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  • SATURDAY JULY 21 2007 4:00 PM

Saving the Earth Through Cannibalism, Chuckle Chuckle

Submitted by Rahodeb

Edited by Rahodeb



You know it's bad when the best the HuffPo can do is crack lukewarm jokes about cannibalism. Apparently the Animal Science Journal—the official journal of the Japanese Society of Animal Science—features in its most recent issue an article on the environmental destruction caused by raising cattle. What did the research paper conclude? Oh, just that the production of beef typically contributes more to global warming than cars do.

A study commissioned by the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba, Japan, and published in the Animal Science Journal, found that producing 2.2 pounds of beef generates more carbon dioxide than an average car does every 160 miles.

The main source of greenhouse gas emissions is the methane released from an animal's digestive system.

The study showed that producing 2.2 pounds of beef also consumed nearly 170 megajoules of energy, most of it spent on producing and transporting cattle feed. It's the same amount of energy that a 100-watt light bulb would consume if it were left on for 20 days, the U.K.'s New Scientist magazine reported.

So, in (not so) easy-to-digest terms, nine McDonald's Quarter Pounders® cause the same amount of environmental damage as driving your gas-guzzler for 160 miles and leaving a 100-watt light bulb on for 20 days.

Beef, apparently, is what's for dinner in hell.

Considering the environmental problems caused by cattle production, as well as the growing problem of overpopulation, Greg Gutfeld blogging over at the Huffington Post proposes that we eradicate both threats through cannibalism.

Like acupuncture and Yoga, cannibalism has been around for many centuries. And as you know, we progressives are willing to embrace anything associated with ancient, spiritual cultures. And believe me, you can't get much more ancient or spiritual than a self-consuming practice that protects animals while paying tribute to our lovely planet. What I'm talking about is a healing process for the earth.

But in a pot.

With carrots and maybe some spring potatoes.

What about the fava beans, Greg? You can't have People Pot Pie without a side of fava beans, can you?

Greg suggests we launch this new, worldwide environmental practice of cannibalism by eating Al Gore.

Who do you think should comprise our first course?

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farrukh

farrukh

United Kingdom
October 2004

JUL 21, 2007 04:10 PM

hmmm....knew there was a reason i was craving steak tonight! thanks for the push.

d20

d20

San Francisco, CA
September 2003

JUL 21, 2007 04:49 PM

i, for one, look forward to a future where humanity has overpopulated to the point of having to subsist only on blue-green algae, farmed en-masse from the ocean.

side note: now that there's even more cold, hard science behind the argument that eating meat is unsustainable, does that mean i can be an extra preachy vegetarian? is this like the dietary equivalent of leveling up in a videogame?

Cassiel

Cassiel

Aurora, CO
September 2004

JUL 21, 2007 04:59 PM

cue the vegetarian/vegan propaganda whatever


zoom image

dingoes8

dingoes8

Milwaukee, WI
March 2004

JUL 21, 2007 05:07 PM

Cassiel said:
cue the vegetarian/vegan propaganda whatever [/IMG]



Who needs propaganda when there are published facts backing you up? wink

It's been known for years that producing beef in such quantities is extremely bad for the ecosystem and a terribly inefficient foodsource. It's always good to add more reports to the long line of evidence, but really, what does it matter? No one ever takes it to heart and actually changes. Many of the people who would be first in line to call out the SUV drivers would read this report, go "Huh", then forget it and eat a hamburger.

Nothing changes.

emperorreagan

emperorreagan

Baltimore, MD
January 2004

JUL 21, 2007 05:39 PM

Between the environmental damage, the prion thing as well as the association with the spread of other disease through contamination, the negative health impact of consuming beef, the inhumane conditions of industrialized agriculture, and the abuse of hormones and antibiotics, it seems that it should be an easy conclusion to reach that consuming beef (dairy, too, for most of the same reasons) is a bad idea.

farrukh

farrukh

United Kingdom
October 2004

JUL 21, 2007 05:53 PM

ah, yeah, that was a good rib-eye...now where were we???

Flux

Flux

SUICIDEGIRL

Georgia, USA

JUL 21, 2007 05:58 PM

d20 said:
i, for one, look forward to a future where humanity has overpopulated to the point of having to subsist only on blue-green algae, farmed en-masse from the ocean.



Yep, algae. wink

wottan

wottan

Vancouver, BC
July 2004

JUL 21, 2007 06:36 PM

d20 said:
side note: now that there's even more cold, hard science behind the argument that eating meat is unsustainable, does that mean i can be an extra preachy vegetarian? is this like the dietary equivalent of leveling up in a videogame?



Doesnt really say -that-, more that the mass-production of one specific meat(beef) in the current system is very damaging to the environment, just like the system for many things. Not that im trying to lessen the significance, its just this is more a criticism of the system than of beef eaters specifically, or meat eaters in general.


Man I just got a flash of a new genetic designer product: Low-emission cows thats kind of scary.

Syal

Syal

I'm lost
June 2005

JUL 21, 2007 06:49 PM



Considering the environmental problems caused by cattle production, as well as the growing problem of overpopulation, Greg Gutfeld blogging over at the Huffington Post proposes that we eradicate both threats through cannibalism.


This, makes perfect sense..but, in order for everyone to truely profit from cannibalism, we must do it the way Jonathan Swift describes it in A Modest Proposal. This way, we will still have huge gaps between rich and poor and society can continue being the way that it is.

d20

d20

San Francisco, CA
September 2003

JUL 21, 2007 06:59 PM

Flux said:

d20 said:
i, for one, look forward to a future where humanity has overpopulated to the point of having to subsist only on blue-green algae, farmed en-masse from the ocean.



Yep, algae. wink



maybe not so much with the blue part then...

d20

d20

San Francisco, CA
September 2003

JUL 21, 2007 07:02 PM

wottan said:

d20 said:
side note: now that there's even more cold, hard science behind the argument that eating meat is unsustainable, does that mean i can be an extra preachy vegetarian? is this like the dietary equivalent of leveling up in a videogame?



Doesnt really say -that-, more that the mass-production of one specific meat(beef) in the current system is very damaging to the environment, just like the system for many things. Not that im trying to lessen the significance, its just this is more a criticism of the system than of beef eaters specifically, or meat eaters in general.



this specific study, yes. there is however a wealth of information out there regarding the pollution caused by any and all factory farming. such as this.

MrCrisp

MrCrisp

I'm lost
August 2004

JUL 21, 2007 07:12 PM

Cassiel said:
cue the vegetarian/vegan propaganda whatever


zoom image



buddhak

buddhak

Pasadena, CA
November 2005

JUL 21, 2007 07:22 PM

So, then the solution that people should be speaking of is not consumption of spirulina (that FACTORY FARMED blue-green algae), but a destruction of the capitalistic system (which says nothing is more important than profit) which led to the kinds of farming that one sees along I-5 in California's Central Valley. Don't blame meat eaters, blame greedy bastards trying to make as much money as they can.

otaku

otaku

USA
January 2004

JUL 21, 2007 07:23 PM

There's a reason why God gave us Veggie burgers.
Mmmmm, veggie burgers....

Dovanna

Dovanna

Minneapolis, MN
March 2007

JUL 21, 2007 07:30 PM

Syal said:
This, makes perfect sense..but, in order for everyone to truely profit from cannibalism, we must do it the way Jonathan Swift describes it in A Modest Proposal. This way, we will still have huge gaps between rich and poor and society can continue being the way that it is.



Baby eating time!


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