The Role of Ruminants on Environmental Pollution and Possible Solution to Reduce Global Warming

Abstract

: The aim of the work was to shed light on the responsibility of ruminants to inject methane (CH 4 ) into the atmosphere and to highlight how about 70% of livestock and almost all small ruminants live in areas of the planet, usually the poorest, where it is not possible to produce food for the man. According to many authors, ruminant breeding is one of the main causes of deforestation and global warming observed in recent years and 11%-12% of world population’s malnutrition depends mainly on the increase in ruminant rearing that is also responsible for the poor efficiency in producing nutrients. A further objective is to highlight those factors that, for various reasons, are ignored. Ruminants have contributed both to the work, still used in many areas (just think of the hilly fields of rice in Asia), both with the supply of noble proteins to be one of the main factors that allowed the evolution of human species. Just think that where (Europe, Asia minor, Indian sub-continent) milk was used for feeding children, the numerical increase in human population was faster than the areas where its use was unknown (Americas and Australia). The most fertile soils, like the Great Plains of the United States, are those that in the past were populated by ruminants like the bison. Some scientists argue that humans are a species that is supposed to eat fruit physiologically. They ignore that Homo habilis has evolved since he became omnivorous. Many primates complement their diet with small mammals, crabs, crustaceans, molluscs, amphibians, worms and even fish trapped in some ponds during the low tide period. They ignore or want to ignore that primitive man chose the flesh driven by instinct because they needed vitamin B12. Regarding deforestation, many of the areas currently used as pastures have been obtained by burning forests, but it is not sufficiently stressed that all areas used today by man come from forest areas and that every year millions of hectares of forests are destroyed due to accidental fires or are caused by pyromaniacs. As for the production of CH 4 , although the ruminants produce physiologically CH 4 , it is also true that the increase in CH 4 in the atmosphere is preceded by the increase in heat, the main cause of which is the increase in carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). The presence of this gas in the atmosphere is due to the use of fossil fuels, namely oil, coal and natural gas, whose emissions are due to the multinational companies that manage the production of energy. It is likely that the demonization of ruminants serves to focus attention on a problem that is solvable by improving cattle rearing techniques and the rational use of manure. The purpose of this demonization is also to allocate the breeding areas to the seed multinationals. It is likely that the objective is to minimize the real problem of global warming, which derives from the misuse of the energy resources of the subsoil that derive from the accumulation over the millennia of different sources of carbon that are released daily in the atmosphere.