Meat production 'beefs up emissions'

One of the things that we can do effectively to reduce our carbon footprint is eat (far) less meat. And, given figures that have been around since the 1970's at least, when Ron Sider wrote "Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger", it is perhaps no surprise to discover beef is the worst culprit of all the meats. "Most of the greenhouse gas emissions are emitted in the form of methane from belching cattle, but the meat production process also releases fertilising compounds that can wreak havoc in river and lake ecosystems. The study, which is published in today's New Scientist magazine, shows that the production of 1kg of beef releases greenhouse gases with a warming potential equivalent to 36.4kg of carbon dioxide. The production process also led to fertilising compounds equivalent to 340g of sulphur dioxide and 59g of phosphate, and consumed 169 megajoules of energy. Over two-thirds of the energy is spent on producing and moving cattle feed." (Emph mine).
So I continue to press for Christians to add vegetarianism or a substantial move in that direction to their rules of life.

Meat production 'beefs up emissions' | Climate change | Guardian Unlimited Environment: