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Organic Meat Is Climate Culprit

Livestock raised indoors is better for environment, reports say

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted May 8, 2008 10:29 AM CDT
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(Newser) – The gas production, need for space, and food requirements required by organic and free-range livestock hurt the environment more than their traditional counterparts, the BBC reports. Organic poultry can heat the earth some 45% more than indoor poultry, one group said; and a UN division found that farm animals heat the Earth more than transport. The reports have led experts to push indoor "precision husbandry."

Livestock kept outside require more food, since outdoor animals burn calories moving and keeping warm; and space used for roaming could be used to for climate-healthy forests. But indoor “intensive dairy farms,” for instance, “[allow] us to control what we do with what comes out of the cow much better,” says a researcher. But some question whether that method serves animals’ needs.

Indoor-raised meat is better for the environment than organic meat, reports say.
Indoor-raised meat is better for the environment than organic meat, reports say.   (Shutterstock.com)
Dairyman and raw milk producer Mark McAfee looks at one of his many free range, milk producing cows Saturday, Dec. 22, 2007, at his dairy in Fresno, Calif.
Dairyman and raw milk producer Mark McAfee looks at one of his many free range, milk producing cows Saturday, Dec. 22, 2007, at his dairy in Fresno, Calif.   (AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian)
A man cuts free-range ham in Alburquerque, southwest Spain, Monday, Aug. 6, 2007.
A man cuts free-range ham in Alburquerque, southwest Spain, Monday, Aug. 6, 2007.   (AP Photo/Amanda Rivkin)
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Environmentalist lists 'organic myths'
Independent (UK)

Another expert fights back
Independent (UK)

 
organic food • carbon footprint • livestock • beef • methane • dairy • deforestation • poultry • animal • pork

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