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素食主义并不能使世界免于环境破坏

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2019年12月02日

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Veganism won’t save the world from environmental ruin, researchers warn

研究人员警告说,素食主义并不能使世界免于环境破坏

Here’s a red-hot take on red meat: Going vegan won’t save the environment.

这是一个关于红肉的热门观点:成为素食主义者并不能拯救环境。

Livestock farmers are being unfairly “demonized” by vegans and environmental advocates, experts from the University of Edinburgh and Scotland’s Rural College told their peers at a panel in London, the Telegraph reports.

据英国《每日电讯报》报道,来自爱丁堡大学和苏格兰农村学院的专家在伦敦的一个研讨会上告诉同行们,饲养牲畜的农民正被素食主义者和环保人士不公平地“妖魔化”。

The shocking stance comes despite the urging of hoards of climate scientists who say eating a plant-based diet is one of the best ways to curtail our current environmental crisis.

这一令人震惊的立场来自于大量气候科学家的呼吁,他们认为食用植物性饮食是减少当前环境危机的最佳途径之一。

According to the Scottish scientists, meat production isn’t the culprit of global warming — in fact, breeders are producing cattle that are less harmful to the environment. Also, they argue, meat is critical for the development of children worldwide, and fewer livestock farms wouldn’t necessarily mean more sustainable land use.

根据苏格兰科学家的说法,肉类生产并不是全球变暖的罪魁祸首——事实上,养殖者生产的牛对环境的危害更小。他们还认为,肉类对全世界儿童的发展至关重要,减少畜牧业并不一定意味着更可持续的土地利用。

素食主义并不能使世界免于环境破坏

“Often the argument is made that going vegan would minimize land use, and the modeling studies that have been done demonstrate that that’s not the case,” said Geoff Simm, director of Global Academy Agriculture and Food Security at Edinburgh. “We feel that while livestock production has a range of economic, social and environmental costs and benefits, the costs have perhaps been receiving far more attention recently than some of the benefits.”

爱丁堡全球农业与食品安全学院主任杰夫·西姆说:“人们常常认为,成为素食主义者会使土地利用最小化,而已经完成的建模研究表明事实并非如此。”“我们认为,虽然畜牧业生产有一系列的经济、社会和环境成本和效益,但这些成本最近受到的关注可能远远超过一些效益。”

A primary benefit of livestock production, according to Simm, is that “even small amounts of animal-sourced food have a really important effect on the [cognitive and physical] development of children,” thanks to the high concentration of protein and “bioavailable micronutrients” in meat.

Simm说,畜牧业生产的一个主要好处是,由于肉类中含有高浓度的蛋白质和“生物可利用的微量营养素”,“即使是少量的动物性食品,对儿童的(认知和身体)发育也有非常重要的影响”。

Mike Coffey of Rural College slammed veganism as “completely unnecessary.”

乡村学院的麦克·科菲抨击纯素食主义是“完全没有必要的”。

“If everybody went vegan, it would be devastating for the UK environment,” he said. “Animals bred for food help boost biodiversity.”

他说:“如果每个人都成为素食主义者,那对英国的环境将是毁灭性的。”“为食物而饲养的动物有助于促进生物多样性。”

Coffey points to research being done to develop genetically modified cows that would grow faster and eat less, and emit 30 percent less methane than conventional cows.

科菲指出,目前正在进行的研究旨在培育出生长更快、吃得更少、甲烷排放量比传统奶牛少30%的转基因奶牛。

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the cultivation of animals such as cattle produces “almost 1/3 of [all] emissions from the agriculture economic sector,” which is responsible for 9% of the planet’s overall greenhouse gas output. Furthermore, they add that manure management on these farms accounts for nearly a fifth of the farm sector’s greenhouse gas footprint.

根据美国环境保护署(US Environmental Protection Agency)的数据,养殖牛等动物产生的温室气体“几乎占农业经济部门排放总量的三分之一”,占全球温室气体排放总量的9%。此外,他们还补充说,这些农场的粪便管理占了农业部门温室气体足迹的近五分之一。

Coffey hopes that farmers in the UK and around the world will soon have the option to invest in more efficient cattle.

Coffey希望英国和世界各地的农民很快就能选择投资于更高效的牛。

“By next year farmers will be able to select bulls whose [offspring] consume less feed for the amount of milk they produce,” said Coffey. “Where we go next is can we actually measure methane emissions from groups of animals?”

科菲说:“到明年,农民们就可以根据产出的牛奶量来选择那些消耗较少饲料的牛了。”“下一步我们要做的是,我们能否真正测量动物群体的甲烷排放量?”

Edinburgh University professor Andrea Wilson added that the environmental impact of veganism has not been scrutinized to the same degree.

爱丁堡大学教授安德里亚·威尔逊补充说,素食主义对环境的影响还没有得到同等程度的研究。

“We know a lot about the livestock sector because people have looked at it. We actually know very little about the vegan sector,” she said. “The danger is we demonize one and jump too quickly to the other.”

“我们对畜牧业了解很多,因为人们已经关注了它。事实上,我们对素食界知之甚少,”她说。“危险在于,我们妖魔化了其中一个,很快就跳到另一个。”


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