RE: Do you agree with Richard Dawkins?
April 24, 2012 at 6:11 pm
(This post was last modified: April 24, 2012 at 6:24 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
Let's get specific. Do you think that it is livestock, or the current livestock production practices that cause this increase in greenhouse gasses?
Let me ask you this in another way. Where was all the greenhouse gas when herds of buffalo larger than the eye could see traipsed all over the US?
Do you imagine that livestock are "creating" greenhouse gasses when pasture raised? Has anyone ever explained the "short term" or "terrestrial" carbon cycle to you, and how it applies to agriculture and livestock production? By comparison, do you imagine that the grower of soybeans, utilizing motorized equipment, would be contributing less or more to this problem (regardless of whose mouth the crop finds it's way into- this one is actually me being very kind to you, we use the livestock's feces as fertilizer, returning it to the carbon cycle even though in many cases we sourced it from fossil fuels, we do not do this with our own, in this way, livestock is capable of aiding in capture-)? This is just one farm. Extrapolate that to the worldwide agricultural landscape.
Are you willing to expend the amount of energy, irrigation, and fertility required to bring pastureland up to cropland standards? Where will it all come from, and what will we do with all the wildlife on the pasture (you may not see it, but I promise that it's there)?
Can you give us a rough synopsis of the available amount of land that would be suitable for soya production? Could you suggest any previously un-leveraged regions that would make for soya "bread-baskets- so to speak (should we -gasp- find ourselves in need of increasing production)?
Just for comparison, pasture land is easily the most meager of land available. Any place that suitable stands of vegetation grow is suitable for pasture. Amusingly, fertilization and irrigation, and cultivation actually decrease lands suitability for pasture (which is why we've been steadily moving away from this practice-in addition to its being an added cost- for decades). What happens, when you engage in these things, is that biodiversity instantly decreases, and as this decreases some valuable nutrient sources (to the pastured animals, not ourselves..we can't eat that garbage) disappear. Your appeals to fertilizer and pesticides only apply to battery bred grain and soy fed livestock.
Let me ask you this in another way. Where was all the greenhouse gas when herds of buffalo larger than the eye could see traipsed all over the US?
Do you imagine that livestock are "creating" greenhouse gasses when pasture raised? Has anyone ever explained the "short term" or "terrestrial" carbon cycle to you, and how it applies to agriculture and livestock production? By comparison, do you imagine that the grower of soybeans, utilizing motorized equipment, would be contributing less or more to this problem (regardless of whose mouth the crop finds it's way into- this one is actually me being very kind to you, we use the livestock's feces as fertilizer, returning it to the carbon cycle even though in many cases we sourced it from fossil fuels, we do not do this with our own, in this way, livestock is capable of aiding in capture-)? This is just one farm. Extrapolate that to the worldwide agricultural landscape.
Are you willing to expend the amount of energy, irrigation, and fertility required to bring pastureland up to cropland standards? Where will it all come from, and what will we do with all the wildlife on the pasture (you may not see it, but I promise that it's there)?
Can you give us a rough synopsis of the available amount of land that would be suitable for soya production? Could you suggest any previously un-leveraged regions that would make for soya "bread-baskets- so to speak (should we -gasp- find ourselves in need of increasing production)?
Just for comparison, pasture land is easily the most meager of land available. Any place that suitable stands of vegetation grow is suitable for pasture. Amusingly, fertilization and irrigation, and cultivation actually decrease lands suitability for pasture (which is why we've been steadily moving away from this practice-in addition to its being an added cost- for decades). What happens, when you engage in these things, is that biodiversity instantly decreases, and as this decreases some valuable nutrient sources (to the pastured animals, not ourselves..we can't eat that garbage) disappear. Your appeals to fertilizer and pesticides only apply to battery bred grain and soy fed livestock.
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