I know that cutting down trees to make way for agriculture is a big factor in the global decline of the environment. And I know the problem with burning fossil fuel is that it is releasing CO2 stored in ground from millions of years ago. What I don’t understand is how a cow or a chicken contributes new greenhouse emissions?
fyi I don’t really eat beef and are trying to be flexitarian so this isn’t about defending eating meat.
In: Biology
Earth is not a closed system. It receives, at the very least, constant energy input from the Sun. This energy input allows for chemical and biochemical processes to occur (e.g. plants growing), and these processes in turn allow for the chemical synthesis of various things – such as the molecules comprising greenhouse gases – to occur as well.
Consider this, for example, happening on any given day:
* Sunlight provides energy for plants to grow, and these plants convert various available chemicals into complex molecules and compounds
* Animals eat these plants, breaking their complex bits into simpler constiuents that may include the things that make up greenhouse gases
* The animals excrete or die, either directly releasing the converted chemicals or being decomposed by microorganisms which then excrete them
This is a simplistic portrayal, but I think it may make the point.
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