对驯养奶牛的负面影响的周到的陈述，“ COWED：9300万头牛对美国的健康，经济，政治，文化和环境的隐藏影响”引起了恐惧，愤怒，敬畏和惊奇。下个月，W.W。诺顿公司（Norton＆Co。）正在出版丹尼斯·海斯（Denis Hayes）和盖尔·博耶·海斯（Gail Boyer Hayes）的377页书籍。
Denis is president of the Bullitt Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to environmental health. He is also an ENR Top 25 Newsmaker for masterminding the Bullitt Center, the nation's first super-sustainable speculative office building (ENR 1/23 p. 28).
The Hayes' quiet rant does rattle, stating myriad problems caused by meat and dairy production and connecting the dots. But it also presents solutions to cows' "heavy hoofprints" on almost every major environmental problem. "We want to keep cows around," say the authors.
"Cowed" is full of scary facts about the cattle industry's negative impacts on aquifers, soil and the air.
A 2013 U.N. report found that livestock account for 14.5% of human-caused greenhouse-gas emissions. "Eating a pound of beef has a greater climatic impact than burning a gallon of gasoline," says the book.
不受监管9300万头母牛的固体和气态废物。“饲料生产和加工，内部奶牛的发酵以及牛粪的分解释放三种变暖气体：二氧化碳，甲烷和一氧化二氮。”
Cows are water hogs. One study cited says that each cow consumes more fresh water than any other animal. Two factoids: On average, Texas cows use 68 gallons of water each day; a Starbucks Frappuccino requires 300 gallons of water, mostly for cream.
“ Cowed”不仅会导致读者有一头母牛，还提供解决方案。但是，摆脱人为的牛泥土并不容易。
For starters, a cow's diets can be changed to reduce emissions of warming gases. Farms can implement—or be made to implement—better soil and water conservation practices. Shifting to perennial crops and regenerative agriculture, among other actions, can help stem pollution. Reducing meat consumption also can help.
The authors draw in the reader with almost everything he or she could want to know about cows but didn't think to ask, from their ancestry to cow lore.
Beyond meat and dairy, the book delves into the countless cow by-products society depends on. Cow-ear hair is used to make artist and calligrapher brushes, for example.
The narrative is also a personal one, sprinkled with anecdotes about the authors' journey into cowdom, including the note that Gail's mother had her mitral valve replaced with one made from a cow's pericardial tissue.
Some may think the building, manufacturing, power and transportation sectors are the big culprits regarding climate change. "Cowed" makes a case for a different kind of action to stem environmental poisoning. It certainly cowed me.
This article was updated on Feb. 27, 2015.
