The hidden cost of hamburgers. Do Americans really eat an average of 3 burgers a week? That must mean some are eating 10 or something – anyone got the distribution curve? [h/t Ricardo Fuentes]
This blog is written and maintained by Duncan Green, strategic adviser for Oxfam GB and author of 'From Poverty to Power'. More information on Duncan and the book is available on the From Poverty to Power official website.
It is a personal reflection by the author. It is intended to provoke debate and conversations about development, not as a comprehensive statement of Oxfam's agreed policies - for those, please take a deep breath and read the Oxfam International strategic plan or consult policy papers on a range of development issues.
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August 24th, 2012 at 10:59 am
Thanks for highlighting that. Wow, that is a powerful video – very thought-provoking!
August 24th, 2012 at 11:31 pm
Great video, but in the interests of pedantry I’m compelled to point out that 98% of methane produced by ruminants’ digestive systems (through the process of enteric fermentation) is expelled through the nose and mouth. Manure is not a significant source of methane, though, as the video notes, it is a potent source of nitrous oxide.
August 25th, 2012 at 11:12 am
Richard, doesn’t it matter how the manure is treated? I had understood that the problem with the CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) in which cattle in the US are kept is that the manure from them goes into enormous lagoons. Yes, the majority of methane emissions from CAFOs is still from the cattle’s digestive gasses, but there’s still a significant amount of methane produced by these slurry pits, not to mention the stench and the potential for ground water pollution. See Wikipedia entry on CAFOs.
August 25th, 2012 at 11:17 am
The film Food Inc. (http://www.foodincmovie.co.uk/)is an excellent documentary on beef and other meat production in the USA. Available via LoveFilm or Blockbuster or to buy from Amazon.
Not sure that production in the UK is anything like that in the States, especially the use of corn/maize in feed, but it has the potential to go in that direction, especially with the tendency towards large-scale cattle rearing.
August 28th, 2012 at 8:53 pm
See ‘The hidden cost of hamburgers is greater than reported’ by Robert Goodland in the Earth Island Journal at http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/hidden_cost_of_hamburgers_is_greater_than_reported — and the video that CIR should have published at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znWPebWBTWY
August 29th, 2012 at 11:38 am
Another recommendation: Simon Fairlie’s excellent (so far, I’m half way through) book ‘Meat – A Benign Extravagance’, which is a forensic examination of the environmental impacts of livestock. His demolition of dodgy stats employed by those of all ideological persuasions is brilliant.