Page 16 - Spring2008

An Inconvenient Cow:

The Truth Behind the U.N. Assault on

Ruminant Livestock

By Matthew J. Rales

n late November of 2006, the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization released a startling report. Its

Ioffi cial title is “Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental
Issues and Options.” References to this report have been fre-
1
quent in the last year, especially on environmental and nutri-
tion-related fronts. The report accuses the cow of the worst

environmental crimes—land degradation, water pollution,
acid rain, biodiversity and habitat loss, desertifi cation, defor-

estation, and foremost among the headlines, global warming.
Cows and other ruminants are responsible for generating 65

percent of anthropogenic nitrous-oxide, 64 percent of ammo-
nia, and 37 percent of the world’s methane, the U.N. scientists

declare.

Ancillary reports that expound upon these figures are everywhere.
The American media have enjoyed selling the annihilator-cow theme
to an audience conditioned by anti-animal foods propaganda and en-
vironmental fabrications, such as the “fact” that greedy farmers in the
Amazon eradicate rainforest for more and more land to graze their cattle.

16 Wise Traditions SPRING 2008