A feast to save the planet bbc 2

[Bobthebuilder]

At least the vegan came 2nd worst over all courses

 

[Tarw Coch]

At least the vegan came 2nd worst over all courses

Aye but that steak really blew it for the one who came last

 

[Old Boar]

The tofu thing - the soy it is made from was flown in, but did not seem to be counted. The miso added to it, to give it some sort of flavour, is also imported. The asparagus came out badly because it was flown in. Hmmmm
Bananas are imported but apparently they come by boat so the carbon footprint is low. Did they count the fuel, the making the boat, the amount of times they are handled, the packaging?
Matthew Fort made the point that cattle graze grassland that could not be used for anything else, but this was not taken into account.
Even the soup, celariac and pear - pears are normally imported at this time of the year, but this was not mentioned.
The last fact about households throwing away a third of the food they buy left me gobsmacked! Really? Are households really that well off that they buy food and then throw it?

 

[Fubar]

Here we go: Hannah Fry has just said that 90% of soya goes for animal food.
That's not quite the actuality.

Here we go: Hannah Fry has just said that 90% of soya goes for animal food.
That's not quite the actuality.

Are dairy cows and livestock behind the growth of soya in South America? | Sustainable Food Trust

Soya fed to dairy cows contributes to the destruction of rainforests, however grass-fed dairy offers a more sustainable alternative

sustainablefoodtrust.org

Vegans always point out that most soya is grown to feed livestock. As this article points out, livestock mostly consume the 'waste' soya meal after the oil has been removed for other things. Surely Dr Fry would have researched this sort of thing to make sure she got her facts right.

 

[Dave6170]

I assume when they talk about the carbon footprint of beef and cheese they don't take into account what the farm may have sequestered?

 

[Tarw Coch]

I assume when they talk about the carbon footprint of beef and cheese they don't take into account what the farm may have sequestered?

It seemed to me it was all about the methane emitted by cows.

 

[Stuart J]

Livestock hasn’t come out very well , down to the methane.
I’m guessing it will be very much an uphill battle to get it accepted that the methane emitted by livestock is part of a carbon cycle unlike the carbon emitted by that aeroplane that flew the asparagus in

Except an aeroplane emits Carbon and cattle emit methane. And methane has a warming effect 60 times that of CO2.

 

[linga]

Except an aeroplane emits Carbon and cattle emit methane. And methane has a warming effect 60 times that of CO2.

But CO2 persists much much longer in the atmosphere

 

[Tarw Coch]

Except an aeroplane emits Carbon and cattle emit methane. And methane has a warming effect 60 times that of CO2.

Does that mean cattle are worse for the planet than aeroplanes then?

 

[JJT]

Except an aeroplane emits Carbon and cattle emit methane. And methane has a warming effect 60 times that of CO2.

Except that it doesn't. Try using GWP* instead of the grossly inaccurate GWP100.

 

[essexpete]

But CO2 persists much much longer in the atmosphere

What does methane break down to?
I am doubtful that any account was made of grassland in carbon sequestration, it does not ever seem to be included. The farming lobby needs to gets some sound stats and get in front of some of the celeb foodies.

 

[Tarw Coch]

What does methane break down to?
I am doubtful that any account was made of grassland in carbon sequestration, it does not ever seem to be included. The farming lobby needs to gets some sound stats and get in front of some of the celeb foodies.

The methane breaks down to co2, and what gets taken up by the plants the cattle eat.

 

[essexpete]

Perhaps not much help to UK stock farming but Alan Savory highlights the importance of grazing animals.
The other thing never mentioned is the possible size of the wild population of ruminants World wide before man's intervention.

 

[Angus]

I did not watch the program, I am glad I did not . The facts should speak for themselves, invariably they do not and the public are left with a false perception, lies in other words. I do my best when encountering the general public to explain to them that they are being misled by the media. Most open minded people that I would normally meet, are open to hearing our side of the story. Why is it not being told? Soya, methane, even bTB, the public are interested to hear our side of the story

 

[white_stuffed]

@delilah did a nice summary after a similar soya discussion here:

sticking this on our fb page, I don't care if it's entirely factually accurate or not, as said there are many versions of the truth and we need to give ours.


