December 14, 2007

Meat better for the environment than T-shirts

Filed under: Animals,Food & Drink,Science,Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 9:06 am
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According to the University of Twente, you’re nicer to the environment if you eat meat than wear cotton T-shirts. A cotton T-shirt takes 2,700 liters of water, while some 100 g of meat takes 1,550 liters of water and a cup of coffee 140 liters. The Wereld Natuur Fonds (World Wide Fund for Nature) plans to use the calculations in awareness-raising campaigns. “Per capita, the Netherlands uses a whole lot of very thirsty crops,” says the WNF. A Dutch person uses 100 litres of water from the tap, which is just a fraction of the 3,300 litres of water used daily in the consumption of many imported foods.

Last Monday, party leader Marianne Thieme of the Partij voor de Dieren (Dutch Party for the Animals) presented the climate film ‘Meat the Truth’, where the message was that eating meat is bad for the environment. Not so, if we believe scientists instead of politicians.

Drinking coffee is bad too because you waste water in someone else’s country (the study calls this ‘invisible water use’) and that goes for cotton T-shirts as well.

(Link: vleesmagazine.nl)

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November 30, 2007

Here’s the beef

Filed under: Food & Drink,General by Orangemaster @ 11:31 am
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A couple of butchers in the very small village of Triemen, Friesland found an odd way to cheat the local government out of about EUR 150,000. Although the couple received welfare money, they actually ran a very professional butcher’s shop out of a shed. Finally, someone who called themselves a “hard-working tax payer” tipped off the authorities. Not only did the couple receive welfare money, but they mooched off their “friends” as well. Maybe it’s time for them to move.

(Link: vleesmagazine.nl)

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June 2, 2007

Harvested meat for mortals and astronauts

Filed under: Food & Drink,Science,Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 5:13 pm
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Dutch researchers in the city of Utrecht are trying to grow pork meat in a laboratory with the goal of feeding millions without the need to raise and slaughter animals. According to Bernard Roelen, veterinary science professor at Utrecht University, the goal is make meat without killing animals. Although it is in its early stages, the idea is to replace harvesting meat from livestock with a process that eliminates the need for animal feed, transport, land use and the methane expelled by animals, which all hurt the environment, he said.

Research is also under way in the US, including one experiment funded by Nasa to see whether meat can be grown for astronauts.

(Link: Times of India, via Netherlands Post)

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