Livestock industry not the worst offender
13/07/2009
A team of investigators from the University of São Paulo has claimed that the livestock industry is not the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil, as some critics of the beef industry and leather sector have claimed.
“Cattle are not doing a great deal of damage to the ozone layer,” said the investigation team’s spokesperson, Marcelo Galdos, on presenting the findings of a new study. “There is a distorted image out there of the harm that cattle can do to the environment and there are those who claim that people should stop eating beef to help. In truth, they’d make much more of a difference if they changed they way they travel, for example.”
The study went on to claim that intensive livestock production can help the beef industry reduce its carbon emissions because waste material from cattle can be used to produce biofuel. “The methane in the waste material that might otherwise affect the atmosphere can be used to generate power,” Mr Galdos said, “and can replace other raw materials in energy production.”
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