World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - (Page 20) A recent report from the United Nations contained a stunning statistic: One industry is responsible for nearly 20 percent of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere worldwide. It isn’t long-haul trucking, or air travel, or steel-smelting factories, or any of the other exhaust-belching suspects usually associated with environmental woes. It is the livestock industry. In “livestock’s long Shadow,” released in 2006, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations reported that raising and processing cattle, hogs, poultry and other animals produces 18 percent of greenhouse gases; just 13 percent comes from trucks, cars and other transportation. And greenhouse gases—those produced directly by animals, and indirectly through the need to transport grain and meat—are only part of the problem. The livestock industry’s transgressions include the deforestation of grazing land, the pollution of air and groundwater from animal waste, the excessive use of water to raise grain for feed and its threat on biodiversity. livestock—and the world’s rising demand for meat—contribute in many ways, the report stated, to global warming and the general deterioration of the environment. And yet, the report also points out that the production of livestock has enormous economic importance. Besides being big business at the industrial level, it is a crucial source of income and a means of survival for vast numbers—nearly a billion—of the world’s poor, for whom it is the only livelihood available. To begin to reduce the impact of livestock on the environment is to untangle a particularly knotty ball of twine. As the FAO points out, the issue is bound up with food supply, food safety and poverty reduction, creating an extraordinarily complex problem (the report ran to 400 pages). A solution is hardly as simple as condemning big business’s practices or turning a blind eye to the minor blunders of struggling small farmers. Where, then, to begin? 20 May/June 2008 | WOrlD Ark www.heifer.org GETTy IMAGES http://www.heifer.org
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 Contents Letters For the Record The Good Life Asked & Answered Why Water Matters The Carbon Hoofprint From Farm to Table Healing History Mixed Media Heifer Spirit Heifer Bulletin World Ark Market Calendar First Person World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 (Page Cover1) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 (Page Cover2) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Contents (Page 1) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Letters (Page 2) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Letters (Page 3) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - For the Record (Page 4) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - For the Record (Page 5) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - The Good Life (Page 6) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - The Good Life (Page 7) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Asked & Answered (Page 8) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Asked & Answered (Page 9) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Why Water Matters (Page 10) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Why Water Matters (Page 11) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Why Water Matters (Page 12) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Why Water Matters (Page 13) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Why Water Matters (Page 14) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Why Water Matters (Page 15) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Why Water Matters (Page 16) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Why Water Matters (Page 17) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - The Carbon Hoofprint (Page 18) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - The Carbon Hoofprint (Page 19) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - The Carbon Hoofprint (Page 20) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - The Carbon Hoofprint (Page 21) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - The Carbon Hoofprint (Page 22) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - The Carbon Hoofprint (Page 23) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - The Carbon Hoofprint (Page 24) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - The Carbon Hoofprint (Page 25) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - The Carbon Hoofprint (Page 26) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - The Carbon Hoofprint (Page 27) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - From Farm to Table (Page 28) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - From Farm to Table (Page 29) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - From Farm to Table (Page 30) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - From Farm to Table (Page 31) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Healing History (Page 32) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Healing History (Page 33) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Healing History (Page 34) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Healing History (Page 35) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Healing History (Page 36) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Healing History (Page 37) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Mixed Media (Page 38) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Mixed Media (Page 39) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Heifer Spirit (Page 40) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Heifer Spirit (Page 41) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Heifer Spirit (Page 42) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Heifer Bulletin (Page 43) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Heifer Bulletin (Page 44) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Heifer Bulletin (Page 45) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - World Ark Market (Page 46) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - World Ark Market (Page 47) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - World Ark Market (Page 48) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - World Ark Market (Page 49) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Calendar (Page 50) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - Calendar (Page 51) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - First Person (Page 52) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - First Person (Page Cover3) World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - First Person (Page Cover4)
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