Entomophagy, the consumption of insects as a source of nutrition by humans, is gaining interest among scientists and ecologists due to their short life cycles and potential for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Insect farming and processing produce significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions, with insects producing less waste and their excrement being an excellent fertilizer. Four insect species (Tenebrio molitor, Blaptica dubia, Acheta domesticus, and Locusta migratoria) reported less greenhouse gas emissions than pigs and ruminants.
Insect farming produces about 100 times less greenhouse gases per kg of mass organism gain than cattle or pigs. In comparison, pigs and cattle produce 250-500 liters of methane a day, while insects produce about 100 times less. Insects have a faster growth rate, higher feed-into-food conversion efficiency, and lower requirements for land and water. They are also sustainable, emitting less ammonia (urine and manure) than cattle or pigs.
Insects can be reared on organic waste from humans and animals, emitting substantially smaller amounts of greenhouse gases and ammonia than cattle or pigs. Adapting insects into our diets could cut the environmental impacts of global food systems by up to 80 percent. Research suggests that insects produce fewer greenhouse gases than traditional livestock due to their high feed conversion efficiency and lower methane emissions.
In conclusion, entomophagy or insect farming offers a sustainable alternative to meat-free diets, producing significantly fewer greenhouse gas emissions and reducing the environmental impact of global food systems.
📹 Should We All Be Eating Insects?
Written and created by Mitchell Moffit (twitter @mitchellmoffit) and Gregory Brown (twitter @whalewatchmeplz). Special thanks to …
Do insects release greenhouse gases?
A study has quantified greenhouse gases produced per kilogram of insect products, including methane and nitrous oxide. The results show that insects produce significantly fewer greenhouse gases than conventional livestock like cattle and pigs. Pigs produce between ten and a hundred times more greenhouse gases per kilogram compared to mealworms. Ammonia emissions from pigs are also significantly lower.
Insects convert their food into meat quicker than mammals, making them an environmentally-friendly alternative to meat from conventional livestock. However, further research is needed to determine if insect protein production is more environmentally friendly than conventional animal protein when considering the entire production chain.
Does spoiled food release CO2?
Food loss and waste account for about one-third of the food intended for human consumption in the United States. This waste not only wastes inputs used in food production, processing, transportation, preparing, and storage but also contributes to the climate change crisis by generating significant greenhouse gas emissions. The production, transportation, and handling of food generate significant CO2 emissions, and when food ends up in landfills, it generates methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
The connection between food loss and waste and climate change is increasingly recognized, as extreme weather events disrupt agriculture and supply chain resiliency. The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that food waste embodies 170 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions annually, equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions of 42 coal-fired power plants. Food waste is the single most common material landfilled and incinerated in the U. S., comprising 24 and 22 percent of landfilled and combusted municipal solid waste, respectively. Preventing food loss and waste benefits agricultural land, blue water, fertilizer, and energy.
Will eating bugs save the planet?
Insects are gaining popularity due to their environmental sustainability, affordability, higher protein content, and potential solution to food insecurity. They can be farmed without hormones and are considered a viable, sustainable protein alternative to meat due to the high carbon footprint of livestock farming. The World Wide Fund for Nature reports that 60% of fish stocks worldwide are overfished. Climate change is also shifting our relationship with food, making insects a viable and sustainable protein option.
What are the disadvantages of entomology?
Inappropriate handling and collection of specimens for study can result in damage or death, contingent on the extent of colonization, which can ultimately lead to the destruction of evidence.
Do insects release CO2?
Insects and humans share similarities in their respiratory and circulatory systems. Insects have a separate respiratory system, allowing them to breathe through tracheae tubes, while humans have a combined system. Insects have a more efficient respiratory system, taking in greater oxygen volumes in proportion to their body size. They can open and close spiracles, experiencing “discontinuous gas exchange”, which recycles oxygen in the tracheae and allows them to survive without constant breathing.
This is particularly beneficial for insects experiencing stress, such as soil-dwelling insects in hypoxic conditions. The duration of insects’ survival without fresh oxygen depends on their species and life stage. For example, 50 of 2nd/3rd instar western corn rootworms die after 42 hours of hypoxic conditions at 59°F. Overall, insects have a unique respiratory system that allows them to survive without constant breathing and release carbon dioxide as waste back into the air.
Do rotting plants give off CO2?