Soya, rainforests and UK livestock: setting the record straight.

We do not import whole soya beans into the UK to feed to our livestock. Rather, we import soya meal, a by-product of producing soya oil for human consumption which would otherwise be thrown away.

Livestock have always been used to transform food unfit for human consumption into nutrient-rich meat and milk.
We have been doing so since the first farmer threw a maggoty apple to the first domesticated pig.
Today we feed a huge range of by-products to our livestock; oil seeds, brewers grains, wheat unfit for baking bread.
All of this is an environmentally sound use of ‘waste’ products.

If you are concerned about rainforest clearance, then there are important steps you can take.
- Check food packet ingredients for soya.
- Purchase rapeseed oil labelled as being grown by UK farmers.
- Use butter and lard, two of the huge range of products we get from those most amazing providers of sustainable food: The cow and the pig.

Save the planet: Shop local, eat British, enjoy a balanced diet.

I thought they rather glossed over the issue of the palm oil in the chocolate brownie in comparison to how they hammered on about cows/methane.
Once again, only one side of the balance sheet is allowed for, it is always about the emissions; nothing about grassland sequestration by grazing.
And, frustratingly, no mention of methane being a short lived greenhouse gas.

 

[texelburger]

Everyone don't forget this is the BBC !
They have an anti meat agenda,IIRC their climate calculator was discredited.As I've said in previous threads it's easy to conveniently leave little bits out when doing the calculations,to suit their argument.
No I didn't watch but miraculously guessed which angle the programme would take.Quite clever to start with a little impartiality re Asparagus starter.

 

[delilah]

We get the publicity that we deserve. The resources of the NFU and AHDB absolutely dwarf those of the Vegan Society and Animal Rebellion, yet every single time we are left looking like the amateurs that we are. Go on the Vegan Society website and see their ambassadors. Well known people who will have had some basic training in the key messages they need to get across. Then go on the NFU website and look at ours.

 

[DrWazzock]

I don’t think it’s worth trying to compete in the “my carbon footprints lower than yours” competition. It’s a bad metric that doesn’t consider so many other parameters.
If we rewilded the entire planet and “left it to nature to sort it out” there would still be huge herds of large herbivores with big “natural” carbon footprints roaming around as there was before man interfered. They always were a part of nature’s carbon cycle and part of the earths natural ecology.
The problem now is only that there are too many humans and too much fossil fuel has already been burnt and continues to be burnt. To say we are going to eliminate all herbivores in order to somehow compensate for that is just plain stupid.
Big herds of herbivores always were and always will be a part of the earths carbon cycle, farmed or unfarmed.
Going back to carbon footprints it’s just plain wrong to consider kg CO2 per kg food produced. For one thing you also need to factor in calories stored per kg of that food. Fats at meats are an incredibly compact and efficient way of storing and transporting energy and this needs to be factored in. Herbivores are also an incredibly efficient means of turning low grade low energy dense vegetation into these “rocket fuels”. This needs taking into account also. The end parameter or “goodness figure” should be a dimensionless constant that gives us a measure of the worth on range of criteria of each food. And I’ll bet the steak comes out with the same score as the raspberry at the end of the day. They both bring so many different things to the party. Looking at carbon footprint in isolation is just plain stupid but sadly most of the media and government don’t have the scientific training to see beyond that. Thankfully though the public will continue to rely on common sense, gut feeling or evolution so it’ll be alright.
Eskimo’s don’t live on frozen raspberries.

 

[Stuart J]

Except that it doesn't. Try using GWP* instead of the grossly inaccurate GWP100.

That's interesting. Are you able to point me to any resources that discuss the difference?

 

[linga]

The methane breaks down to co2, and what gets taken up by the plants the cattle eat.

And roughly the same amount of carbon released by cattle(via methane) is then used by grass so its all in balance.