Word: croplands
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...that live out their last months on feedlots, where they are stuffed with corn and soybeans. In the past few decades, the growth of these concentrated animal-feeding operations has resulted in millions of acres of grassland being abandoned or converted - along with vast swaths of forest - into profitable cropland for livestock feed. "Much of the carbon footprint of beef comes from growing grain to feed the animals, which requires fossil-fuel-based fertilizers, pesticides, transportation," says Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma. "Grass-fed beef has a much lighter carbon footprint." Indeed, although grass-fed cattle...
There are other side effects as well. Melillo's paper points out that if biofuels scale up rapidly, they could end up displacing cropland and pasture, which would impact global food supplies and increase land-based carbon emissions. Melillo found that if biofuels were linked to a global policy to stabilize carbon concentrations in the atmosphere at 550 parts per million - a modest goal - we would need more land for biofuel production by the end of the 21st century than is currently used for all food crops. Worse, all the fertilizer needed to grow those bioenergy crops would increase emissions...
...tons of powerful symbolism. But hers is still a losing battle. Despite increasing public awareness, sustainable agriculture, while the fastest-growing sector of the food industry, remains a tiny enterprise: according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), less than 1% of American cropland is farmed organically. Sustainable food is also pricier than conventional food and harder to find. And while large companies like General Mills have opened organic divisions, purists worry that the very definition of sustainability will be co-opted as a result. (See pictures of urban farming around the world...
...your health. CSPI estimates that replacing one 3.5-oz. serving of beef, one egg and a 1-oz. serving of cheese each day with an equivalent amount of fruits, vegetables and grains would cut your daily fat consumption and increase your fiber intake, all while conserving 1.8 acres of cropland and reducing animal waste by 11,400 lb. each year...
More than 10 million hectares (25 million acres) of wheat, nearly half the country's total winter wheat cropland, are now suffering, the most widespread water shortage since 1951, according to China's Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief. Beijing has not recorded precipitation since for over four months, the state-run Xinhua news service reported. And across the provinces of Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu, 4.3 million people and 2 million head of livestock are experiencing water shortages...