{"id":202,"date":"2007-08-22T16:02:19","date_gmt":"2007-08-22T20:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2007\/08\/22\/beyond-climate-carbon-and-cows\/"},"modified":"2008-04-17T16:38:38","modified_gmt":"2008-04-17T21:38:38","slug":"beyond-climate-carbon-and-cows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2007\/08\/22\/beyond-climate-carbon-and-cows\/","title":{"rendered":"Increased CO2 and Food Quality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i>This is Part 1 of a three-part series on <b>Food and Farming<\/b>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>1. Increased CO<sub>2<\/sub> and Food Quality<br \/>\n2. <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2007\/09\/10\/livestock_methane\/\">Farm Animals and Methane<\/a><br \/>\n3. <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2007\/10\/11\/food_miles\/\">&#8220;Food Mile&#8221; Complexities<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>The author of today&#8217;s post, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.environmentaldefense.org\/page.cfm?tagID=404\">Lisa Moore, Ph.D.<\/a>, is a scientist in the Climate and Air program.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>When people talk about the harmful effects of fossil fuels, they usually focus on global warming. But as I explained in my post about <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2007\/08\/17\/nitrogen_pollution\/\">nitrogen pollution<\/a>, and Bill discussed in his post about <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2007\/08\/17\/nitrogen_pollution\/\">ocean acidification<\/a>, fossil fuel use has other unintended consequences.<\/p>\n<p>Here is yet another example: increasing levels of carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2<\/sub>) can affect the food chain. There\u2019s a lot to be concerned about, but today I\u2019ll focus on livestock.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>This issue got some coverage last week, when <a href=\"http:\/\/gristmill.grist.org\/story\/2007\/8\/14\/14546\/1396\">Grist described some of the effects<\/a> of CO<sub>2<\/sub> on food quality, based on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/news\/2007\/070730\/full\/448526a.html\">a news story in <em>Nature<\/em><\/a> (paid subscription required).<\/p>\n<p>As Grist and <em>Nature<\/em> described, plants grown in high-CO<sub>2<\/sub> conditions contain less nitrogen and other nutrients. From an animal\u2019s perspective, this can be a problem because these plants have less protein and are less nutritious.<\/p>\n<p>For example, researchers at Kansas State University have been <a href=\"http:\/\/spuds.agron.ksu.edu\/fq3.html\">analyzing the effects of rising CO<sub>2<\/sub> on ruminants<\/a> (animals like cattle, sheep and goats). In one study, they exposed sections of a tallgrass prairie to CO<sub>2<\/sub> levels that could easily be reached later this century. Then they measured the nutrient content of the plants and found that the plants were less digestible, with lower nitrogen and protein content. The change in forage quality was bad enough that, according to the scientists\u2019 calculations, beef cattle grazing on prairie in a high-CO<sub>2<\/sub> future would not gain as much weight as today\u2019s cattle, even if they ate as much grass. More than that, the authors pointed out that cattle tend to eat less in warm conditions. So the higher temperatures coming with global warming would mean that cattle gain even less weight.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Nature<\/em> article mentioned the possibility that fertilizer might offset some of the effects of CO<sub>2<\/sub> on crop quality. Setting aside for a moment <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2007\/08\/17\/nitrogen_pollution\">the unintended ecological and health effects of fertilizer use<\/a>, not to mention the expense and logistics of fertilizing large pastures, would that even work for ranchers? <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science?_ob=ArticleURL&amp;_udi=B6T3Y-4GRH6S3-1&amp;_user=10&amp;_coverDate=12%2F01%2F2005&amp;_rdoc=1&amp;_fmt=&amp;_orig=search&amp;_sort=d&amp;view=c&amp;_acct=C000050221&amp;_version=1&amp;_urlVersion=0&amp;_userid=10&amp;md5=e07fb6849a10c71473c27c0858d97813\">A study in Colorado\u2019s shortgrass steppe<\/a> addressed this question, and the conclusion was that no, &#8220;nitrogen fertilization did not ameliorate the negative effects of elevated CO<sub>2<\/sub>&#8220;.<\/p>\n<p>One final thought: the consequences of decreased plant nutrition won&#8217;t be confined to domesticated animals. Scientists anticipate that many wild animals, from insects to antelopes, will feel the effects. In case we needed yet another reason to cut carbon pollution from fossil fuels, keeping food quality high is a good one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is Part 1 of a three-part series on Food and Farming. 1. Increased CO2 and Food Quality 2. Farm Animals and Methane 3. &#8220;Food Mile&#8221; Complexities The author of today&#8217;s post, Lisa Moore, Ph.D., is a scientist in the Climate and Air program. When people talk about the harmful effects of fossil fuels, they &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Increased CO2 and Food Quality - Climate 411<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2007\/08\/22\/beyond-climate-carbon-and-cows\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Increased CO2 and Food Quality - Climate 411\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is Part 1 of a three-part series on Food and Farming. 1. 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