Upcoming events |
The Barsac Declaration: Environmental Sustainability and the Demitarian DietAs part of recent workshops related to the impacts of nitrogen in the environment we have been discussing the possibilities for us personally to take action in reducing these impacts. Food is a recurring theme, and based on this, the Barsac Declaration was drafted in collaboration between the NinE, BEGIN, COST 729, NitroEurope and TFRN networks. Ongoing scientific assessment in the area of food choice is being addressed by the Task Force on Reactive Nitrogen, through its Expert Panel on Nitrogen and Food. Please read the declaration: Barsac Declaration as pdf attached below (including signatories up to 1 March 2011). Barsac Declaration as html (Add your signature here if you agree to the Declaration).
Your comments are welcome. If you want any further information about nitrogen related issues, have a look at the sites below
|
ENA Book
Managing the NitroNet - PollGive your view of the priorities between different nitrogen threats by scoring the NitroNet Poll Events
User loginWho's onlineThere are currently 0 users and 30 guests online.
Nitrogen in Europe newsletterStay informed on our latest news! This site is best viewed using Mozilla Firefox or MS IE7. Some features will only work using that browser. Follow the link for downloading these browsers. |
I sign the declaration and I
I sign the declaration and I do agree on the main concept. It makes sense, both from a scientific and from an ethical point of view. However, I miss more explicit and quantitative mentions about the ecosystems that may be more or less suitable for the production of animals or vegetables or cereals or fruit. In my opinion for every ecosystem there is an optimal combination of animal farming and agriculture production.
Also I am convinced that the main problem is not only meet consumption in particular but consumption in general and the growing world demography. In other words, it is my understanding that there is an absolute need to promote sustainable development and such sustainability is a main and major aim. The views expressed in the Barsac declaration have improved my views about the sustainable future, many thanks, José Vives Rego at 21 of June, Barcelona, Spain
about the declaration
I sign the declaration, and I do agree on the main concept, but something that I think might be questionable ,when we talk about such big scale, is the uncertainty related to numbers on global scale. Also the pollution linked to the production of "vegan food" can not be neglect , like for instance the use of nickel in the production of margarine.
So I think that nitrogen and food is a need topic, especially because the rich part of the world has the "time " and the recourses to think and act about it, while people which has no access to clean water and food and that is starving have no time to think about such a problem.
However in the optic of a global scale, I think that there is a need to promote sustainable development.
Thank you.
Barsac Declaration
I agree on most points of this declaration. It makes sense, both from a scientific and from an ethical point of view. I miss, however, an explicit mention of those ecosystems which are suitable for animal production but not for plant production (for example alpine pastures). There is also, in my opinion, an important difference between animal production concentrated geographicaly versus animal production on mixed-production farms. Separating animal production from forage production is, indeed, disrupting the nutrient cycles, causing more demand on one side and excesses on the other side.
Patrick Schleppi