Plants and other organisms continuously exchange carbon with the atmosphere through photosynthesis, which is stored in various areas such as roots, permafrost, grasslands, and forests. Carbon dioxide is released when plants and soil decay, and other organisms release it as they live and die. Oceans also absorb carbon, which sinks as it cools. Carbon is also stored in rocks and geological deposits, such as coal and fossil fuels made from plants. Humans significantly impact the carbon cycle by burning wood, fossil fuels, and other forms of carbon, which releases stored carbon into the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas.
This carbon dioxide in the atmosphere determines the Earth’s climate, with too little carbon dioxide causing the Earth to freeze and too much turning the atmosphere into a furnace. Understanding the carbon cycle and our role in it is crucial for the Earth’s future.
What causes greenhouse gases to decrease?
The electric power sector, accounting for 25 percent of the US’s greenhouse gas emissions, saw a 7 percent increase in 2021. This decline is attributed to a shift towards lower- and non-emitting electricity sources and increased end-use energy efficiency. Electricity is used by other end-use sectors, such as homes, businesses, and factories, and emissions can be allocated to these sectors. Industrial activities account for a larger share of U. S. greenhouse gas emissions when emissions are allocated to the industrial end-use sector.
Commercial and residential buildings also experience significant increases in greenhouse gas emissions when emissions from electricity end-use are included, primarily due to building-related activities. The transportation sector, which currently has a low percentage of electricity use, is growing due to the use of electric and plug-in vehicles.
Does rotting food produce greenhouse gases?
The generation of food waste not only necessitates the consumption of energy and water resources during its cultivation, harvesting, transportation, and packaging, but it also contributes to the emission of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, when it decomposes in landfills.
What are the negatives of Entomophagy?
Insects can be vectors for harmful micro-organisms, even though they are considered harmless to humans and animals due to phylogenetic differences. The risk of transmitting zoonotic infections to humans through edible insects is low, but further research is needed to understand the potential risks for food and feed. The microbiota of insects is complex, encompassing microbes from the insect’s life cycle or introduced during farming and processing. Insects are typically consumed in their entirety, as gut removal is not always possible.
What destroys greenhouse gasses?
Greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapor, trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. Natural compounds and synthetic fluorinated gases also play a role. These gases have different chemical properties and are removed from the atmosphere through various processes. Carbon dioxide is absorbed by carbon sinks like forests, soil, and the ocean, while fluorinated gases are destroyed by sunlight in the upper atmosphere.
The influence of a greenhouse gas on global warming depends on three factors: its presence in the atmosphere (measured in parts per million, parts per billion, or parts per trillion), its lifetime (measured in ppm), and its effectiveness in trapping heat (measured in GWP), which is the total energy a gas absorbs over time relative to the emissions of 1 ton of carbon dioxide.
What helps reduce greenhouse gases?
To reduce greenhouse gas emissions at home, consider a home energy audit, use renewable energy sources like solar panels, buy green tags, purchase carbon offsets, adjust your thermostat, install solar lights, and use energy-saving light bulbs. Installing programmable thermostats, sealing and insulating heating and cooling ducts, replacing single-paned windows with dual-paned ones, and installing insulated doors can all reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 5%.
Renewable energy sources like solar, wind, geothermal, and hydro energy are gaining worldwide support, with Denmark’s wind energy providing 10% of its total energy needs. In most states, customers can purchase green power (50 to 100% renewable energy) and find a complete list of options on the US Department of Energy’s Buying Clean Electricity web page.
📹 The Case for Entomophagy | Allison Bajada | TEDxVillanovaU
Despite its taboo nature in the West, the practice of entomophagy, or eating insects, is an important cultural practice for more than …
remember when eating algae was considered the ultimate solution to all hunger problems on earth? … besides we don’t have a food growing/creation problem, we have a distribution problem. the good foods that are thrown away in most western civilizations for dubious reasons (market price regulation, overproduction, … ) could easily fill all the hungry mouths on earth. i know. not the focus of the article.
