Farming causes air pollution?
Yep, it obviously is all those cow farts! Like this:
That's a fun picture above that really explains global warming! But, all kidding aside, it is the cow burps that count and not the farts! Like this:
But why is methane belching so important?
Some say that ratio should be 30:1. But the long and short of it is that livestock production has a major impact on greenhouse gas emissions.
Sure, we all need protein to give our bodies energy. But can we be more careful about where we get our protein from?
Eating chicken is almost 10 times better for the environment than eating beef!
And fish are even better than chicken, about 25g. Consider eating more sardines, like this:
The amount of air pollution and overall environmental impact caused by farming depends on several factors including:
Meat and Milk Production - livestock, especially cows, convert carbon from digested grass and grain into methane.
You can see the methane production for individual humans is much smaller than other creatures but there are over 7 billion of us! Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes far more to global warming than an equivalent weight of carbon dioxide.
What about some other sources of agricultural pollution? Consider this:
Let's briefly look at other farm-related pollution:
Fertilizer and Pesticides
Yep, those pesticides and fertilizers help increase food production. But using too much causes the excess to get into our water supplies. Drinking water laced with DDT pesticide is not good for your long term health!
Fossil Fuels - I am sure most readers spotted this one! Of course those big diesel tractors emit a lot of nasty fumes into the air, like this:
Then, there are all those big transport trucks hauling livestock and grain to feed the livestock:
And how do you think milk gets to you? Or the burgers from the fast-food joints? Big transport trucks!
It could be awhile before biodiesel or electric trucks make a dent in transport pollution!
Deforestation - farmland is often increased by deforestation. Burning trees in the rain forest is a common method to clear a forest but it releases stored carbon back into the atmosphere.
Conversion of forest to farm land is rapidly occurring in many tropical locations:
The balance in the forest carbon cycle can be maintained if the number of carbon absorbing trees being planted each year equals the number being burnt or cut down.
Unfortunately we have been losing oxygen producing forest:
Replacing forest with pasture or hay for cows does not help the oxygen situation:
And the situation gets even worse!
Converting forest to farmland causes rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. The vicious cycle goes something like this:
A. Forests are cleared by burning the carbon in the tree wood.
B. Ranchers grow grass and grains to feed cows.
C. Cows make more greenhouse gas to heat up the climate.
D. The hotter climate creates more drought.
E. The remaining forest catches fire more readily in the dryer conditions.
F. The burning wood releases even more CO2 into the air, which in turn jacks up the climate temperature even more!
It's an environmental death spiral!
So how do we break the cycle? What can we do as individuals to head off more agricultural mischief?
Changing Consumer Demand - farmers and ranchers grow what we demand. Meat is used in popular food such as fast-food burgers like this:
So who is eating all that beef that is bad for the environment?
Depending where you live, you now know where you need to cut back on your meat consumption!
At this point, you are probably thinking that the best thing to do is to stop eating!
Farming began over 10,000 years ago! It is absolutely essential.
The real lesson is to change the ways we farm and what we eat!
Here is the potential impact we can have if we compare food eating habits to using a fossil fueled car:
So enjoy that steak or glass of milk ... but less often!
Source - Quora
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