The Issue Is Factory Farming, Not Meat Eating
Jonathan Safran Foer (and Michael Pollan) notwithstanding, Nicolette Hahn Niman argues it’s factory farming, not meat eating, that wreaks environmental havoc:
In contrast to factory farming, well-managed, non-industrialized animal farming minimizes greenhouse gases and can even benefit the environment. For example, properly timed cattle grazing can increase vegetation by as much as 45 percent, North Dakota State University researchers have found. And grazing by large herbivores (including cattle) is essential for well-functioning prairie ecosystems, research at Kansas State University has determined.
Additionally, several recent studies show that pasture and grassland areas used for livestock reduce global warming by acting as carbon sinks. Converting croplands to pasture, which reduces erosion, effectively sequesters significant amounts of carbon. One analysis published in the journal Global Change Biology showed a 19 percent increase in soil carbon after land changed from cropland to pasture. What’s more, animal grazing reduces the need for the fertilizers and fuel used by farm machinery in crop cultivation, things that aggravate climate change.
Livestock grazing has other noteworthy environmental benefits as well. Compared to cropland, perennial pastures used for grazing can decrease soil erosion by 80 percent and markedly improve water quality, Minnesota’s Land Stewardship Project research has found. Even the United Nations report acknowledges, “There is growing evidence that both cattle ranching and pastoralism can have positive impacts on biodiversity.”
As the contrast between the environmental impact of traditional farming and industrial farming shows, efforts to minimize greenhouse gases need to be much more sophisticated than just making blanket condemnations of certain foods. Farming methods vary tremendously, leading to widely variable global warming contributions for every food we eat. Recent research in Sweden shows that, depending on how and where a food is produced, its carbon dioxide emissions vary by a factor of 10.
Other factors include processing, transportation, storage, retailing and food preparation. And her concluding line is downright Pollanesque, “all eaters can lower their global warming contribution by following these simple rules: avoid processed foods and those from industrialized farms; reduce food waste; and buy local and in season.”
39 Responses to “The Issue Is Factory Farming, Not Meat Eating”
Other factors include farms engaged in a “monoculture.” That's where there is no crop rotation because there is only one crop.
I recently began growing vegetables in my backyard. When I read papers written by the Ag Schools as to how to avoid pests (and therefore using expensive pesticides) the FIRST thing they mention is crop rotation.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Hans Spee, TMV, Bruce Roberts, Trace Element Co., Ben Dover and others. Ben Dover said: The Issue Is Factory Farming, Not Meat Eating: In contrast to factory farming, well-managed, non-industrialized.. http://bit.ly/49aZga [...]
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
Avoiding processed foods will also help in avoiding cancer.
No matter what the state-sponsored scientists and media lapdogs say, I remain steadily against the “global warming” argument. Irresponsible agriculture does have an effect on the envrionment (Dust bowl, etc); but the global cycle is now in cooling mode. We can, indeed, negatively effect our own environments; but to propose that cow farts somehow make the icecaps melt is proposterous. I can't believe intellectuals are actually swallowing this pill without doing their OWN research on it. Kool-aid drinking sheep.
What Jefferson Davis said.
This whole AGW boondoggle would be funny in a Monty Python Silly Walks kind of way except they are using it to seize power over the US and world economy and hand it to a bunch of socialist clowns. And the big money has barely showed up at the table. Wait until we start paying trillions in reparations to the Zimbabwes of the world to atone for our guilt in running up the “climate debt”.
but the global cycle is now in cooling mode.
Ploease supply some technical or statistical links to prove your point. I believe temps are lower than record high from the last 12 years, but during the last few years were still above normal.
This is another one of those subjects that highlights an unwillingness on the part of some folks (and by extension some ideologies) to accept (or more likely to understand) what science actually is. Being misinformed or under informed is curable, but choosing to echo politically based paranoia and distrust is not an antidote to either lack of information or bad information. Global warming is a case in point. Science doesn't care about ideology and it doesn't promote a pre-chosen result. What it is, is a methodology, a discipline, observation, identification, description, etc. When science becomes a political tool then we are heading for the dark ages my friends.
When it comes to factory farming, remember, it wasn't so long ago that most Americans lived rural lives and grew up farming. The change to factory farming happened quite fast, and now most Americans don't even know where their food comes from, how it is made, or the associated consequences. I'm guessing lots of folks are content to imagine it all begins and ends in the supermarket, and I'm sure that narrowness of vision is just fine with other folks..
Good gleaning, Joe.
There's still ridiculous behavior behind anti-factory-farming activism (too much of it is silly to sinister anti-business drivel or worse) but the issues of quality of the product as well as resource use (not so much energy use but land and water use, for example) are relevent.
Any number of mild (better than wild) activist works or vegetarianism-vegan or animal-rights works will raise these concerns. That includes the classics, like the $6.99 paperback copy of “Diet for a Small Planet” by Lappe' that's in my truck cab right now for whenever I next stop on my next outing on the road.
The “global warming” or “climate change” Lyenkoism is just the latest bogus-crisis crusade — the latest movement-based “problem” (“crisis,” “disaster”) force the same “solutions” (authoritarian government, lefty social and economic engineering, naive dreams reinforced with iron-fisted control and a totalitarian flavor) sought since leftism was radicalized in the 1960s (starting with “population explosion” agitation).
Sadly, this also routinely taints the issue of agriculture and agricultural policy in this nation, rather than this subject being kept rational and sane (ending subsidies and federal intrusion into agriculture). (The more wacky or sinister people actually have conceived of a totalitarian term and concept, “food policy,” encompassing everything from personal diet choices to agriculture to a command and control economy of food.)
” hand it to a bunch of socialist clowns”
Unfortunately, with “cap and trade,” it's not just a bunch of idiots engaging in a scam (from which it would not be a surprise to learn some of them were profiting as insiders, among the middlemen or intermediaries). It's also energy rationing, which is sinister to truly evil, depending on their motives.
“I recently began growing vegetables in my backyard.”
Don't forget that someday you might want to consider a greenhouse (or grow inside your house, until you outgrow that plot, at least), which makes all year potentially “in season” for vegetables. Also, don't be afraid to try fruits sometime, especially small fruits, easy to include with vegetables.
Your comment about “monoculture” is of note not because it is often used by activists as an epithet or pejorative (by the same idiots who behave strangely and hype the idea and word “biodiversity,” you will notice). In addition to soil depletion concerns, with “monoculture” you also are creating the Mother Lode for pests who roam the world looking for plants they prefer, and who come upon the “monocultured” plot.