Unbelievable facts...

[A9]

Interesting facts worth reading....

-"livestock production accounts for more then half of all water consumed."
-"In California, it takes 5214 gallons of water to produce one edible pound of beef, as compared to 23 gallons for the same amount of tomatoes"
-"We give three times more water to grow cows than we give to people in California."
-"Each year, an estimated 125,000 square miles of rainforest are destroyed, together with the loss of 1,000 plant and animal species.''
-"Each cow produces one pound of methane for every 2 pounds of meat it yields"
-"20% of total world methane emissions comes from cattle."
-"The E.P.A. estimates that almost half the wells and surface streams in the U.S. are "contaminated by agricultural pollutants""
-"The increase in overall pesticide use since 1945, when petro-chemical based agriculture became popular, is 3,300%"
-"Nearly 70% of the deforested land in Panama and Costa Rica is now pasture."
-"in North America some 95% of oats and 80% of corn crops end up as livestock feed."
-"Farm animals in Canada produce 322 million liters (85 millions U.S. gal) of manure daily"
-"Now consider that to produce each quarter pound hamburger costs the environment 11,000 L (2,904 gal) of water. "
-"Substituting a grass-feeding livestock system (using only ruminant animals) for the current grain and grass system was found to reduce the energy outputs about 60% and land resources about 8%...[In addition, it] would free up 300 million tons of grain for export each year. This amount of grain is sufficient to feed a human population of 400 million a vegetarian type diet for an entire year.
-"All the grain fed to livestock could feed five times as many people."
-"Wilson approximates that 27,000 species per year (74 per day, 3 per hour) are perishing at our hands."
-"One-quarter of all drug compounds obtained from pharmacies contain rain forest ingredients"
-"Fewer then one percent of tropical rain forest plants have been chemically screened for useful medicinal properties"
-"50% of all meals are now consumed in either fast food or institutional setting"

They are just absolutely crazy facts. I'm sure some of the facts are going to be slightly different if you look for them online, I know the lb per beef stats are different then many that I found online. But every test/study isn't going to be the same and results will be different in any because some will be more objective then others.

[Fish Antics]

Your facts leave some interesting questions about the ultimate connection between the animal by-products and the environment.

The ultimate disposition of the manure is a good example - - at least we have learned not to spray the manure over the crops as a crop fertilizer . .or have we??? Lots of bacteria there!!!

Interesting Sam. . thanks for the “food” for thought! (I was going to add a Smiley holding it's nose but there wasn't one!!!)

[skimpy]

Interesting facts Sam Kafelafish .

[fishaholictaz]

Myth Busters did a test and showed a dairy farm that ran off methane! We need to utilize what we can. Now there is so much methane being released in the arctic from the tundra thawing it is way worse than any amount produced by cows!!#-o

[kutthroatkilla]

-"The increase in overall pesticide use since 1945, when petro-chemical based agriculture became popular, is 3,300%"

Thanks for sharing Sam. That fact above struck me as the most prudent to our area lakes. Far too many times I've been out on a lake and have seen people using the "scott's fertizler dispenser thing"... you know what I'm talking about, that "green push it and it goes everywhere thing?" lol, well anyways, a lot of that goes right into the lake...the little pellets hit the grass, some smack right into the lake. For one, I've seen it at Beaver Lake in Issaquah, Pine Lake in Issaquah, and Lake Alice in Fall City. We need to work on cutting this WAY down. Good thread. And it's not just residential neighborhoods, it's commerical and industrial as well...that's why many people just won't eat certain fish out of certain bodies of water (ex. Lake Washington).
KTK

[A9]

Far too many times I've been out on a lake and have seen people using the "scott's fertizler dispenser thing"... you know what I'm talking about, that "green push it and it goes everywhere thing?" lol, well anyways, a lot of that goes right into the lake...the little pellets hit the grass, some smack right into the lake. For one, I've seen it at Beaver Lake in Issaquah, Pine Lake in Issaquah, and Lake Alice in Fall City
[/size]

It's not just the pellets that get into the water. It's that ANY fertilizer is subject to run-off and go into wherever gravity takes it. Often times, it gets into the water...
Lots of those nice waterfront Lake WA homes pay big bucks to keep their grass green in front of their million dollar homes...Only a few short feet for it to get washed into the Lake after it gets absorbed into the ground...

