions by going vegetarian than by switching to a Prius.
BOGUS from start to finish. Dedicated vegetarians will distort any and  
every issue in order to try to force us to their point of view.  This is  
an example.

	Lynnet