How Does Meat in the Diet Take an Environmental Toll?

David Pimentel of Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences says that the grain currently fed to some seven billion livestock in the United States could feed nearly 800 million people directly. Image: Digital Vision/Thinkstock

"Dear EarthTalk: I heard that the less meat one eats, the better it is for the environment. How so?
-- Jason K., Sarasota, FL

Our meat consumption habits take a serious toll on the environment. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), the production, processing and distribution of meat requires huge outlays of pesticides, fertilizer, fuel, feed and water while releasing greenhouse gases, manure and a range of toxic chemicals into our air and water. A lifecycle analysis conducted by EWG that took into account the production and distribution of 20 common agricultural products found that red meat such as beef and lamb is responsible for 10 to 40 times as many greenhouse gas emissions as common vegetables and grains.

Livestock are typically fed corn, soybean meal and other grains which have to first be grown using large amounts of fertilizer, fuel, pesticides, water and land. EWG estimates that growing livestock feed in the U.S. alone requires 167 million pounds of pesticides and 17 billion pounds of nitrogen fertilizer each year across some 149 million acres of cropland. The process generates copious amounts of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide, while the output of methane—another potent greenhouse gas—from cattle is estimated to generate some 20 percent of overall U.S. methane emissions.

“If all the grain currently fed to livestock in the United States were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million,” reports ecologist David Pimentel of Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He adds that the seven billion livestock in the U.S. consume five times as much grain as is consumed directly by the entire U.S. population.

Our meat consumption habits also cause other environmental problems. A 2009 study found that four-fifths of the deforestation across the Amazon rainforest could be linked to cattle ranching. And the water pollution from factory farms (also called concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFOs)—whereby pigs and other livestock are contained in tight quarters—can produce as much sewage waste as a small city, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Further, the widespread use of antibiotics to keep livestock healthy on those overcrowded CAFOs has led to the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria that threaten human health and the environment in their own right.

Eating too much meat is no good for our health, with overindulgence linked to increasing rates of heart disease, cancer and obesity. Worldwide, between 1971 and 2010, production of meat tripled to around 600 billion pounds while global population grew by 81 percent, meaning that we are eating a lot more meat than our grandparents. Researchers extrapolate that global meat production will double by 2050 to about 1.2 trillion pounds a year, putting further pressure on the environment and human health.

For those who can’t give up meat fully, cutting back goes a long way toward helping the environment, as does choosing meat and dairy products from organic, pasture-raised, grass-fed animals. “Ultimately, we need better policies and stronger regulations to reduce the environmental impacts of livestock production,” says EWG’s Kari Hammerschlag “But personal shifting of diets is an important step.”"

Fonte e imagem:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=meat-and-environment

Throwing food away sends world's scarce water gushing down the plughole

Oranges rotting on a London market stall. Wasting food leads to the waste of huge quantities of water. Photograph: Martin Godwin

"Britons bin millions of tonnes of food each year – a crime compounded by the waste of all the water used to grow it.

As consumers throw millions of tonnes of uneaten food into the bin each year, few give a thought to the hidden cost of such waste – the water that it took to grow the food.

But new research shows that we throw away, on average, twice as much water per year in the form of uneaten food as we use for washing and drinking.

What is worse, increasing amounts of our food comes from countries where water is scarce, meaning the food we discard has a huge hidden impact on the depletion of valuable water resources across the world.

According to the first comprehensive study into the impact of the "embedded water" in the UK's food waste on world water supplies, more than a 5% of the water used by the UK is thrown away in the form of uneaten food.

The research was carried out by the government's Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) and the green campaigning group WWF, and is published with the title: Water and Carbon Footprint of Household Food Waste in the UK.

The water used to produce food thrown away by households in the UK amounts to about 6.2bn cubic metres a year.

That represents 6% of the UK's total water footprint, which includes water used in industry and agriculture.

About a quarter of the water used to grow and process the wasted food originates in the UK, but much of it comes from countries that are already experiencing water stress.

Green campaigners have for years called for more attention to be paid to "hidden" or "embedded" water – water that is used in the production of all sorts of goods, from food and clothing to cars and furniture, and which represents a hidden cost on exports.

As more countries suffer from water scarcity, these exports can further deplete natural resources and cause environmental problems such as salination – which can render land unfit for growing crops – and higher prices for water to poorer consumers.

Food waste carries another environmental cost: it accounts for about 3% of the UK's annual greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the amount generated by 7m cars each year.

That is enough to cancel out the greenhouse gases saved each year by British households' recycling efforts.

Liz Goodwin, chief executive at Wrap, said: "These figures are quite staggering. Although greenhouse gas emissions have been widely discussed, the water used to produce food and drink has been overlooked until recently.

"However, growing concern over the availability of water in the UK and abroad, and security of the supply of food, means that it is vital we understand the connections between food waste, water and climate change."

She said the organisation – which is threatened with budget cuts – would work further with retailers, food and drink companies and local authorities to reduce the amount of food wasted.

David Tickner, head of freshwater programmes at WWF, said consumers could make a "small but very significant" contribution to reducing water stress if they tried to avoid wasting so much food."

Fonte e imagem:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/22/binning-food-wastes-lots-of-water

Hoje é o Dia Mundial da Água, a sua preservação é essencial. Este artigo demonstra a ligação entre o desperdício de alimentos e, subsequentemente, de água. Acresce o gasto de todos os factores associados à sua produção: adubos, combustíveis, mão-de-obra, etc. Um assunto para reflectir, mais uma oportunidade para reduzir os nossos consumos.