Greenpeace says farming causing climate change
What could be greener than a farm? Rolling countryside, amber waves of grain, cows farting softly into the setting sun... Well, looks are deceiving. A new report from Greenpeace says that agriculture is one of the biggest sources of the greenhouse gases thought to cause global warming. The report from researchers at the University of Aberdeen estimates that between 17% and 32% of all human-generated greenhouse gases come from farming. The largest part of the gases (about 32% of the farm total) comes from nitrous oxide produced by chemical fertilizers, with cow flatulence in second place at 27%. The report does not consider the significant environmental damage done by the replacement of natural forest with cash crops.
The study suggests that better land management techniques and improved fertilizers would help to mitigate the problem, as would reduced consumption of beef on the part of the carnivorous public. However, given the very real possibility of global food shortages in the near future, it's hard to imagine any changes taking place that would reduce the efficiency of food production.
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