Eating kangaroos to combat climate change?

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 1:04pm
TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP/Getty Images

If going green isn't cool anymore in today's economic climate, this recent batch of news isn't going to help. According to a recent study published in the journal Conservation Letters, farming and eating kangaroos instead of cattle and sheep would made a dent in Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.

Unlike sheep and cattle, kangaroos emit little methane, which accounts for 11 percent of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. The study suggests that increasing the kangaroo population to 175 million while simultaneously decreasing the the number of other livestock would lower emissions by 3 percent over the next 12 years. The plan would have added benefits for soil conservation, drought response, and water quality as a result of reducing the number of hard-hoofed livestock.

Still, there's the small issue of kangaroos being a national icon and all:

The change will require large cultural and social adjustments and reinvestment. One of the impediments to change is protective legislation and the status of kangaroos as a national icon," [the study] said.

For Australians, that's an inconvenient truth not likely to go away any time soon.

Patrick Fitzgerald | Permalink | | Comments? Login or register
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or you know they could quit

by benbrennan on Fri, 08/08/2008 - 1:08pm
or you know they could quit being barbaric and quit eating meat all together, that'd be even better for the environment.

eating the national icon

by bluetongue on Sat, 08/09/2008 - 9:53am
can we be a bit clearer on this please? 1. there are over 60 species of kangaroo (wallaby, etc.) in Australia. 2. many of them, especially the smaller ones, have suffered from vegetation clearing and their numbers have fallen. 3. the larger, grass-eating species such as the eastern grey, have benefited from increased pasture-land and permanent surface-water and have increased in numbers. 4. these kangaroos have been culled FOR YEARS and made into DOGMEAT. 5. Kangaroo meat is already available for human consumption and has been for some time, national icon or not. So, given that most people in Australia aren't likely to convert to total vegetarianism, isn't it better that this meat is put to use - reducing the demand for beef and lamb, along with the methane and soil erosion these animals cause? Incidentally, I DON"T support the export the export of kangaroo meat.

Being a national Icon

by ghjt78 on Sat, 08/09/2008 - 10:00pm
Being a national Icon doesn't mean very much. Just because its on the federal seal doesn't mean its sacred. The Emu is also on the federal seal but that can also be found in High class restaurants but its not as widespread as Kangaroo meat. Kangaroo meat is cheaper so a lot of people buy it simply because of that. But some people complain of the taste.

kangaroo is delicious

by kaleberg on Sun, 08/10/2008 - 12:51pm
Yes, Australians could stop being human and become vegetarian, but this is rather unlikely. I've been to Australia a number of times, and I have always found kangaroo to be quite delicious. Sure, most Australians eat beef, lamb and pork, but kangaroo shows up on a lot of menus. The museum in Darwin, for example, had an excellent dish of kangaroo in green curry. Kangaroo in Australia are a lot like deer in Europe and North America. They are familiar animals if you ever take a walk in the woods, or bush. They have both been eaten since time immemorial, but neither has been adopted by big agriculture, and neither has been domesticated on a large scale. I'm not sure of the relative economics, but I know that deer can be raised on farms. I used to live in a Boston suburb where a neighbor rab a herd of deer in a fenced lot. I gather that Australians have experimented in farming kangaroos. It will be interesting to see how this works out. As for the kangaroo in iconography, take a look at Texas. You'll find longhorn cattle in images everywhere, and beef on your plate at the BBQ. I don't think that this problem is insurmountable.