The Sacred Cow

[CynthiaCypher]

I have been informed that it is because people in the West with their consumption of cows are the leading cause of greenhouse gases. Cows fart and crap and therefore their large population due to our need to consume them is to blame for global warming.

Facts.

Facts are the largest population of cows is in India.

Fact is cows are considered sacred in India.

Fact is if any population of cows is heavily contributing to global warming, it's their population.

So don't you think in order to cut down on the greenhouse gases produced by cows we must start on the sacred cows who produce nothing? In India most most only produce feces and only like 10% are used for milk or butter. So I think to cut down on our greenhouse gases it would be wise to kill those who don't.

What say you?

 

[Me Myself]

I say we stop eating cows so they stop breeding them.

 

[CynthiaCypher]

I say we stop eating cows so they stop breeding them.

Did that work in India?

 

[Riverwolf]

The idea is more that rainforests, which produce tons of oxygen, are cut down to make room for fast-food factory-farms. The high degrees of carbon-dioxide more likely come from the billions of cars all over the world + the overpopulation of humans in the world. India is one of the most overpopulated countries in the world, as well as one of the most densely populated due to its relatively small size. Not a good combination. So, lower oxygen going into the atmosphere + higher amounts of carbon-dioxide being sent into the atmosphere = bad.

 

[CynthiaCypher]

The idea is more that rainforests, which produce tons of oxygen, are cut down to make room for fast-food factory-farms. The high degrees of carbon-dioxide more likely come from the billions of cars all over the world + the overpopulation of humans in the world. India is one of the most overpopulated countries in the world, as well as one of the most densely populated due to its relatively small size. Not a good combination. So, lower oxygen going into the atmosphere + higher amounts of carbon-dioxide being sent into the atmosphere = bad.

So adding more non-productive cattle helps this? Shouldn't India be reducing it's cattle population? Why isn't it?

 

[Riverwolf]

So adding more non-productive cattle helps this? Shouldn't India be reducing it's cattle population? Why isn't it?

Probably wouldn't matter that much. A brief bit of research indicates that there are far more humans than cows in India. Judging from the population of humans in India (as of last year taken from an article on about.com), contrasted with the population of cows in India as of 2009 (unfortunately taken from Wikipedia with no cited source, so take the number as you will) shows that there are at least a full 100,000,000 more humans than cows in India.

So, unless cows consume far more oxygen and produce far more carbon dioxide than humans, it wouldn't make much difference. Therefore, they'd be killed needlessly.

 

[Riverwolf]

Now, a side note: the idea that the Western consumption of cows is the leading cause of greenhouse gasses is, based on my understanding of the situation, ridiculous. Deforestation causes less oxygen to be in the atmosphere, sure, but from what I've observed, cars are most likely the leading cause of additional greenhouse gasses, and those are all over the civilized world, east and west.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

I have been informed that it is because people in the West with their consumption of cows are the leading cause of greenhouse gases. Cows fart and crap and therefore their large population due to our need to consume them is to blame for global warming.

Cow farts are 18% of the problem

There are many more problems then just cows farting. In India Cows eat the left over from humans and weeds on side of the road . Forests are not being cut down to create grass lands so the cattle can graze. The amazon is being deforested just to create grazing land for cows. Corn and other crops are being raised and shipped to fatten the cows up. The crops fertilizers are made from and by petro chemicals. So you have corn, soy and wheat being shipped to the cows. The cows are then shipped to the slaughter house. Then the meat is shipped to the consumer. All of that takes burning of fossil fuels. Also the American Cows fart much more methane because of the diet they are given to fatten them up before the slaughter. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is calling for cows to be given less corn and soy beans this creates much of the problem of green house gasses.

The all you have to do is look at the carbon foot print of the average Indian in comparison to the average american and you will see how absurd this whole argument is.

I also think the 10% statistic on cows given milk. Is way, way, off. Go to a village in India. You will see that those cows are owned and milked by the poor villagers. You see the seeming wild cows heading home to be milked at dusk. I think the 10% you are talking about is from the milk industry not the privately owned cows that is a major source of nutrition for the poor.

Also the poor people use the every last bit of cow crap for crops and other uses.

 

[Me Myself]

Did that work in India?

Every place is different. I am surprised India has the biggest amount of cows and even more surprised that they are not producing. Actually I would love to see the source.

That said, the meat industry wont breed more cows than the amount they expect will be eaten, so stop eating meat means a lot of cows will cease to be breed.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

Did that work in India?

