SOCECOL E8 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Red Meat, Wicket-Keeper, Pesticide
28 May 2019
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Document Summary
What are the environmental impacts of agriculture. Ghg emissions: agriculture produces about 26% of anthropogenic ghg emissions. Farmland use: agriculture is resource intensive: covers about 43% of the world"s ice and desert-free land. 87% of this land is used for food. 13% is used for biofuels and textile crops or is allocated to nonfood uses (wool and leather) Water use: about 75% of freshwater withdrawals are used for irrigation. Pesticide use: adverse human health effects (workers and consumers), including cancer and reproductive issues. May kill plants, bees, butterflies, fish, birds and other animals. Environmental impacts are not evenly distributed across food types. The problem with animal products (particularly beef) Meet and dairy produce 60% of agriculture"s greenhouse gas emissions. At the present rate, cattle and over livestock will be responsible for half of the world"s greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. While meat and dairy provide just 18% of calories and 37% of protein, it uses the 83% of farmland.
