Home/Posts Tagged ‘dairy’
Posts Tagged ‘dairy’
Climate Change, Health, Pollution, Jul 29th, 2011,
What you eat can affect the environment in greatly varying degrees. Different foods have different ecological footprints in terms of greenhouse gases, land use, water, pesticides, fuel consumption, etc. A recent US study estimated the environmental footprints of various types of food – with some interesting results. Lamb and beef were found to have by far the largest eco-footprints per kilo, followed by cheese, pork, farmed salmon and turkey; continuing in a more-or-less gradual slope towards tomatoes and lentils, which rounded out the bottom of the list. The study does not give very extensive information on the different ecological footprints…
Tags: dairy, ecological footprint, environmental footprint, farms, food, meat, study
Health, Politics, Jun 17th, 2011,
No matter if you eat a 5 pounds of meat per day or are a strict vegan, intensive livestock farming is putting your life at risk. This is due to the routine and preemptive use of large amounts of antibiotics on factory farms, which contributes to the evolution resistant strains of bacteria like MSRA. In the US, MSRA is believed to be killing more people than AIDS. For years the medical profession has come under criticism for overprescribing antibiotics or doling them out unnecessarily. ERs are notoriously overburdened by patients demanding antibiotics for the treatment of illnesses that may not…
Tags: antibiotics, bacteria, dairy, factory farms, industrial, meat, MSRA, pig, resistant, superbug, vegan
Climate Change, Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, May 17th, 2011,
Back in the 80s Morrissey wrote the lyrics to the Smiths song “Meat is Murder”, while KRS-1 called meat eating suicide or “self-murder” in the BDP track “My Philosophy”. These thoughtful musicians were talking about cruelty and spirituality. They were coming from emotional and philosophical standpoints, but today their words ring true in ever more complex ways. Doctors, dieticians, climate and environmental scientists, and researchers from across the gamut of the physical, natural and engineering sciences are discovering more and more how the human diet affects the health of not only our bodies, but that of our planet. Factory farming,…
Tags: climate, dairy, documentary, film, meat, meat is murder, planeat, trailer, vegetarianism
Politics, Pollution, Feb 17th, 2011,
Two bits of good eco-news in the UK this week: Despite the fact that these islands are largely going down the tubes as they become more and more a playground for the rich while the rest form a scrum for the crumbs, we have a couple of points of light. First, there will be no massive US-style factory farm in Lincolnshire due to fierce opposition from locals. The giant mega-dairy was feared to be a font of pollution and a harbinger of more factory farms to come. Despite this small victory, there is another plan for a similar farm in…
Tags: Britain, cows, dairy, factory farm, forest, protest, sell off, UK
Green living, Politics, Sep 29th, 2010,
Are US-style factory dairy farms coming to the UK? Plans for a ‘super dairy’ in Lincolnshire, England has some consumers’ blood curdling. Animal rights activists have compared the proposed dairy to the cramped conditions of battery chicken and pig farms. Others fear that such a large farm might put small, independent family farms out of business. The dairy industry in the UK compares well to large American and European farms where cows are kept inside and eat little grass, and are seen as cruel and ultimately unhealthy for consumers. From an article in the Telegraph: The average dairy herd size…
Tags: consumer, cows, dairy, factory, farms, grass, milk, super, UK
Green living, Aug 18th, 2010,
A: The environmental impact of meat and dairy products is a complex problem. The livestock industry is damaging our planet in many ways. It is polluting the air – according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report, it generates more greenhouse gas emissions, including CO2 (18%) and methane, than the whole world’s transport (13,5 %). It is polluting the water – gigantic containers called “lagoons”, where livestock animals’ manure and urine are stored, may leak or even break under heavy rains and storms. The waste is highly toxic and very often contains lots of antibiotics and dangerous bacteria….
Tags: Air Pollution, biodiversity, co2, dairy, ecosystem collapse, environment, lagoons, livestock, meat, methane, overfishing, TOXIC, water pollution
Climate Change, Conservation, Jul 23rd, 2010,
Much of the feed for British livestock comes from soybeans imported from South America – mainly Brazil and Argentina. According to an article in the Telegraph, 350,000 hectares of rainforest is being cut down to grow soy for UK animal feed. Environmental group Friends of the Earth (FoE) has published a report entitled ‘Pastures New’ detailing how the British meat and dairy industry indirectly causes rainforest destruction in South America. The report incorporates new research by the Royal Agricultural College stating that only 8% of the UK’s agricultural land is used to grow animal feed. FOE urged the government to…
Tags: amazon, animal, beans, Brazil, British, dairy, deforestation, Earth, farmers, feed, FoE, Friends, meat, rainforest, South America, soy, UK
Climate Change, Politics, Science & Technology, Jun 3rd, 2010,
A UN report entitled ‘Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production’, released Wednesday, states that eating less meat and dairy is necessary to avoid catastrophic effects of climate change, global hunger and energy shortages. From an article in the Guardian: As the global population surges towards a predicted 9.1 billion people by 2050, western tastes for diets rich in meat and dairy products are unsustainable, says the report from United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) international panel of sustainable resource management. There’s been a bit of a back and forth regarding how much the meat and dairy industries contribute to…
Tags: Climate change, consumption, dairy, emissions, environment, environmental, food, global warming, impact, meat, production, report, UN, unsustainable, vegetarian
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Apr 11th, 2010,
One third of greenhouse gasses in New Zealand come from livestock, according to the below report from CNN Eco Solutions. Home to just 4 million people, New Zealand has 38 million sheep 9 million cows, which fuel large export industries in dairy, meat and wool. These animals produce vast amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas 21 times stronger than CO2. Scientists in New Zealand are attempting to produce a vaccine that inhibits the microscopic methanogens that live inside the stomachs of sheep and cows from producing methane. CNN – Tackling belching cows Vaccinating the world’s cow population is one approach…
Tags: CNN, cows, dairy, emissions, gas, greenhouse, livestock, meat, methane, New Zealand, sheep
Climate Change, Green living, Health, Politics, ,
Is American-style industrialized livestock farming coming to Europe? There are plans to open a massive ‘feedlot’ dairy farm in Lincolnshire, England where some 8,100 cows would be housed and fed a mix of alfalfa and maize instead of grazing on grass in open pastures as is customary in the UK. The industrial factory farm would be the first of its kind in Western Europe. It may seem like a surprising development at a time when food and environmental awareness is so strong. Intensive farming is generally seen as bad for both human and animal health as well as for the…
Tags: animal, dairy, England, environmental, Europe, factory, farm, farmers, farming, farms, intensive, Nocton, UK, welfare
Green living, Health, Jan 15th, 2010,
According to a piece in the London Times ‘two thirds of dairy farmers in England and Wales have gone out of business in the past decade,’ with another failing every day. The culprit? For one, it’s cheap milk. Prices are so low on standard, non-organic milk that dairy farmers in the UK have trouble turning a profit. Surplus milk products, on the other hand – butter, cream, cheese and yoghurt – are much better earners. The problem is that so many of these products sold in Britain are produced in other countries – from Ireland to as far away as…
Tags: BBC, Bloom, Britain, British, cattle, cheap, climate, cows, dairy, Health, industry, milk, organic, Times, UK
