Posts tagged under vegetarianism
In the food versus fuel debate, is vegetarianism the way to go?
ethanol: an acquired taste
Cows are chowing up most of the world’s cereal production, with a whopping 44% at the last estimate going directly to animal feed. Much has been written before about this being an unsustainable way to feed the planet as the world’s population increases (due to high fertility rates in some regions, especially Africa and South Asia, and population ageing) and as emerging middle class tastes for meat become apparent – consumption has quadrupled in China since 1980, and to ensure a steady supply, there’s even a national pork reserve. Disconcertingly, China imported more than 50 million tons of soybeans in 2010, mostly from the U.S. and Brazil, accounting for more than half of the global soy market to feed mostly pigs. As emerging markets switch towards more Western, meat eating diet, we see higher incidence of the chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease.
since 2001 more grain has been diverted to biofuel production
