Less Meat = Less Heat
by Warren McLaren, Sydney 
on 09.24.07
Wanna do something about global warming, but can’t pony up for a Prius or solar panels? There is another option. Reduce your consumption of red meat. Worldwide agriculture, especially livestock production, accounts for about a fifth of greenhouse gas emissions (see chart after the fold). A report published in the renown medical journal The Lancet proposes that developed countries cut their meat munching to 90g per day, with only 50g of that coming from ruminants such as cattle or sheep. Currently folk in ‘the West’ eat, on average, their own body weight in meat a year. Per day that's 224g, or the equal of two quarter pounder burgers. In developing countries the daily average is 47g. (100g = 3.5 oz).
Proportion of greenhouse-gas emissions from different parts of livestock production. Adapted from FAO. (from full Lancet report)
The report suggests that maintaining current high red meat consumption contributes to the threats posed by climate change, such as reduced food yields, due to increased weather anomalies like drought, flood, etc. Limiting meat eating will reduce these risks as well as helping to tackle related obesity and cancer issues.
This ain’t the first time this information has come across our pixels. We’ve looked at similar studies before. See here and here, for example.
::The Lancet (free subscription required), the article is entitled Food, livestock production, energy, climate change, and health, via The Age
.
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Take it from a Beatle: Cut Your Carbon Footprint by Making Mondays Meat-Free
- Eat a Vegetarian Diet, Reduce Your Carbon Footprint by a Ton
- Emeril Green Episode: Healthy Me, Healthy You
- Trust Stella McCartney: Meat-Free Mondays are Hip, not Hippie!
- Reduce Your Carbon Footprint by Half in Three Steps
- Avoid Evaporating Gas: Park in the Shade and Buy Gas When it's Cool
Mr. McLaren, thank you for posting this article! So often I feel that my tiny budget limits the amount of impact that i can have on the environment, i.e. buying an expensive new hybrid car, solar panels, or organic clothing are not available options for me- but this article shows that i can make a huge impact buy potentially saving money! Consuming less meat can be very easy to do. It seems like choosing different foods to eat could be the best solution!
So how did we get used to eating so much meat?
Looks like the number keeps going up. Something that actually accounts for about 5% of global emissions is claimed to be 18%, now goes to 20%. Pretty soon it will be 423% of the problem.
So often I feel that my tiny budget limits the amount of impact that i can have on the environment, i.e. buying an expensive new hybrid car, solar panels, or organic clothing are not available options for me- but this article shows that i can make a huge impact buy potentially saving money! Consuming less meat can be very easy to do. It seems like choosing different foods to eat could be the best solution!
Stop owning a car. You'll save far more money and have far less environmental impact than changing your diet - especially in a developed country. Unless you live in a very temperate climate, fresh fruits and vegetables can be much more expensive than meat. Going veggie doesn't necessarily save money.
Eating locally raised meat also assuages the environmental toll.
Going veggie doesn't necessarily save money.
It does if you try. Our household grocery bills have fallen through the floor since we restricted our meat consumption to one meal a week. Opting for dry staples such as beans and rice, using fresh and seasonal vegetables and fruits as side dishes and flavoring rather than main events, and adopting a "do it yourself" mentality can go a long way.
Thrifty shopping is thrifty shopping.
If you really want to help the environment, then stop eating all together!
(yep... fully expecting to get slammed for this one).
It does if you try. Our household grocery bills have fallen through the floor since we restricted our meat consumption to one meal a week. Opting for dry staples such as beans and rice, using fresh and seasonal vegetables and fruits as side dishes and flavoring rather than main events, and adopting a "do it yourself" mentality can go a long way.
The average US household spends $46,409 per year. Of that, expenditures on non-dairy animal products for food at home are $764 (1.6%), or about 84 cents per person per day. To get the recommended daily allowance of protein, one needs to spend about $2.24 per person per day on an equal mix of black beans and tofu. So it's hard to see how a household could save a substantial amount from protein substitution, if any at all.
Compare that with the roughly $8,000/yr (17.0%) that a household spends on their car, and the economics aren't even comparable to spending on animal products.
Hey "Anonymous", I just found this statement from the New Scientist... “You could exchange your “regular” car for a hybrid Toyota Prius and, by doing so, prevent about 1 ton of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year, but according to the University of Chicago, being vegan is more effective in the fight against global warming; a vegan prevents approximately 1.5 fewer tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year than a meat-eater does.4 The math is simple: You could spend more than $20,000 on a Prius and still emit 50 percent more carbon dioxide than you would if you just gave up eating meat and other animal products.” NewScientist.com, “It’s Better to Green Your Diet Than Your Car,” 17 Dec. 2005. Where is the information to support you argument?
