5 ms·

In response to the question in the headline: the Netherlands, pretty much everywhere. Over 5x as many as people [1], even after substantial decline last year.

• tinus_hn 4y ago
  Alternatively it’s a manufactured problem, designed to require the goal of halving the livestock.
  • beepbeepcabbage 4y ago
    Yes, global warming is a man-made problem and you should grow a vegetable or find something else to do besides dump nitrates into the water table.
    • chrisco255 4y ago
      Right, you should monocrop Monsanto's latest patented seeds and douse the land with insecticide and herbicide rather than raise some ruminants on prairie land they've roamed for millions of years.
      • beepbeepcabbage 4y ago
      • mgrandl 4y ago
        There definitely have not been billions of cows millions of years ago. There is simply not enough „prairie land“ for them. So in reality we grow the latest Monsanto monocrop to feed the livestock, because otherwise there is no way to meet the demand for all of that meat.
        • solotronics 4y ago
          In the US we have more or less replaced wild buffalo with cows.
        • chrisco255 4y ago
          1B+ ruminants with similar size / digestive systems? (including buffalo, aurochs, rhinos, etc) Absolutely. There were 30-60 million bison roaming the Great Plains just 170 years ago (not far off from America's current ~90 million head) [1]. The size of ruminants in the ice age and prior was also much bigger than modern cattle [2] [3]. [1] https://allaboutbison.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Bison-Presentation-Poster-flattened-saved-for-web-gif-format.gif https://allaboutbison.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Bison-P... [2] https://softschools.com/facts/extinct_animals/aurochs_facts/2500/ https://softschools.com/facts/extinct_animals/aurochs_facts/... [3] https://www.theextinctions.com/articles-1/ns0atubs8qd60o16itraa69zhw7e0w https://www.theextinctions.com/articles-1/ns0atubs8qd60o16it...
  • roflyear 4y ago
    Manufactured how?
    • tinus_hn 4y ago
      They start with the goal of halving the livestock. Then they look for reasons why it’s necessary. So suddenly reports appear that seem to show nitrous deposition is way too high and we need to halve the livestock to fix it. But when other scientists point out the reports are flawed they are brushed aside. When it is clear the nitrous deposition is not always caused by livestock (for instance because it happens in places where there is no livestock) the arguments are brushed aside. When flaws in the models are pointed out, the arguments are brushed aside. When it’s pointed out that the deposition has been falling for the last decades, the arguments are brushed aside. Just so they can cling to their manufactured problem proven using pseudoscience, so the goal can be forced. Halving the livestock is a political goal, haggled as a deal during the last government formation. The arguments are mostly smoke and mirrors. And what they don’t understand is by using the supposedly impartial ‘science’ departments (RIVM) to support their political goals, just as the same institutions are done supporting the governments COVID response with extremely poor science, they are completely destroying trust in that kind of institution in just another large part of the population. Trust is at an all time low. The end result? The governing parties are up to be wiped away in any near term election so they’ll go any length to cling to power for the remainder of their term. Including manufacturing irrational pseudoscience to further the agreed upon political goals.