Dec. 28, 2006

Livestock, in particular the planet’s 1.5 billion cattle with their methane-producing digestive process, may account for pollution that causes 18% of global warming, says a 400-page United Nations report.
Remember the grief President Reagan got when in 1981 he declared, “Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do”? Maybe Dutch was a visionary and ahead of his time. Now comes a report that says barnyard edibles – the livestock most of us find so tasty – are a big factor in global warming, possibly responsible for more damage than all forms of transportation.

So says a report from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization entitled, “Livestock’s Long Shadow.” It doesn’t so much exonerate the motor car and other forms of transportation as it raises concerns about livestock, which consume more food than they produce.


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