Hm, I cannot honestly say that I’m down for the insect-diet replacement, but this is a prime example of a solution being presented in time to remedy a problem but people don’t support it due to personal perspectives and preferences. In other words, it is the type of problem where people need to adapt to a new norm and a new cultural standard for them to make and adjust to the change. I love philosophy and recently spoke about changing perspectives and human progress. Check it out if you’re interested, that is all. Good day to you all:)
Just to point out, all the insects that you mentioned that are in hops, all of them get kill on the process, because one of the main steps in brewing beer is boiling the wort and that sterilize the beer. Basically almost all the beer you buy and drink is sterile (they are exceptions but that is another subject) also lots of breweries filter and pasteurize the beer before it gets out and sell. 🙂
Years ago I had roommate with a wicked since of “humor” while I was in university. My cat had gone into heat and was driving me nuts. I thought I could wait it out and it would pass and I could then get her “fixed”, but it got worse as the weeks passed. I was at the end of my rope and just about ready to let her out and deal with the litter when this roommate offered an alternative suggestion to the natural remedy. She told me that if I gently boinked my kitty with the eraser on the end of a pencil she would go out of heat. I was horrified by the thought at first, but I grew so desperate and the cat was so miserable that I thought I should give it a try, even being as distasteful a task as it was…And my roommate watched with satisfaction as I struggled with the disgusting task. I didn’t think the cat’s condition could get any worse, but it did…The cat was climbing the walls and shrieking like a banshee for days as I waited for her to calm down, but I finally relented to having a litter of adorable kittens. A few months later my roommate said, “I can’t believe you fell for that”.
In Spain there was a well documented case where all those feminist politicians suddenly were all for “insect diets and why you should follow them” y’know the usual “it’s great for the environment”, or “it helps against overpopulation”, all the scripted bs they usually spread around. Well it turns out there was this grand event (invitation only) where most of those feminist politicians were honor guests, the dinner consisted on fancy dishes, mainly lobster, foie gras, fillet mignon, and even straight steak with fine herbs. Of course the event took place without any issues or complaints but those same politicians of course continued with the insect agenda even to this day. Insects for the gø¥, steak for their masters.
I’ve been growing meal worms and grasshoppers for a few years. At first to feed my pet iguana, but when I found a recipe online I decided to try it out. It was quite tasty… Production isn’t great; I get about a meal’s worth per month out of two terrariums, but after setup it costs nothing. feed them on vegetable leftovers and grass from cutting the lawn. My daughter actually likes roasted meal worms and honey on icecream! Though admittedly, part of that is too freak out her friends. =D
I have a suggestion. I know it would still be disgusting, but it would at least be slightly easier than eating the bugs whole. What if we grind them up to be unrecognizable as bugs, then turn them into like a substitute meat or something? (I wanna throw up thinking about it, but I think it could work.)
This comments section is absolutely spammed with “You are all idiots for not being vegan!” and “eating bugs is dumb!” Frankly, I love this idea, and I would love to be one of the agricultural engineers that helps make this sort of thing possible. There are a lot of possibilities. For instance, if you’re like me and have Oral Allergy Syndrome, raw fruits and veggies are a no-go. Even many cooked. However, if the plant is digested by insects, and then I eat the insects, the pollen is broken down quite effectively. Also, the culinary possibilities are awesome as well. We have several staple meats, like pork, chicken, and beef, which each have different properties and tastes. But imagine THOUSANDS of meats with different flavors and purposes. And I wonder, if I had my crickets eat parsley or something, would this alter their flavor? And here’s another thing. People are freaked out at eating bugs because of “all the legs” or whatever. Umm, we don’t normally eat pork, chicken, or beef when it’s fully-intact. Same with fish. Eastern dishes freak out western people because it is “staring at them”. So I mean, eating crickets could be in the form of a cooked, ground, and recooked meats, like “cricket burgers”. Or meal worms could be ground, mixed with other ingredients and puffed to make a snack like pork rinds or puffcorn. Or how about that meal worm flour in the article? Frankly, I think people need to get over themselves. Little kids freak out like this when they discover “beef is made from moo cows?
I love how vegetarian/vegan people think their diet is automatically better. Bullshit. It all comes down to a balanced diet. If I only eat sugar, too many carbs and coconut fat, technically, it is a ‘vegan’ diet. Is it healthy? Obviously not. Most of the time vegan people are just more aware of what they are eating because, in order to decide whether to become a vegan, they extensively looked up information, thus making wiser choices nutrition-wise. But that doesn’t mean that people who still eat meat did not inform themselves about those issues. What is definitely the case is that meat (and animal-based) production takes up way more resources and is more environmentally damaging than plant-based production (even though plant-based production is for from being perfect either…). That would be the only convincing argument for me to go vegan. Ethical arguments are too subjective and strongly depend on interpretation. And from a health-related perspective, if you pay attention to what you buy (not buying GMO-hormone-fed, caged cattle, for example), either diet is healthy.
