Guest guest Posted May 25, 2001 Report Share Posted May 25, 2001 Farming will cause more damage than global warming MODERN AGRICULTURE is set to become as bad for the planet's health as global warming, a team of leading environmental scientists has warned. They list rainforest destruction, nitrogen pollution and the spread of diseases such as foot and mouth and BSE among the growing threats from agriculture. ``The environmental effects of agriculture are on a trajectory soon to rival those of climate change,'' says David Tilman, an ecologist at the University of Minnesota. Tilman and nine other ecologists in the U.S. forecast that over the next 50 years growing populations and an increasing demand for meat will mean the world needs new farmland covering an area the size of the U.S. Meeting this demand will probably see the destruction of ``the vast majority of the rainforests and savannah grasslands in Latin America and central Africa, which harbour a large portion of the Earth's biological diversity'', Tilman told New Scientist. http://www.indiaserver.com/thehindu/2001/05/24/stories/0824000f.htm -- Mail2Web - Check your email from the web at http://www.mail2web.com/ . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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