February 19, 2007
Organic Farming causes global warming
Well, maybe that's overstating it a bit.
But only a little.
From the Independent comes this bit of delicious irony.
Organic food may be no better for the environment than conventional produce and in some cases is contributing more to global warming than intensive agriculture, according to a government report.
[...]
Tomatoes
* 122sq m of land is needed to produce a tonne of organic vine tomatoes. The figure for conventionally-grown loose tomatoes is 19sq m.
* Energy needed to grow organic tomatoes is 1.9 times that of conventional methods.
* Organic tomatoes grown in heated greenhouses in Britain generate one hundred times the amount of CO2 per kilogram produced by tomatoes in unheated greenhouses in southern Spain.
Milk
* Requires 80 per cent more land to produce per unit than conventional milk.
* Produces nearly 20 per cent more carbon dioxide and almost double the amount of other by-products that can lead to acidification of soil and pollution of water courses.
Chickens
* Organic birds require 25 per cent more energy to rear and grow than conventional methods.
* The amount of CO2 generated per bird is 6.7kg for organic compared to 4.6kg for conventional battery or barn hens.
* Eutrophication, the potential for nutrient-rich by-products to pollute water courses, is measured at 86 for organic compared to 49 for conventional.
* The depletion of natural resources is measured at 99 for organic birds compared to 29 for battery or barn hens.
Oh, that's good. I'm going to climb into my SUV and drive to the local mega-super-duper-giganta-market -- passing by the Gaia-raping Whole Foods ("We're all-natural, committed to diversity, really expensive, and much smarter than you red-state rubes!") -- and stock up on the latest factory-farmed animals and Con-Agra genetically-engineered-and-improved veggies.
It's the least I can do to save the Earth.
Heh.
Posted by Mike Lief at February 19, 2007 12:39 PM
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