I went to the Exploratorium in San Francisco many years ago (when it was still at the Palace of Fine Arts before it moved to Pier 15) and they had an exhibit about insects getting preserved for millions of years in amber (like in Jurassic Park). In honor of the exhibit, they were selling lollipops with tequila worms inside, as if the lollipop were amber. The tequila worms themselves were real caterpillars. It was my first, and to this day the only, time I had eaten an insect. And it was enjoyable. I don’t know what other insects I would enjoy eating, but tequila worms are quite edible. If I had a bunch of tequila worms, cooked them, and added some seasoning, I reckon I would have a decent meal.
Please don’t twist words around. When people say foods are “ALLOWED” to have X amount of bugs per X amount of food, that doesn’t mean that have that many bugs per that much food. Not to mention, knowing the world, some insects would start to go extinct and people will start throwing fits. You also seemed to leave out the logistics. It would take hundreds of years to domesticate “INSECTS” like we did with cows. This is completely improbable and should be disregarded.
Honestly I’ve had a few bugs in my life and they were definitely not a big deal, so much so that it’s crazy this isn’t more of a rising trend. I had some spaghetti with cooked peppers onions and meal worms once at a science museum, they were doing a demonstration and it was actually very good. Honestly I think the 2 biggest things people need to get over is presentation and hygiene. People thing bugs are dirty and they are when outside but hey guess what your pigs are filthy too, under proper conditions things can be kept very hygienic.
Biggest reason I don’t want to eat bugs: It’s being pushed by the media aggressively. As we slowly transcend into a dystopia, they’re starting to expect us to do anything they tell us to, even going as far as breaching our 4th and 2nd amendments using loopholes. Eating bugs feels more like a political agenda to me rather than something healthy, even though it is supposed to be healthier scientifically speaking. I do not wish to conform to the government’s dystopia.
Hey, I’m part of a Chemistry program in Puerto Rico, SEED II, and talking with my lab partners today, we argue about, why people are left-handed or right-handed?. I think we develop it while growing up, at the same time the brain is developed; but I prefer to let you explain it to us. Have a nice day, Siul.
It’s actually strange how much personal response can differ regardless of knowledge. While I have read and watched the science behind eating insects and I always say you have to try a food before you knock it. I have a serious phobia of most insects going as far as running from grasshoppers and crickets so just the idea of eating one makes my stomach turn. My knowledge of its benefit does not seem to help curb by reflex to run and hide.
Are the segments of data used on Liters of water used to make a pound of animal product registered per year or per animal lifetime? However, I’m fully for the implementation of arthropods into food sources. Mostly because they’re lower on the trophic levels (more energy for us) and they all have r-type selection (tons of babies). Personally though, I was hoping farm-raised cephalopods and molluscs and bivalves would become more common as they’re INSANELY good for us. Almost like we digest them easier or something.
It’s actually pretty simple to get the average western consumer to eat something that they’d otherwise find revolting to put in their mouth. It’s called food processing. Ever heard of chicken nuggets and hot dogs? Same process could easily be applied to processing maggots and beetles into foodstuff that children and the squeamish wouldn’t mind trying. Also stuff like maggot meal, like the article pointed out could easily be introduced into baked goods and cereals. It’s simple, really.
i don’t know if i’d be able to voluntarily eat insects, but our descendents can…i just look at all the ‘disgusting things’ that i accept as normal food today — sausage: stuffed guts? honey: bee barf? blue cheese: moldy cheese? steak: dead meat from a castrated bull? and so forth. another thing i’m looking forward to is vatgrown meat.
Great article in many ways but extremely simplistic when it comes to understanding raising animal. The facts about how much water and land and food to make a kg of beef are not taking into account that beef is predominately raised on low quality land that cannot be used to raise crops. The huge amounts of water the cows drink come in the form of rain that falls from the sky to the ground that then flows into streams and slews. And grass, a natural renewable resource is not very nutritious. That is why it takes so much grass to make a kg of beef. So really cows are taking low quality land that is not good for crops and turns it into highly nutritious meat.
