Cow 'emissions' more damaging to planet
than CO2 from cars
By
Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor
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.