I thought this was an interesting and well written article.
As it turns out, Americans may have been blaming the wrong culprit for global warming. A new U.N. report finds it’s not being caused so much by our gas-guzzling SUVs as by our guzzling of over-sized steaks, chops and burgers.
It may be time to exonerate the global auto industry and point the finger of blame at businesses like Omaha Steaks, McDonalds, Outback Steakhouse and Morton’s of Chicago that put profits - and well-fed customers - over cooler air.
The U.N.’s “Livestock’s Long Shadow” report suggests the world’s vast cattle herds actually emit more of those nasty greenhouse gases that increase climate heat than all the “cars, planes and other forms of transport put together.”
The 400-page report notes a disproportionate portion of global warming gases are created by the bovine’s persistent belching and flatulence as well as the byproducts as they’re fattened for the slaughterhouse.
The feed consumed by America’s 1.5-billion cattle, for instance, require fertilizer produced with fuels that spew massive amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the Earth’s atmosphere - unnaturally raising its temperature.
Including both fertilizer and vegetation lost to grazing pasture, our nation’s love affair with beef accounts for nearly 10 percent of all emissions of CO2, the most common greenhouse gas.
Further, their flatulence and manure emit more than one-third of methane, another greenhouse gas, which warms the world 20 times faster than CO2. And cattle produce 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.
Perhaps, it’s time for Congress to do for bovines what it long ago did for automobiles: Require each head of cattle in the United States to be equipped with a catalytic converter of precious metal beads that filter out tailpipe emissions.
Catalytic converters initially raised car prices by about $300 a vehicle, but the cost has long since been amortized and certainly hasn’t hurt car sales. Today’s technology likely has driven down the cost of developing an emissions scrubber that can be fitted to a cow’s anatomy.
Of course, a catalytic converter also may be needed for the cow’s head as well, if belching and burping are deemed to play a major role in the overall CO2 emissions ejected from bovines. But there again, the cost of conversion likely will constitute only a temporary blip on the economy’s radar screen.
The U.N. report points out that ranching is “the major driver of deforestation” worldwide and that overgrazing is turning a fifth of all pastures and ranges into desert. Cows also soak up vast amounts of precious water - about 25 gallons - to produce just one gallon of milk.
Unless drastic changes occur, U.N. experts are convinced the massive eco-damage done by livestock will more than double by 2050 as meat consumption increases.
Obviously, dramatic action is needed to halt this developing cataclysm. But how can we achieve such an ambitious goal? One suggestion that any personal injury lawyer worth his Lear jet will like is to use the same mechanisms that have successfully curbed tobacco-smoking - and enriched the plaintiffs’ bar by billions of dollars.
Gradually escalating taxes on meats in supermarkets and restaurants will reduce human consumption, blunt demand and shrink waistlines. For example, diners who insist on prime rib or roast pork would pay a 25 percent or even 50 percent surcharge, while those who dined on more socially responsible pasta would pay no tax.
Cities and states could begin to ban the serving of beef products in fast-food restaurants. All-beef hot dogs at public places like sport stadiums, zoos and amusement parks could be replaced with life-saving tofu products.
The idea would be to eventually shift most Americans away from a harmful meat-diet to a healthier one based on fruit and vegetables by forcing meat-eaters to pay extra taxes whose revenues then could be used on consumer awareness programs - whether they like it or not.
In addition to reducing the threat of global warming, such a shift also would have the salutary effect of curbing America’s burgeoning obesity rate, proponents contend.
Then perhaps, we could finally achieve the car-free nation that control freak Francis Moore Lappe envisioned in her 1971 plea for inconspicuous consumption, “A Diet for a Small Planet.”
So my friends, enjoy your vegetable garden! And enjoy your daily walk to work as well! As for me, I’m jumping into my car and heading toward the gym. Time to get real - this is the 21st century, after all.
