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Churrasco



Not that I don´t like a good barbecue - called churrasco in Brasil. Yes, I´m any way a big fan of meat. To make a good churrasco you don´t need more than salt. You fix the whole pice of meat from side to side with a spade or roasting spit and drop salt all around.


The good meat has to have some fat, wich gives the best taste. You roll the spade and keep the meat cooking close to the fire on every side. Whenever the meat is roasted, you just slice it a bit to the friends and take it back to the fire.


The process means to cook while eating - and drinking, of course. So, where is the secret for a perfect churrasco? It is on the distance from the fire - usually done with coal. That´s all. It´s a meal wich has its origns in the fazendas (farms) at the South of Brasil. From there it spread to the whole country. Today is the Sunday´s national dish.


At Rio de Janeiro it is often done on the streets - a group of friends join in a corner and make their churrasco already there - usually close to a bar for obvious reasons: beer and WC :-)

But my image has another background, wich is the destruction of the rainforest. In Brasil, between 1980 and 2000 about 14% of the rainforest has been destroyed. On its place the area has been cleared to create pasture for grazing cattle. Rainforest land cleared for pasture or farming degrades quickly and is usually abandoned.

But this is not all about environmental consequences of intense cattle´s production. Here´s where the appetite for churrasco is going to play badly in the story:


1.. The destruction of the rainforest by cattle farmers is destroying the lungs of the planet & reducing the worlds capacity to replenish our oxygen supply.
2.. The 1,300,000,000 cattle in the world emit 60,000,000 tons of methane per year (methane is a greenhouse gas & leads to global warming).
3.. Burning of forests, grasslands & agricultural waste associated with animal farming releases 50-100,000,000 tons of methane per year.
4.. Combining these figures, 25% of methane emissions are due to animal farming (not including the billions of sheep, pigs & poultry so the real figure is much higher).
5.. Fertilizer used to grow crops to feed to animals releases nitrous oxide - thought to account for 6% of the greenhouse effect.
6.. Fertilizer, weedkiller & pesticides sprayed on crops enter the atmosphere creating a noxious carcinogenic cocktail .
7.. CFCs are released into the air from refrigeration units used to store decomposing flesh (meat), milk & butter - CFCs are destroy the ozone layer.
8.. Ammonia from animal urine also pollutes the atmosphere.
9.. CO2 is released by burning oil & petrol in lorries, ships, abattoirs, dairies, factories etc. associated with meat & dairy production.
10.. Emissions from large chemical plants which produce fertilizer, weedkiller & other agricultural chemicals are also poisoning our air.

* Dates from '1.. to 10..' are at 101 Reasons to go Vegetarian


Well, this is not a pamphlet against cows and farmers. And even less a speech against meat´s consumption. And for sure you´re not keeping it in mind next time you go to buy meat. You know why? Simple: we´re not vegetarians :-)

This is the first time I´m doing with esa.ucl - ESA Fractal Tree.
Cool. A sort of poetic tool indeed.
My ground is tma.ucl - Painter´s Traps
And the sun is anv.ufm "bills_w0nder"

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