Finally, a focus on agriculture emissions

This story in today's New York Times examines the drastic toll that agribusiness continues to take on the environment. Today there are trillions of animals around the world raised solely for human consumption. Trillions! According to the article, consumption of red meat in developing countries like China, India and Brazil has risen 33 percent in the last decade. This steady increase in demand for meat is pumping more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere than cars, buses and airplanes.


There are bright spots, such as a group of green-minded farmers in the Netherlands who, according to the Times, have banded together to "cook" the manure from their 3,000 pigs to capture the methane and use the gas to create electricity. We need more innovation like this to ensure that an industry that takes so much can start to give back in ways that will help everyone.


And it's time for more mainstream media to take note and to cover these issues. Focused, sustained press coverage will generate greater oversight and (hopefully) necessary regulation that will reduce cruelty, improve the safety of the meat that's produced on factory farms and lessen pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.