This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 02 Aug 2007, by Steve Leckie.
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02 Aug 07
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L Harder from Richmond, Canada writes: "The source of CO2 that we (and cows) breath is food, which is renewable(mostly), and is taken out of the atmosphere when crops are grown."
That would be great were it true. But the so-called "green revolution" of mechanized, industrialized agriculture is entirely based on fossil fuel products. Ten calories of petroleum go into each calorie of food produced. So the CO2 emitted by today's domesticated ruminants largely comes from underground, not from current uptake of CO2 by plant material, as was true of wild animals in the past.
MIT From SW ONT from Canada writes: "Although farmers are getting the same price per bushel that they received 25 years ago, the yields from their fields have increased substantially."
But again, such productivity improvements are almost entirely the result of additional energy inputs from fossil fuels. Fertilizer comes from natural gas. Pesticides come from petroleum, as does tractor fuel and irrigation pumps. (And don't forget that most irrigation is from "fossil water" that is in decline in many large aquifers.) -
After a bit of googling, I believe he is in the main right. He might have included some animal population stats to back up his argument though. Current world cow population - 1.4 billion. Wikipedia. Historical bison population, Canada - 168,000. Extrapolate Canada to world based on Canada having 6% of the land and assuming equivalent species worldwide - 27 million large grass eaters historically. Result - over 500 times as many big ruminants today than during hunter gather times.
And because they produce methane in quantities that people do not (even readers of this comment group), and because methane is 21 times more efficient in trapping heat, the contribution of the meat industry is significant. -
For Brent Beach: "Historical bison population, Canada - 168,000."
It took me a few minutes to find the reference. I believe that number refers to the Wood Bison population only rather than the more common Plains Bison. American estimates put the historical Plains Bison population at 60-100 million.
Even if you had an accurate figure for the bison population, your conclusions would be inaccurate because they fail to account for OTHER grass-eaters. (caribou, moose, deer) The sustainable forest management site in Canada pegs the CURRENT caribou population at 2.4 million. Imagine what it was like 200 years ago!
I can appreciate the argument, and certainly coupled with the elimination of the world's forests and runaway industrialization, I'm sure cow burps are helping to destroy the planet. However, to build a case that culling cattle will save the world is a load of... well... cow plop. -
Opinion from Canada writes: "American estimates put the historical Plains Bison population at 60-100 million."
Only in popular mythology. There are no suggestions of 100 million and the famous 60-75 million was a false extrapolation made a century ago by E. Thompson-Seton. No serious researcher considers ANY of his numbers credible any more. Current better informed estimates for the PEAK historical population run as high as 30 million with the best estimates only half that - for all North American bison. This peak population occurred only after populations of their main predator - Native North Americans - were severely reduced by smallpox.
Still, 15 million bison produced a lot of methane and CO2.
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