Insects reared for human consumption produce significantly lower quantities of greenhouse gases than cattle.
A group of scientists at Wageningen University, in the Netherlands, published a paper concluding that insects reared for human consumption produce significantly lower quantities of greenhouse gases than do cattle and pigs.
Insects could serve as a more environmentally friendly alternative for the production of animal protein in our diet.
Already, eighty per cent of the world eats insects with pleasure.
From an ecological perspective, insects have a lot to recommend them.
They are renowned for their small foodprint; being cold-blooded, they are about four times as efficient at converting feed to meat as are cattle, which waste energy keeping themselves warm.
Ounce for ounce, many have the same amount of protein as beef—fried grasshoppers have three times as much—and are rich in micronutrients like iron and zinc.
Genetically, they are so distant from humans that there is little likelihood of diseases jumping species, as swine flu did.
They are natural recyclers, capable of eating old cardboard, manure, and by-products from food manufacturing.
Insect husbandry is humane: bugs like teeming, and thrive in filthy, crowded conditions.
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