That's why they say to not fertilize your lawn right before rain. The rain will break down the fertilizer faster but it will also wash it away at the same time..

[fishnislife]

Those are some crazy facts to ponder. Some are so staggering they are hard to believe. Good stuff Sam Kafelafish.



fishnislife

[A9]

Teacher found a few more crazy related facts. These are by far the most astounding in my opinion...
-Every HOUR, 6 million domesticated animals are slaughtered
-Every YEAR, 51 BILLION domesticated animals are slaughtered

Keep in mind, earths population of humans is roughly 6.4-6.5 billion...

[lskiles]

-"One-quarter of all drug compounds obtained from pharmacies contain rain forest ingredients"
-"Fewer then one percent of tropical rain forest plants have been chemically screened for useful medicinal properties"

I remember this same one percent statistic from 20 years ago...you would think that somebody would be testing some more of the magic in these plants.

I saw an article some time ago about these pig farmers that had plastic bags with a hose (used to be a pigs stomach) they would put pig crap in it (which gives off methane as it decomposes) hook it to a one burner stove for cooking and they would regulate the flame by how many rocks they put on top of the bag...now thats using the whole pig!

[A9]

Some more crazy facts...These are staggering.

Every HOUR, 6 MILLION domesticated animals are slaughtered...
Every YEAR, 51 BILLION domesticated animals are slaughtered...

Oops, accidentally posted this up already...
Another fact: Around 60% of the stuff we eat is Genetically modified...crazy....We even have corn now that produces it's own pesticides, and strawberries with genes from flounder in the frigid Arctic waters, transplanted so strawberries can handle some cold nights...

[fishaholictaz]

Some more crazy facts...These are staggering.

Every HOUR, 6 MILLION domesticated animals are slaughtered...
Every YEAR, 51 BILLION domesticated animals are slaughtered...

And they taste soooo good!:cheers:

[hookorcrook]

Those are crazy facts. Pretty mind blowing stuff, huh Sam? I'm taking an Enviro Science course right now too. I'm learning so many truly shocking things that I keep asking myself "Doesn't anybody know this stuff? Why doesn't anybody do anything about it?" I consider myself a pretty well informed person and I didn't know it, so maybe a lot of people don't.

I read in my textbook today that about 1/3 of the world's fish catch is used to feed livestock. That shocked me. I know it's fish-meal type stuff, but the world's fisheries are collapsing, and we're feeding fish to livestock.

Suzanne

[Gisteppo]

Suzanne, and anyone else interested in learning about fisheries, go get a book. Its an eye opener:




http://www.amazon.com/Hooked-Pirates-Po ... 416&sr=8-1

This book talks about just one fishery, but shows how a fish can go from untouched to massively overfished in a matter of a few years. It is about what restaurants call "Chilean sea bass", but is known to biologists as Patagonian Toothfish.

VERY interesting read, highly reccomended.

E

[natetreat]

But cows give us prime rib and bacon burgers. It's well worth it. Besides, there's plenty of water to go around, and with global warming, we're going to have even more of it! Think about how much water is wasted as ice at the north and south poles. With the amount of water in Antarctica we could give all of Africa clean water!

[MarkFromSea]

-"Substituting a grass-feeding livestock system (using only ruminant animals) for the current grain and grass system was found to reduce the energy outputs about 60% and land resources about 8%...[In addition, it] would free up 300 million tons of grain for export each year.

Oddly, lamb and beefalo is more expensive than beef....... I like goat every now and again but does seem to have a strong flavor that most would just spit out. Might be why curry is used..... LOL trying to mask the flavor.........

Thanks for the facts!
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Grant county has a total area of 2,791 square miles (7,228.7 km2), of which 2,681 square miles (6,943.8 km2) is land and 110 square miles (284.9 km2) (3.95%) is water.

[panfisher]

Another fact: Around 60% of the stuff we eat is Genetically modified...crazy....We even have corn now that produces it's own pesticides, .[/quote]
this fact has been figured to be the problem of bee colony's being destroy'd!!!!!!

[MarkFromSea]

A full seven percent of the entire Irish barley crop goes to the production of Guinness beer. A fact I can believe!

I have noticed, here in Kirkland, the honey bees are now gone. We've still got the occasional bumble type bee of various types. We used to have tons of honey bees, 20 years ago, lots of fruit on the trees as a result. Now, no bees while the fruit trees are in bloom so very little fruit.