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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Uncle B, I’m curious as to what your source is. According to the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC), agriculture is the leading contributor of greenhouse gases. Note that is not just CO2, but includes other gases like methane, which the panel suggests is far more potent.
Please note that livestock also is environmentally damaging in that it is inefficient- we generally hvae to farm food to feed the livestock we eat. Look to your biology courses for why it’s inefficient to eat other animals (or a physics course, if you want the real basics). The basics of it is degrees of seperation from your energy source. If your food passes through an animal and you eat the animal, some of the energy goes to the animal.
I am also curious as to the source for the multiple claims that basically stated “we’re supposed to eat meat.” I will not argue that we are capable of eating meat to some degree, but I would argue the that we’re “supposed to,” as that’s just a vague claim. I’ve also heard the claim that humans are “supposed to” do whatever they want with the earth. What’s the basis for “supposed to”?
So, back to the topic at hand. Kangaroo meat is more environmentally friendly than cow’s meat, so power to you for making the switch. Just realize there are a host of environmental and ethical problems with kangaroo meat anyway, so if you’re already altering your life style, consider at least a few vegetarian meals a week. (There may or may not be health problems associated with kangaroo meat, I’ve not read any specific study).
As for making the whole earth vegetarian, I thought we agreed it was one step at a time? I recommend you try a few vegetarian meals a week. If you’d like to look into it, I’d love to see an article on the impacts of eating vegetarian one day a week (so three meals).
I find frustrated ranty absolute demands to change behaviour do not make for a good argument and are q quick way to being ignored, so please try a bit harder.
Unsupported statements of fact are better, but not great “Just realize there are a host of environmental and ethical problems with kangaroo meat anyway”, got a reference on that Shanti?
We have the canines, incisors and molars of meat and vegetable eating omnivores. We can process the proteins and fats into meat into useful energy. Is meat the only way to get that? No. Is meat easy and flavoursome? Yes. Is lots of meat bad for us? Yes.
Kangaroo is tasty when prepared right, but that is a different way to most popular meats with high fat content (hot fat and oil carries flavour). It doesn’t work as burgers or sausage, because they rely on high fat content for texture as well as flavour.
Coles sells marinated roo steak and kebabs which are cheaper than the other meats except the cheap low quality cuts. There is not a large supply as skippy is too cute for many and cooking it is probably too hard for many others so they are put off by first efforts.
I think the RSPCA has reviewed and supports the current commercial harvesting method by professional shooters (not the half-arsed beer swilling yobo’s often portrayed as “roo shooters”).