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Fight global-warming by eating chicken
For someone who is a sacrilegious beef-eating Hindu carnivore, I have many 'official' reasons to quit eating meat, but I love my steak and chicken-wings, so that's not going to happen. (In my caste, we cannot even eat egg).Which is why I was thrilled to read that eating chicken can help combat global warming drastically!
A recent story on Salon explains in a nutshell: the amount of energy and resources we invest in breeding animals for food, alongside naturally toxic excretions of those animals, is more responsible for global-warming than burning fossil fuels. However, poultry are the least polluting. (Gore, did you know this?).
The story throws in some shocking statistics:
- "livestock accounts for 18 percent of global warming emissions worldwide, more than the entire transportation sector" -- why is this not in Al Gore's film?!
- "cattle, bison, sheep and goats burp out a lot of methane that traps 23 times more heat per ton than carbon dioxide" -- and we've been fretting about spraying deodorant?!
- "the difference between a vegan diet and one that includes cheeseburgers is less than 2 tons of greenhouse gases a year -- that's about the equivalent of switching from a Camry to a Prius'' -- I wonder what Toyota would have to say about that.
Conclusion: if you want to change your diet to combat global-warming -- eating chicken is the best thing you can do. Chickens don't "burp" methane and they produce only one-tenth the methane of cattle waste.
Now who would have thought!
Filed under: Activism, Learning, Food and Drink, Ecotourism
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
John Howell Oct 30th 2007 11:58AM
Is it noteworthy that Al Gore's family made their money raising earth-drestroying, methane-farting cattle? I think it is. Now pass the steak sauce.
tewcrw Oct 30th 2007 12:10PM
Has there ever been a world class athlete who was a true vegan?? Tom
alpha6 Nov 1st 2007 10:05PM
Burp? If they were scared to say "fart" they could have used a million other synonyms...
expel
pass gas
release ect..
Marcus Oct 30th 2007 12:25PM
What a waste.
Time and attention needs to be utilized on the more realistic cause and effects. Al Gore didn't mention this because he is far too smart on the topic then to waste time. Cattle, chickens, etc.,! we need to look at the man made end of it, we are the ones causing the majority of this problem. I'm amazed this article was written, get the good, honest facts out there to us so we can educate ourselves and come up with a solution!
jenny Oct 30th 2007 12:52PM
This headline is deceptive. Even if chickens contribute the least to global warming than other animals killed for meat, just eating chicken will not help fight GW. You would have to substitute it in place of other meat. Eating a diet without meat or animal products is the best dietary way in which to contribute the least to GW.
Cheri Oct 30th 2007 1:36PM
Both Chicken and Beef, (commercially raised), contain significant amounts of hormones, antibiotics and pesticides. Chickens, Cows and Pigs are given hormones to make them bigger and 'meatier' and antibiotics to "prevent" disease, (which is why so many of us are becoming 'antibiotic resistant'). Chicken and Turkey might have an effect on young girls developing more quickly, but it is more likely the hormonally "Pumped-Up" Beef. I believe it has been documented, that when "McDonald's" first came to China and Japan, very young girls, 7-8 years old, started developing breasts and starting their periods. And the only change in their diet or lifestyle that they could attribute it to was... McDonald's!
Now don't get me wrong. I still eat chicken, turkey and beef (occasionally pork, but that's another story), but I now do my best to only buy organic. There are enough un-natural things in our world today, we don't need it in our food.
Mark M. Oct 30th 2007 1:07PM
None of this is in al gore's film because al gore's film is intentionally misleading. There is nothing here to worry about -- keep driving, keep eating steak.
Matt Prescott Oct 30th 2007 1:27PM
This article’s focus on chickens is again misleading. The solution for environmentalists is to withdraw our support for animal agriculture. Eating chickens is unnecessary, and it's a part of the number one cause of global warming. In fact, according to Environmental Defense, "If every American skipped one meal of chicken per week [and substituted vegan foods], the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads."
In addition to emitting enormous amounts of greenhouse gases, the chicken industry also causes staggering amounts of pollution. Oklahoma's attorney general is suing poultry factory farms in Arkansas because their manure runoff is decimating life in Oklahoma's waterways. He said that if nothing is done, the chicken factory farms would "[d]estroy the water and … destroy the future for our children and our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren." In addition, Greenpeace recently condemned KFC and the chicken industry in general for destroying the Amazon rain forest to grow crops to satisfy their voracious need for chicken feed.
If you'd like to learn more about helping to save the Earth one bite at a time or order a copy of PETA's free "Vegetarian Starter Kit" that's full of delicious recipes and handy shopping tips, visit www.GoVeg.com/eco.
Jan Oct 30th 2007 1:31PM
How can people like TJD246 in #16 say such incredibly ignorant things. It is because of incredibly clueless people like that, that this world is in the horific state that it is!
Also, I've been saying for 20 years what Pamela in #15 said. Now days, the young girls in junior high have breasts as big as 30 yr old women! When I was in junior high school all the girls were flat chested.....hello...think about it. It's because of the growth hormones that the dairy and cattle (AND chicken) industries have been putting in the meat and milk for the last few decades! ( It is also because of the underwire bras - cuts off circulation to the breat and lymph nodes; aluminum deodorant- toxic metal to the lymph nodes; and radiation from mamograms- radiation itself causes cancer- so why would you purposefully do that to yourself?). Ladies if you want to be clear from ever getting breast cancer, stay away from all of these things, along with the growth hormone filled meat and milk! I worked in a holistic cancer clinic and all of these things have been proven. It's only because of government and burocratic money mongers that these things are all available and pushed on women. In the last 30 yrs, cancer has grown exponentially becasue of the products we choose to use and the things we eat and the things we do to ourselves. 40 yrs ago women didn;t eat food with growth hormones, have wire in their bras, get mamograms or use toxic metal deodorant and there was virtually no such thing as breast cancer! THINK ABOUT IT and save your life and the lives of the females in your family!
Heather Oct 30th 2007 1:35PM
This blog neglects to mention the environmental impact of the poultry and meat production in the form of waste and fertilizer run off into rivers, lakes and bays, which also causes a terrible environmental impact. It's a huge issue in Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay states (MD, DE and VA), where many of the big poultry operations are (Like Perdue). Last year the Bay got a failing "D" rating from the government, and farm and agriculture waste is a large reason that the Bay is so polluted, affecting water supply, fish and crab populations.
Gina Marie Oct 30th 2007 1:42PM
I can't believe that someone actually put into their comment that radiation, deodorant, and underwire bras cause cancer! That really goes to show how ignorant people are about not only their own health, but social responsibility. I urge you, DO NOT post something that you assume is fact unless can back it up... I spend most of my night working with women trying to explain to them that these very myths are in fact untrue and that their doctors weren't lying to them. Look it up, or better yet, call your doctor.
G Oct 30th 2007 2:45PM
Eat Beano and save the planet!!
TennesseeBirdWalk Oct 30th 2007 5:37PM
Politicians make more hot air than any animal.