30%+

30% +of all arable land is used to feed or house these guys, along with pigs, chickens and  turkeys, an astounding percentage of earth's resources to say the least, but that's not all.

When emissions from land use and land use change are included, the livestock sector accounts for 9 percent of CO2 deriving from human-related activities, but produces a much larger share of even more harmful greenhouse gases. It generates 65 percent of human-related nitrous oxide, which has 296 times the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of CO2. Most of this comes from manure. 

And it accounts for respectively 37 percent of all human-induced methane (23 times as warming as CO2), which is largely produced by the digestive system of ruminants, and 64 percent of ammonia, which contributes significantly to acid rain.

Livestock now use 30 percent of the earth’s entire land surface, mostly permanent pasture but also including 33 percent of the global arable land used to producing feed for livestock, the report notes. As forests are cleared to create new pastures, it is a major driver of deforestation, especially in Latin America where, for example, some 70 percent of former forests in the Amazon have been turned over to grazing. 

But there is another way.

Entomophagy, a viable alternative for the following reasons.

• Health:

- Insects are healthy, nutritious alternatives to mainstream staples such as chicken,

pork, beef and even fish (from ocean catch).

- Many insects are rich in protein and good fats and high in calcium, iron and zinc.

- Insects already form a traditional part of many regional and national diets.

• Environmental:

- Insects promoted as food emit considerably fewer greenhouse gases (GHGs) than

most livestock (methane, for instance, is produced by only a few insect groups,

such as termites and cockroaches).

- Insect rearing is not necessarily a land-based activity and does not require

landclearing to expand production. Feed is the major requirement for land.

- The ammonia emissions associated with insect rearing are also far lower than

those linked to conventional livestock, such as pigs.

- Because they are cold-blooded, insects are very efficient at converting feed into

protein (crickets, for example, need 12 times less feed than cattle, four times less

feed than sheep, and half as much feed as pigs and broiler chickens to produce

the same amount of protein).

- Insects can be fed on organic waste streams.

• Livelihoods (economic and social factors):

- Insect harvesting/rearing is a low-tech, low-capital investment option that offers

entry even to the poorest sections of society, such as women and the landless.

- Minilivestock offer livelihood opportunities for both urban and rural people.

Two billion people live on insects without issue, something to consider don't you think?