Smelly Cowsby Dharmendra Kapri | 10-10-2014 01:25 |
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 When we talk about looking after our world we usually think about recycling, not using our cars too much and switching off lights. But did you know that a lot of pollution is caused when cows and other farm animals ?break wind??! (In other words when they burp and fart!) This is because they release a very damaging gas called methane . This gas is 23 times worse than carbon dioxide so many people think we should eat less meat to help prevent further climate change. Did You Know? Farm animals breaking wind causes more pollution than all the cars, trucks, planes, trains and buses put together! Huge amounts of land are needed for herds of cows to graze on. In South America, particularly Brazil, vast areas of rainforest are chopped down to do just that. Many of these cows are turned into beefburgers for people to eat in North America. You need a lot of food to feed an animal up and turn it into meat. Not only does that use land but also lots of water to look after the animal and grow its food. To get 1 kg of beef you need 15 times more water than you?d need to grow 1 kg wheat. To get 1 beefburger 2,400 litres of water will have been used. To grow farm animals? food a lot of artificial fertilizers and pesticides are used which are bad for the environment unless the meat is ?organic? This Sunday I'm planning to go to a local butcher and will try to find out from which farms they get their meat , how the animals are kept and what they are fed. Have a ?meat free day? at least once a week. What could you eat instead? |
