Kangaroo Farming Could Reduce Global Warming
What if you could drastically reduce greenhouse gases just by changing your eating habits?
According to a new study by the University of New South Wales, farming kangaroos instead of sheep or cattle could lower national greenhouse gases in Australia by 3 percent a year.
Methane from burps and farts of cows and sheep is an often overlooked contributor to global warming, but it accounts for 67% of Australia’s agricultural sector methane emissions. It also contributes 11% of Australia’s total emissions. In contrast, kangaroos barely produce any methane.
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Of course, changing an entire nation’s eating habits isn’t easy. Australia sells relatively little kangaroo meat for consumption compared to other types of meat, and then there’s the issue of kangaroos being a national icon. But Australia produces 1.5 of the world’s carbon emissions, so drastic steps certainly shouldn’t be out of the question. If the farming project actually takes off, the authors of the University of New South Wales study estimate that rangelands could support 240 million kangaroos—and only 175 million kangaroos are needed to produce the same amount of meat currently harvested from rangelands.
Fortunately for those of us living outside of Australia, other countries are embarking on similar projects to reduce methane by farming low-emissions animals. Examples include springbok in South Africa, red deer in the UK, and bison in the United States. With CO2 emissions from other industries showing no signs of slowing down, eating a red deer burger doesn’t sound so bad.
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This is stupid. Did it occur to the researchers that kangaroos aren’t farmed like cattle and sheep for a reason. Perhaps we ought to just exterminate all cattle because they fart too much.
Kangaroo meat would be a good stepping stone on the way to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but growing meat (in a tube or on a lattice) would be a much better alternative.
I going to be incredibly presumptuous here and forgive me if I’m wrong, but I’m going to assume that since you don’t know the name of the largest state in Australia you also have never tried Kangaroo meat, it is the definition of an acquired taste; that is the reason Kangaroo meat is not popular, we wouldn’t have a problem eating a “nation icon” if it tasted alright.
“Thanks Michael, I just fixed that.”
“the authors of the University of South Wales study”
You did it twice…
What’s kangaroo meat taste like? And if you say “chicken” just to be cute, I hope you get dugg down into oblivion.
The huge 24 hour -a-day CO2 producers are coal and natural gas fueled power generating stations. Eat what you will, the CO2 produced by livestock is far overshadowed by power generators. If the U.S. had chosen to be a moral people, and leaving Iraqi oil alone, and following Al Gore, decided to develop the South Western deserts, with the technology of the times - solar/thermal-molten sodium - electricity installations, for the same amount of money as that war cost, ($650 Billion), today, we would be tapping into the largest, renewable, sustainable, energy source the world has ever known. It would have paid every energy bill in the U.S.A. for maintenance fees only - FOREVER! It would be equivalent to an oil field that can NEVER run dry! Low cost electric power, and storeable hydrogen gasoline replacement from the electricity, for all!
After the millions of murders, and $650 billions of dollars, borrowed from our children’s futures and pissed away, with thousands of our own and others maimed and disfigured for life, millions of families utterly destroyed, ours and theirs, we are no closer to Iraqi oil production than the Iraqis are!
The next time you hear a blithering idiot spoiled brat, drunken, drug addicted, sociopath, rich Arabic saber dancing daddie’s boy oilman, stand at a microphone and threaten YOUR safety with someone ELSE’S weapons, remember what you lost America, remember, and weep! (also see http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan)
I’m always amazed by the anger elicited by suggesting that becoming vegetarian is am ethical, and definitely more triumphant solution to global warming.
It seems people don’t like to be reminded that they are doing evil by eating animals which were tortured until being murdered(unless you eat humanely, organically “free ranged” animals).
There’s nothing wrong with pointing out truth, “annoying as it is to hear.” It’s cow meat is tasty, but so is human baby meat, the “taste factor” isn’t an excuse.
If you have empathy, when eating meat becomes conscious, as oppsed to habitual, it become impossible.
The biggest problem with that is - kangaroo tastes terrible!!!
I’m serious. I’ve eaten it, and it is extremely gamey and tough. No thanks.
I live in Australia and it’s hard to find kangaroo meat and when you do, it’s expensive.
In certain parts of the country, they are in pest proportions and need to be culled. Do I see a steak out of that? No.
Kangaroo is also a superior and lean meat compared to beef.
Plus they wear jackets, steal money and you can ride about in their pouches.
Kangaroo meat has been the preferred red meat for discerning Australian diners for the last 40,000 years.
But seriously, it is a straight swap for beef - anything that works with beef works with kangaroo. It’s these little steps in the right direction that make the larger, harder ones (like driving smaller cars) easier to sell to the general public.
[...] Luckily we Australia only needs 175m Kangaroos to produce the same amount of meat as that currently harvested from rangelands. (Via CleanTechnica). [...]