A Facebook post by my friend (and former student) Melinda Chase got me to thinking. Not about the poison she says we're putting into our bodies — bad as that might be — but about the perils of animal agriculture in general.
Not only are we ingesting undesirable and perhaps toxic substances — e.g. antibiotics given to chickens and pigs, bovine growth hormone in beef and dairy — but anyone who is concerned about global warming should think twice about consuming animal products as well.
A 2006 United Nations report found that the meat and dairy industries produce more greenhouse gases than all the SUVs, cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined. We're talking mostly decaying animal waste and cow farts.
I'd say that's pretty shocking.
So the end of animal agriculture would do more for the cause of global warming than a continent full of windmills — and a Congress full of Al Gores!
Isn't it fair to ask why global warmists don't call for an end to animal agriculture — or a special tax on it — to combat by far the biggest source of greenhouse gasses on the planet? Could it be because even greenies enjoy things like chicken, yogurt and Cherry Garcia? Just asking ...
I'd even be willing to do my part by giving up meat. My one problem: I don't know if I'm physically or emotionally capable of giving up cheese.
ReplyDeleteYou can have my meat when you pry it out of my cold, dead hands. As you know, I'm not all that concerned with "global warming". A look at the climate history of this planet shows you that we're simply in a warm spell between ice ages. It's got to get hotter before it gets colder.
ReplyDeleteAmy,
ReplyDeleteI, too, am skeptical as whether man is causing the warm-up -- especially when you consider that there were wild swings in the earth's climate before man even existed.
My point, though, is that if you ARE concerned about it, then why wouldn't you start with meat?