THE GREENHOUSE HAMBURGER
THE GREENHOUSE HAMBURGER
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DOI：
10.1038/scientificamerican0209-72
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发表时间：
2009-02-01
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
Fiala, Nathan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Fiala, Nathan
我们可以做些什么呢？改善废物管理和耕作方式肯定会减少牛肉生产的“碳足迹”。例如，甲烷捕集系统可以将奶牛的排泄物用于发电。但这些系统的成本仍然太高，无法在商业上可行。个人也可以减少粮食生产对全球气候的影响。毕竟，在某种程度上，我们的饮食是一种选择。通过更明智的选择，我们可以有所作为。例如，吃当地生产的食物可以减少运输需求--尽管从附近农场用卡车小批量运输效率低下的食物可能会令人惊讶地几乎不能减少温室气体排放。在美国和其他发达国家，人们可以少吃肉，尤其是牛肉。以下页面上的图表以发人深省的细节量化了牛肉生产和温室气体之间的联系。带回家的教训是明确的：如果我们真的要限制温室气体排放，我们应该认真考虑饮食及其对地球的影响。
What can be done? Improving waste management and farming practices would certainly reduce the “carbon footprint” of beef production. Methane-capturing systems, for instance, can put cows’ waste to use in generating electricity. But those systems remain too costly to be commercially viable.Individuals, too, can reduce the effects of food production on planetary climate. To some degree, after all, our diets are a choice. By choosing more wisely, we can make a difference. Eating locally produced food, for instance, can reduce the need for transport—though food inefficiently shipped in small batches on trucks from nearby farms can turn out to save surprisingly little in greenhouse emissions. And in the US and the rest of the developed world, people could eat less meat, particularly beef. The graphics on the following pages quantify the links between beef production and greenhouse gases in sobering detail. The take-home lesson is clear: we ought to give careful thought to diet and its consequences for the planet if we are serious about limiting the emissions of greenhouse gases.