UAE | Environment

Burping cows 'costing the earth'

Would you rather eat kangaroo than beef to lower your carbon footprint? Eating a hamburger or beef shawarma is actually affecting the ozone layer - even more than driving your car.

  • By Emmanuelle Landais, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 23:47 August 23, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Concern has been raised over the damage cattle cause to the environment.
  • Image Credit: Bloomberg
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Dubai: Would you rather eat kangaroo than beef to lower your carbon footprint? Eating a hamburger or beef shawarma is actually affecting the ozone layer - even more than driving your car.

The most damaging thing in meat production is the methane, a greenhouse gas, emitted by cattle into the atmosphere.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) the greenhouse emissions generated by livestock reportedly creates 18 per cent more greenhouse gases than transport.

Methane is about 20 times more toxic than carbon dioxide so urgent action is needed to remedy the situation, say experts. Henning Steinfeld, Chief of the FAO's Livestock Information and Policy Branch said livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems.

A study by Japanese scientists showed that to produce 1 kilogram of beef created more than 35kg of carbon dioxide.

So what can you do to reduce your carbon footprint as a meat eater? Kangaroo meat could be the solution.

Different systems

An Australian scientist, Dr George Wilson of the Australian Wildlife Services, recently revealed that eating kangaroo instead of beef could significantly help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Kangaroos produce virtually no methane because their digestive systems are different to sheep and cows. Australia already produces 30 million kangaroos farmed by landholders in the outback.

Dr Wilson told the BBC: "It tastes excellent, not unlike venison - only a different flavour."

But beef is not all bad. Lean red meat such as beef, lamb and veal contains a wide range of essential nutrients and is a major source of high-quality protein, said Sara Adhami, Australian Accredited Practising Dietician with the APC clinic in Dubai's Healthcare City.

Australian and American healthy eating guidelines recommend red meat consumption of three to four servings of 120g per week.

"People in Western societies tend to be eating more than this recommendation," said Adhami.

In its Livestock's Long Shadow Environmental Issues and Options report the FAO states that the global livestock sector is growing faster than any other agricultural sub-sector, however the livestock business is among the most damaging sectors to the earth's increasingly scarce water resources, contributing among other things to water pollution and the degeneration of coral reefs.

The Footprint Network, the people behind the ecological impact calculator, states that if people pledged to reduce the amount of animal products they eat by half, 18 million fewer global hectares would be needed, the equivalent of 8 million football fields.

You need to "think globally" say the founders of earth 911.com - a website that provides recycling tips by way of a green recycling locator box.

The box helps people find where they can recycle by entering a product and their location.

A division of Global Alerts, a media company based in Scottsdale, Arizona, Earth 911 centralises information and resources into a single, user-friendly, neutral and non-governmental network.

It delivers "actionable local information on recycling" that encourages consumers to act locally, live responsibly and contribute to sustainability.

Contests

Kerbside recycling now serves half of the US population. The most commonly included materials are "The Big Five": aluminium cans, glass bottles, paper, plastic and steel/tin cans.

National contests further the cause by way of prize money - students are encouraged to go green and earn money. Some contests allow classrooms and schools to team up.

Compiled by Nasheet Jaffer Khan/Community Solutions Editor

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