Eating meat 'harms the environment'
Eating steak could be contributing to global warming
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Thursday, 19, Jul 2007 12:17
While people do their best for the environment by cycling instead of driving and switching the television off standby, these good efforts could be cancelled if they eat meat, scientists say.
Japanese researchers found that a kilogram of beef is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions (GGE) and other pollution than driving a car for three hours while leaving all the lights on at home.
They based their findings on assessments of the effects of beef production on global warming, energy consumption, water acidification and eutrophication (nutrients entering the environment), the New Scientist reports.
Producing a kilogram of beef results in GGE with a global warming potential equivalent to 36.4kg and fertilising compounds equivalent to 340g of sulphur dioxide and 59g of sulphate.
It also consumes 169 megajoules of energy.
According to the New Scientist, a kilogram of beef is therefore responsible for the equivalent of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the average European car every 250km, and burns enough energy to light a 100 watt lightbulb for almost 20 days.
The researchers from the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba, Japan, found that most of the GGE were from methane emitted by the cows, while their waste primarily produced the acid and fertilising substances.
They conclude that possible solutions to reducing the environmental impact include better waste management and shortening the interval between calving by one month.