Examentrainers

“Save the planet - eat more ’roo.” Greenpeace claims Australians can dramatically reduce their nation’s carbon footprint¹ by cutting down on beef By Tom McTague and Will Dowling Two ’roos on the outlook “Throw another ’roo on the barbecue, we’re saving the planet tonight.” These are the words Greenpeace hope will soon be echoing around Australian backyards as the nation responds to the latest suggestion of how it might reduce its carbon footprint1): eat less beef and more of the [id:62509] .    This is not good news for Skippy. In the last five years drought has halved the kangaroo population to 25 million, and already about 10 per cent of these are harvested every year for their skin and meat. [id:62510] , Greenpeace is serious in urging Australians to eat their national emblem.    They base their case on a report that says that cutting beef consumption by 20 per cent and substituting it with kangaroo steaks would cut the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by 15 megatonnes within 12 years.    This [id:62511] , says the report’s author Dr Mark Diesendorf, comes from less land clearing for cattle and, especially, fewer farting cattle releasing methane.¹    And, Dr Diesendorf adds, kangaroo meat is a [id:62512] alternative to beef, being low in fat and high in protein, iron and zinc. It may, in short, put a spring in your step.    While eating kangaroo on an industrial scale may be a novel idea, trying them as a tasty change from lamb or beef is not.    Kangaroos are commercially farmed and about 30 million kilos of meat is [id:62513] each year. Australians eat about 10 million kilos of it a year, as opposed to 70 million kilos of beef. And there is a growing export market, sending about 20 million kilos overseas. It is available in a few British outlets; France, Belgium and Germany all import it, but the main market is in Russia.    Australians’ attitudes to kangaroo meat range from the horrified to the enthusiastic. One blogger, called ‘Aussiehog’, rated it as “dog food”, [id:62514] ‘Andy of Dandenong’ wrote: “Roo is a beautiful meat … very tender, a little gamey, very lean, …..mmmm.” Nearly all users say that kangaroo meat is best served rare or medium rare, and praise its lowfat content. And if Australia does expand its taste for unusual meat, then there are lots of other potential meals flying, walking, running and even swimming around the Outback. Anyone for possum pie or kookaburra fricassee?

noot 1: carbon footprint = het negatieve effect dat een te grote uitstoot van bepaalde gassen door mens en dier (zoals CO₂ en methaan) heeft op het milieu: het broeikaseffect