WORLD WATCH MAGAZINE—JULY/AUGUST 2004
GLOBAL MEAT CONSUMPTION HAS FAR-RANGING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS ( View full article)
Washington, D.C.—Growing demand for meat has become a driving force behind virtually every major category of environmental damage now threatening the human future, write the editors of World Watch magazine in the July/August issue. Total meat consumption has increased five-fold in the past half century, putting extreme pressure on Earth’s limited resources, including water, land, feed, and fuel.
In “Now, It’s Not Personal!” a survey of each major category of environmental impact regarded as critical to the sustainability of civilization reveals how central a challenge this once marginal issue has become.
Deforestation and Grassland Destruction: The world’s appetite for meat is razing forests at an accelerating rate. In Central America, 40 percent of all the rainforests have been cleared or burned down in the last 40 years, mostly for cattle pasture. In the process, natural ecosystems where a variety of plant and animal species thrive are destroyed and replaced with monoculture grass.
Fresh Water: Water experts calculate that humans are now taking half the available fresh water on the planet—leaving the other half to be divided among a million or more species. Producing 8 ounces of beef requires 25,000 liters of water.
Waste Disposal: Waste from livestock production exceeds the capacity of the planet to absorb it. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that livestock waste has polluted more than 27,000 miles of rivers.
Energy Consumption & Global Warming: It takes far more fossil-fuel energy to produce and transport meat than to deliver equivalent amounts of protein from plant sources. This heavy use of carbon-rich fuels also contributes significantly to the emissions of global-warming gases.
Food Productivity of Farmland: In the U.S., 56 million acres of land produce hay for livestock. Only 4 million acres produce vegetables for human consumption, reports the US Department of Commerce. Such inefficient use of land means that food production will not keep up with population growth.
Diseases: Mass production of livestock has generated large-scale increases in both infectious diseases and degenerative or “lifestyle” diseases.
Biodiversity Loss and Threat of Extinction: As Earth becomes more crowded, poor populations are increasingly venturing into wildlife reserves for meat. Poaching and black marketeering of bush meat is decimating remaining populations of gorillas, chimpanzees, and other primates.
MIDDLE EAST ENVIRONMENTALISTS COLLABORATE TO SAVE THE DEAD SEA, SETTING AN EXAMPLE OF TRANSBOUNDARY COOPERATION
( View full article)
GLOBAL MEAT CONSUMPTION HAS FAR-RANGING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS ( View full article)
Washington, D.C.—Growing demand for meat has become a driving force behind virtually every major category of environmental damage now threatening the human future, write the editors of World Watch magazine in the July/August issue. Total meat consumption has increased five-fold in the past half century, putting extreme pressure on Earth’s limited resources, including water, land, feed, and fuel.
In “Now, It’s Not Personal!” a survey of each major category of environmental impact regarded as critical to the sustainability of civilization reveals how central a challenge this once marginal issue has become.
Deforestation and Grassland Destruction: The world’s appetite for meat is razing forests at an accelerating rate. In Central America, 40 percent of all the rainforests have been cleared or burned down in the last 40 years, mostly for cattle pasture. In the process, natural ecosystems where a variety of plant and animal species thrive are destroyed and replaced with monoculture grass.
Fresh Water: Water experts calculate that humans are now taking half the available fresh water on the planet—leaving the other half to be divided among a million or more species. Producing 8 ounces of beef requires 25,000 liters of water.
Waste Disposal: Waste from livestock production exceeds the capacity of the planet to absorb it. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that livestock waste has polluted more than 27,000 miles of rivers.
Energy Consumption & Global Warming: It takes far more fossil-fuel energy to produce and transport meat than to deliver equivalent amounts of protein from plant sources. This heavy use of carbon-rich fuels also contributes significantly to the emissions of global-warming gases.
Food Productivity of Farmland: In the U.S., 56 million acres of land produce hay for livestock. Only 4 million acres produce vegetables for human consumption, reports the US Department of Commerce. Such inefficient use of land means that food production will not keep up with population growth.
Diseases: Mass production of livestock has generated large-scale increases in both infectious diseases and degenerative or “lifestyle” diseases.
Biodiversity Loss and Threat of Extinction: As Earth becomes more crowded, poor populations are increasingly venturing into wildlife reserves for meat. Poaching and black marketeering of bush meat is decimating remaining populations of gorillas, chimpanzees, and other primates.
MIDDLE EAST ENVIRONMENTALISTS COLLABORATE TO SAVE THE DEAD SEA, SETTING AN EXAMPLE OF TRANSBOUNDARY COOPERATION
( View full article)
kryz - am Dienstag, 22. Juni 2004, 09:07 - Rubrik: RESSOURCES reviewed
