A Japanese study shows that a kilogram of beef causes more pollution than driving for three hours while leaving all the lights on back home.
The study team was led by Akifumi Ogino of the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba, Japan. They counted the cost to the earth of raising cattle through conventional farming, killing the animal and shipping the meat, New Scientist reported on July 21.
Producing a kilo of beef creates the equivalent of 36.4kg of carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal greenhouse gas, Ogino found.
PHOTO: AP
Most of these greenhouse-gas emissions take the form of methane, released in cow waste.
That one kilo of beef also needs the same energy needed to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days. The energy is needed to make and ship the animals' food.
The study appears in full in Animal Science Journal.
日本一份研究顯示，生產一公斤牛肉所製造的污染，要比開三小時的車、同時讓家裡燈全開還多。
這個研究小組是由日本筑波市畜產草地研究所荻野曉史教授所領導。《新科學家》週刊七月二十一日報導，這個小組已計算出地球為傳統牛隻養殖方式、宰殺牛隻與運輸肉品所付出的代價。
荻野教授發現，生產一公斤的牛肉會製造三十六點四公斤的二氧化碳。二氧化碳是主要的溫室氣體。
溫室氣體的排放大多會以甲烷的形式，從牛糞裡釋出。
生產一公斤牛肉所需要的能量，等於連續二十天點亮一百瓦燈泡。這些能量是生產並運輸牛所吃的食物所需的。
研究的全文發表在《動物科學雜誌》。
（翻譯︰賴美君）
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