Eating beef ' is less green than driving'

[georgesbluegirl]

Raise your own grass fed beef, we have 6 right now, hamburger, sirloin, rib eye, frank the furter, daisy and tenderloin.

Buy grass fed beef from your local ranchers. And enjoy.

[Guest]

one of the easiest things you can do is to stop eating meat."

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Moo! Moo!

[MeCajunboy]

Producing 2.2lb of beef generates as much greenhouse gas as driving a car non-stop for three hours, it was claimed yesterday.

Japanese scientists used a range of data to calculate the environmental impact of a single purchase of beef.

Taking into account all the processes involved, they said, four average sized steaks generated greenhouse gases with a warming potential equivalent to 80.25lb of carbon dioxide.

This also consumed 169 megajoules of energy.

That means that 2.2lb of beef is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions which have the same effect as the carbon dioxide released by an ordinary car travelling at 50 miles per hour for 155 miles, a journey lasting three hours. The amount of energy consumed would light a 100-watt bulb for 20 days.

Most of the greenhouse gas emissions are in the form of methane released from the animals' digestive systems, New Scientist magazine reported.

But more than two thirds of the energy used goes towards producing and transporting cattle feed, said the study, which was led by Akifumi Ogino from the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba, Japan.

Su Taylor, the press officer for the Vegetarian Society, told New Scientist: "Everybody is trying to come up with different ways to reduce carbon footprints, but one of the easiest things you can do is to stop eating meat."

These people get funnier and funnier!

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Cajunboy:::::that and the fact that experiments are being done with people of diets of "no meat" vs those on "mainly all veggie and starches " diets shows a noticeable decrease in cancer rates from those eating little or no meats. It is also believed that because of the increased diet of meats in the average person, more allergies as in skin and blood allergies are being detected.

[Emily~Anne]

I think everyone just needs to cut back. We dont need meat every day. There would not be so much factory farming if we were more reasonable about our meat consumption. Factory farms are a lose-lose deal for everyone.

[Emily~Anne]

Raise your own grass fed beef, we have 6 right now, hamburger, sirloin, rib eye, frank the furter, daisy and tenderloin.

Buy grass fed beef from your local ranchers. And enjoy.

ditto!

[chrisb]

I think everyone just needs to cut back. We dont need meat every day. There would not be so much factory farming if we were more reasonable about our meat consumption. Factory farms are a lose-lose deal for everyone.

I want my mechanically seperated chicken and I want it now!

[Marnie]

I think everyone just needs to cut back. We dont need meat every day. There would not be so much factory farming if we were more reasonable about our meat consumption. Factory farms are a lose-lose deal for everyone.

I want my mechanically seperated chicken and I want it now!

Gosh cut back?? We eat meat every day! In one form or another. It's called freedom, and personally I love it.

[Guest shiloh357]

Honestly, this is just another form of fanaticism. We've been eating meat for a long time on this earth, so greenhouse gases have been produced for a long time, IF the assertions of the report is true. We are still here, alive and well. Granted, I think we need to be more balanced in our consumption of meat, but there is no way I am giving up my precious BBQ on the assertions of some vegitarians.

I have nothing against vegitarianism, but they needn't try to convert the rest of us.

[KeilanS]

It's fairly common knowledge that meat is hard on the environment. I think we in North America need to cut back on meat a little bit, but not necessarily for environment reasons. We need like 1 serving of meat a day to stay healthy. And not our good old serving or steak or whatever, the average steak is probably like 3 servings.

I'm just guessing here, but I think anything more than about a hamburger patty worth of meat isn't doing you much good and might even be hurting you.. We need more dairy and especially more fruits and grains. I've been trying to change my diet for awhile to include less meat... but well, I like meat. I'll get there.

So eat less meat to be more healthy, and if it helps the environment... well thats an added bonus.

[georgesbluegirl]

Honestly, this is just another form of fanaticism. We've been eating meat for a long time on this earth, so greenhouse gases have been produced for a long time, IF the assertions of the report is true.

Not at all. The GHGs involved have to do with the processing of the meat through slaughter, butchering, and transportation. Most of the CO2 emissions come from transportation - trucking the product across the country. That's why buying locally raised beef (or anything else - this goes for everything from apples to chicken) is encouraged, because it bypasses the unneccessary transportation and associated environmental costs. Even if you're eating "organic," be sure that it's from somewhere local if it's something you're committed to. A tomato grown in a warm climate and trucked to Maine in January is going to have negative impact even if it says it's "organic."

As a side note, I'm about 3/4 of a vegetarian...I don't eat beef, pork, etc. but I do eat seafood and chicken on occasion. I am a big fan of buying free range. No hormones or overkill of antibiotics...like the grass fed local meat Asap was describing. Check it out.