Climate Change nuts like Al Gore... listen up
(an article from TreeHugger)
Presumably, many will have resolved to eat less meat during the coming year in the interest of protecting the climate from cattle farts. If this climate-friendly resolution became a growing trend, year by year, increasing proportions of the human population would meet dietary requirements by upping their bean, rice, and squash intakes, for example. Could vegetarianism heroics - billions more going mostly meatless - really scale up to save the climate? Take your minds forward with me into a gas cloud where no man has gone before, propelled by indigestible carbohydrates, as we explore the feasibility of answering that question.
Imagine a half century has passed. It is the year 2060 and world beef consumption has fallen dramatically: a good outcome for climate-sake, according to some. However, life cycle fart assessments have led some to question the wisdom of the transition, as dairy production was shown to have increased greatly to meet growing vegetarian dietary needs, indirectly raising human methane and carbon dioxide contributions. More cow farts from Farmer Brown's dairy.
More important, the relative significance of direct human flatulence to the total carbon dioxide and methane loads was shown to have increased dramatically by a massive human shift to a highly legume- and cabbage-dependent diet. More vegetarian farts, in other words.
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