And Again if you want to debate scientifically then use a scientific method Where are your references? - - - Updated - - - Cherry picking is NOT part of a scientific method
Methane breaks down into CO2 and while it is a potent greenhouse gas it is only a part of the problem https://www.skepticalscience.com/methane-and-global-warming.htm
...as I said, people are pretending it isn't a problem. When you outlaw beef let me know. Otherwise, tick tock goes the humanity clock.
It is not primarily beef but we could always start farming more Kangaroo as they do not produce methane in the gut Actually CSIRO here is researching why 'Roos produce nitrogen rather than methane and are looking at a bacterial load that can be used in farm animals - but that is still in early research No some of the more worrying sources include deforestation - especially of rainforests which expose wetlands http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2006/teams/r6/final2/deforestation.htm A palm oil production http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v4/n3/full/nclimate2154.html But if you had READ my previous links you would have seen that although Methane is far more potent than CO2 it has a shorter atmospheric half life
Perhaps you miss the big picture....actually no perhaps about it. It doesn't matter if it has a ten year rate if it is more dangerous and nothing is being done about it because the perpetual nothing being done about it extends that ten years perpetually.
A lot of research and test plots have been done by Alan Savory, Tony Lovell, and others on the impact of grazing animals on dry land environments. They discovered that animals are a major component of sustainable grasslands and when they kill off the livestock the ecology suffers. The secret is to mimic nature in the way livestock is grazed. Nature doesn't farm without animals.
http://permaculturenews.org/2012/11...ack-where-it-belongs-in-the-earth-tedx-video/ this site has a video from 2012 but it makes sense.
A small heard of livestock trampling the land to essentially aerify the soil won't offset the massive release of methane from the large-scale cattle industry. I am aware of what you are speaking to, but it is a different issue. The livestock are basically doing something in their roaming equivalent to what people who do core gardening do in their planting beds.
Why do you say "nothing is being done"??? Are you unaware of the work that is currently being done world wide?
I can post you over some frozen 'Roo Even take a trip to NT and pick up a Frozen Roo Tail (man they are massive! But they are sold there because the indigenous love Roo tail stew) But a few years ago you could not get Roo in the supermarkets here because it was so difficult to ensure that they were frozen in a timely manner after being shot. Unlike cattle you cannot herd them into a slaughterhouse. But now we have better facilities and roo consumption is increasing in Australia. It is small but it is a start Asia is a major contributor to methane because of the rice fields. What has to be done there is to change habits of millions in as far as diet and agriculture - but again it is possible - just bloody difficult So what CAN we do? We can be active about preventing deforestations but to do that we have to make it pay for people NOT to cut down trees. (Deforestation increases methane production but it is a little complicated as to why) But the biggest source is global warming itself - melting of permafrost and methane caltrates
But researching how to change the GUT biome so that they produce nitrogen instead of methane IS being researched now http://www.uq.edu.au/agriculture/reducing-methane-belching-cows-by-learning-from-kangaroos Still think we should just skip cows and eat 'Roo - only I keep hearing the theme song from "skippy" every time I eat it
That is because the cattle industry is poorly managed. Did you notice natural movement of herds? They are kept bunched up. They only eat about a third of the forage. The rest is trampled, covered in urine and manure, and then left. It is called holistic grazing, mob grazing, and other things.
Your use of non academic approach whilst claiming everyone is "ignoring the science" AS I have asked before - show me the science
The cattle industry is managed for optimal profits. I mean there is nothing wrong with doing what they are doing in those places, but it is hardly the model for the industry. Some of the biggest hindrances to addressing the issue are zoning laws/land use restrictions. As a result of these, more and more people become dependent on agribusiness for their protein. Even beyond the conditions that exist at the farms, a lot of waste/pollution is involved in getting the stuff from farm to fork.
I know, I just bought some rib eye steak from Mexico. There are two cows for every three people in Alabama. And my supermarket was selling Mexican beef.
Cheaper and the sad part is that that unnecessary transportation of beef from Mexico to the USA means that more greenhouse gases have been emitted. We are killing our citrus industry by importing from America. China is buying large areas of other countries to produce cheap food crops that will flood global markets But a lot of this has to do with trade protection. We were flooded with oranges from the USA because there was a subsidy in the USA which was supposed to make them cheaper for the American people - instead the nice capalistic twonks decided to export these oranges to Australia, kill our industry whilst keeping prices high in the USA
Maybe, maybe not. Alabama fronts on the Gulf of Mexico so depending where it originated from it may actually be closer than California beef. It is what we do best--killing foreign competition. Not sure what their deal is TBH. They recently bought Smithfield a few years ago which is a very big name in US pork. Not sure if it is to bring pork to China cheaper or to generate US dollars. But a lot of this has to do with trade protection. We were flooded with oranges from the USA because there was a subsidy in the USA which was supposed to make them cheaper for the American people - instead the nice capalistic twonks decided to export these oranges to Australia, kill our industry whilst keeping prices high in the USA[/QUOTE] Not sure what that would be. In the US fruit is generally not included in farm subsidies. I know they had a program that subsidized removing infected trees and replacing them to fight some disease. Beyond that, I am unfamiliar with what you are referring to. Companies like ADM, however, operate in very shady ways in the industry independent of what US policy is.
Not sure what that would be. In the US fruit is generally not included in farm subsidies. I know they had a program that subsidized removing infected trees and replacing them to fight some disease. Beyond that, I am unfamiliar with what you are referring to. Companies like ADM, however, operate in very shady ways in the industry independent of what US policy is.[/QUOTE] Well, like you we often only get half a story but I will agree with shady deals. Our issue at the moment is Asia because it is cheap to import from Asia and that is killing our agriculture here.