Again this is absurd. All cows in america are used for food. Stop producing meat and milk there are almost no cows in America.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

What the cow represents - to me as a Hindu.

I would like to start with Gandhi's ideas about street dogs in India. Gandhi believed that it was cruel to allow dogs to run loose with no medical attention starving and mangy. This also applies to cows in this sense. I believe it is not a moral virtue to allow cows, dogs, water buffaloes,monkeys, or even cobras (that a few allow to live in yards) suffer the street life. Still I do not believe the solution is to eat them. The capitalistic west has turned cattle into a commodity to be bought, sold, and genetical modified. This certainly is not any solution that could be justified as good for humans or animals in the 21st century and beyond.

With that said...

The cow to me represents all that is good in life. She gives more then She takes. The cow gives crap to grow plants so humans can feed them selves vegetables and milk to make chai with, which is one of the great pleasures of life. The cow represents the world it self giving us what we need to live. So that is why the cow is holy.

 

[gnostic]

:liturgy:

HOLY COW!

 

[Valjean]

I'm skeptical, Cynthia. What is the population of cows in India, compared to the US?
I also suspect that 'finishing' cattle with grain, particularly maize, produces a great deal more methane belching than you'd find in the grazing/foraging Indian population.

An interesting article on cattle production, greenhouse gasses and global warming: How Meat Contributes to Global Warming: Scientific American

 

[Willamena]

I have been informed that it is because people in the West with their consumption of cows are the leading cause of greenhouse gases. Cows fart and crap and therefore their large population due to our need to consume them is to blame for global warming.

Facts.

Facts are the largest population of cows is in India.

Fact is cows are considered sacred in India.

Fact is if any population of cows is heavily contributing to global warming, it's their population.

So don't you think in order to cut down on the greenhouse gases produced by cows we must start on the sacred cows who produce nothing? In India most most only produce feces and only like 10% are used for milk or butter. So I think to cut down on our greenhouse gases it would be wise to kill those who don't.

What say you?

You might be on to something. Then, when the cows are gone, we can start on those darned whales filling the ocean with their farts.

 

[cablescavenger]

I have been informed that it is because people in the West with their consumption of cows are the leading cause of greenhouse gases. Cows fart and crap and therefore their large population due to our need to consume them is to blame for global warming.

Facts.

Facts are the largest population of cows is in India.

Fact is cows are considered sacred in India.

Fact is if any population of cows is heavily contributing to global warming, it's their population.

So don't you think in order to cut down on the greenhouse gases produced by cows we must start on the sacred cows who produce nothing? In India most most only produce feces and only like 10% are used for milk or butter. So I think to cut down on our greenhouse gases it would be wise to kill those who don't.

What say you?

I take little notice of gossip.

 

[CynthiaCypher]

I'm skeptical, Cynthia. What is the population of cows in India, compared to the US?
I also suspect that 'finishing' cattle with grain, particularly maize, produces a great deal more methane belching than you'd find in the grazing/foraging Indian population.

An interesting article on cattle production, greenhouse gasses and global warming: How Meat Contributes to Global Warming: Scientific American

There are more cows in India than there are cars n the United States.

It really doesn't matter whether a cow eats grain as in the beef eating countries or eats a healthy diet of human waste as God intended them to do as in India. The facts are cows release methane when they take a dump period. And I really think their diet of human waste as in India helps curb methane production.

Cattle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[CynthiaCypher]

An interesting article on cattle production, greenhouse gasses and global warming: How Meat Contributes to Global Warming: Scientific American

How is that an interesting article when you can only read two paragraphs of it?

Quote mining much?

 

[CynthiaCypher]

The capitalistic west has turned cattle into a commodity to be bought, sold

Because cattle is a commodity to be bought and sold.

 

[Jainarayan]

There are more cows in India than there are cars n the United States.

You still haven't given the number.

The facts are cows release methane when they take a dump period.

So do the zebras, wildebeests, giraffes, antelopes and gazelles of the African savannah. Lions and elephants fart too. So do the American Bison. So do the 7 billion humans on Earth. Period.

 

[arthra]

Cow dung has been used as a construction material and also used as fuel....there are other uses and in a country like India to eliminate cows would be very detrimental to the population I think..

so looking into the problem of global warming it seems fossil fuel use is the main cause. We need to shift our emphasis to solar, geothermal and wind power rather than continue our dependence on fossil fuels... It will take a long time to do this but it's really needed.

More resources need to go into finding ways of being independent of fossil fuels.

Besides I like Brahma bulls...