Hey "Anonymous", I just found this statement from the New Scientist... “You could exchange your “regular” car for a hybrid Toyota Prius and, by doing so, prevent about 1 ton of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year, but according to the University of Chicago, being vegan is more effective in the fight against global warming; a vegan prevents approximately 1.5 fewer tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year than a meat-eater does
A "regular" vehicle gets 20 mpg. A Prius gets 46 mpg.
Average person drives 8,300 miles per year.
Gasoline puts out 19.5 pounds of CO2 per gallon.
The difference in emissions is 2.3 tons of CO2.
When you start picking from numbers from disparate articles, the assumptions aren't going to match up. Use primary, provable data and you won't get led in the wrong direction.
I replaced over 80% of the lights in my house with CLFs, once I could find them in the wattages that my family wanted. I recycle, both curb side and facility drop off as my garbage collection service offers curbside pickup and there is a drop off facility between where I live and work. I will even be trading in my muscle car for an electric car when my lease comes up (mid you it will be a Tesla Roadster).
For every one of the items I mentioned above there is a green substitute that is as good as or better than the alternative. My mother always told me that if I wanted to take something a way from someone else I had to offer them something in return to prevent an altercation. I do not see something in return here.
Please don't just tell me that all meat is bad. Don't tell me that animals are being mistreated (have you ever seen wolves or lions kill that is not "humane" in the least). Give me an alternative meat that is better for the environment. The comment on locally grown meat is a good start. I will actively look for that. I may eat a few less burgers and steaks in a week too.
I feel like I am back in Junior High and adults are telling me that sex is bad. "Sex is bad you will get AIDS and pregnant" "Meat is bad you are killing the planet".
If you choose to be vegan I respect that. I will even ensure that if you come over to my house I will have several non meat dishes to chose from. I will not harass you with jokes implying you are not "manly" enough. I will however expect the same. No religious conversion attempts. Spirited conversation with viable alternatives are welcome though. Alternatives is the key word.
Alternatives:
Soy: Tofu, Tempeh, Edamame, TVP, and more.
Grains:
Wheat: Seitan
Quinoa (good with taco seasoning in taco shells, complete protein)
Beans: too numerous to list here.
Brown Rice.
Why is it that when someone presents one alternative, such as veganism or abstinence, everyone demands alternatives to their alternative?
Meat is inherently bad for the environment when compare with plant foods; this is because it is inherently inefficient thanks to animals' tendency to poop. More often than not, the junk their bodies excrete is bad for us (again, it's poop) and therefore is effectively a hazard we have to deal with. You want to call local meat green? Make sure everything it ate was also sourced locally. And be willing to accept that eating closer to the sun (i.e. eating plants) is always going to be greener.
Nobody's taking away your meat...well, except you by continuing to eat it. There isn't enough land in the world to support the daily consumption of meat by everyone in the world, so eventually economics will take its toll. Of course, if the U.S. gov't wasn't both subsidizing animal agriculture and subsidizing the grain inputs for animal agriculture, economics would have already taken its toll.
It just makes sense, I don't see how people can disagree with going veg/vegan as a way to cut down on personal pollution responsibility. A farmer grows the vegetable, the beans are shipped/packaged/etc then I eat it. A farmer grows the vegetable, it's then shipped/packed/etc and sent to the animals, the animals eat it, then the animals are killed/packaged/shipped etc, then I eat it. By going veg you're cutting out a whole step there.
It may be naive or simple, but still, logic seems to dictate....
i am doing a project on this factor, and i think that we should all think about what we eat before we order
That photo does not make me want to stop eating meat! Why not post some greasy old burger patty or something instead?
Going veg after 50+ years is probably one of the best things I ever did--for animals, my health, and the environment. Protein hasn't been the concern that people thought it was many, many years ago. If anything, we have saved money and enjoy our meals! We are a civilized nation but certainly don't act like it sometimes.
Maybe it'd cut back on environmental degradation if we delivered the grains to the livestock and the meat to the grocery stores via a prius. ;)
Beyond the immense affect animal production has on the environment, it's a much less efficient way of getting energy for your own body.
I don't believe it's unnatural to eat meat, however, I find that if we know the impact of mass meat and dairy production on our world, we should choose to do something about it... not eat animal products.