Guys, think of it this way, if we started eating only insects that are not toxic to the human race, our water supply would be up for 70% longer because were not using it all on frickin cow’s. When I think of cows I think of toxic meat, the chance you get sick from eating an Mc Donalds Bugger is an whole 1% I mean it may not seem that large but the percentage for eating 1l of bugs is 0.05% so if you eat one bug your chance of getting sick is like 1 billion to 1. When you eat 1L of cooked beef the chances you’ll get an disease is 15%!!!! Absolutely insane! Me myself do eat meat, I have ate meat when I was a child and teen. Now I’ve changed my ways, I still eat ceral for brekfast, Still eat an sandwich for lunch (no filthy meat) and I eat an plate of bugs with spices and they taste AMAZING. Think of how much more water we would have if we drank it since 1900, we’d have 1000 more years of fresh water. I cant believe that I have aten beef in the past, We need to stop killing cows, pigs and those kind of creatures, if you see what happens to pigs you would be horrified.
I’m not eating bugs. Due to over population you will be forced to eat bugs but if they can make it look like fun, get a few celebrities to try it. Oh wait, they’ve already done that, “Celebrity jungle” they can fool you. And as long as people shame each other for not wanting to eat them they’ll all jump on the same train. Well enjoy the ride because then it will be rats and mice. Plenty of mice about. I’m still not eating bugs, rats or mice.
Speaking of bugs, why do bugs die upside down? Living in the country I leave my porch light on at night, in the morning there are tons of bugs dead upside down. I’ve also noticed that when I spray a spider (or any insect) with poison, they too die upside down. Just curious as to why this maybe. Any thoughts guys?
Hmm, I hate crickets, but I had never thought of eating them before. I think that would be a wonderful way to express my hatred of them for annoying me all night long just because they want to get laid. Go somewhere else and call for a mate, geez. Now I have eaten ants before. They were eating my food. I’m like “How dare you!!!! You eat my food, I’m gonna eat YOU!!!!!!”
The insects need to be much bigger so they can be butchered into seperate parts. Eating the whole thing, skeleton and gut included, is the main thing that puts me off. An insect steak would be much nicer. Try rearing them in a high oxygen atmosphere. Pretty sure they’d quickly adapt to be much bigger. In the carboniferous period (14% more oxygen) some centipedes got to over seven feet long.
I don’t think I could eat whole raw insects on a regular basis, if they were cooked into stuff, or like they said, grounded into the flower. Then yeah sure, I could probably do that on a regular basis. That said, right now I wouldn’t consume them other then to maybe try it once. There would be no positive impact for me to do such a thing when there is food all around me. So for the time being, I will continue to eat cows and chickens.
I actually wouldn’t mind eating bugs all that much. Sure, huge centipedes and squirming maggots isn’t all that nice, but I could easily eat crickets or grasshoppers. (Yeah, I’ve tried. It doesn’t taste that bad!) Anyways, if you mash up insects to make them look like stew, lots of people would probably eat it.
Is it bad that I’ve always had some instinctual liking and taste towards insects? One time I ate a live raw cricket, and let me tell you, they taste really good. It’s like it’s own kind of meat. I did it a long time ago, but it was very good. I suggest cooking them before you eat them. Then frying them afterwards to make sure for no dangerous parasites though.
I do not think that the first world will develop a taste in that over beef or bacon or chicken or fish as insects are commonly eaten more in 3rd world countries with not enough wealth for agribusiness or general animal or fish farming otherwise. Still it does not mean there arn’t nutrients obtainable from insects. You can fry them eat them raw, cook or bake them, barbecue or grill them, and put salt pepper spices or hot or soy sauces on them. Also with insects you do not have to eat them as dinner you can include protein in your treat or cocktail – insects liquidized in the blender mixed with fruit juice, a little cola or tonic and other liquor/liqueurs or fruit drinks. It is versatile in that way
All points were made comparing insects to animals. What about eating insects compared to plants? The title was “should we all be eating insects?” which implies that this question is about whether or not vegetarians/vegans should be eating insects instead of their current diet, in addition to whether or not meat-eaters should be eating insects instead of their current diet.
Allison Bajada, you are spectacularly open minded and intelligent, thank you for producing this article! I look forward to follow up articles perhaps about assorted insect recipes for North America or perhaps a article about how we can help inspire a society to change including a collection of benefits and suggestions for implementation.
If you want people to change their diets to solve socio-economic problems, then I have another suggestion for you: Dogs. They are edible, nutritious, and traditionally consumed in many countries outside America. More importantly, there are plenty of dogs readily available—unwanted creatures suffering in “shelters,” who are going to be killed anyway. Why waste food?