You know we are in a biodiversity crisis and a climate emergency, but you wonder what you can do to help? There is one thing you can do, and you can start today: quit eating beef.
When you give up eating beef you will significantly reduce your personal carbon footprint, and, as a bonus, you will improve your health as well. If you’re stuck on eating meat, simply substitute chicken for beef. Better yet, make the transition to a more plant-based diet and substitute beans.
Greenhouse gases from beef production
Beef production emits substantial quantities of greenhouse gases directly and indirectly.
Cattle emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as they digest plants. Methane also comes from manure. In addition, nitrous oxide, another greenhouse gas, is emitted from chemical fertilizers used on feed crops.
Raising cattle requires a lot of land for grazing or to grow corn, soy and grains for cattle in feedlots. In fact, almost a third of the land on Earth is used to produce meat and animal products, much of this for cattle.
As the demand for beef has increased globally, the amount of forest cleared for pasture or feed crops has accelerated. This deforestation may be best known in Brazil but occurs in most countries, including Canada.
Deforestation contributes to the climate crisis because trees absorb and store carbon dioxide. When forests are cleared, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are released. Forest loss and damage is the cause of around 10% of global warming with beef production accounting for over 40% of this deforestation.
This is all before we consider the environmental impacts of water, fuel, refrigeration and other resource requirements to manage the herds, administer the drugs, slaughter the animals, process the carcasses, handle the waste, package the flesh, deliver and store the product, as well as cook the meat. For example, much of the waste from factory farms and abattoirs flows into streams and rivers, contaminating water sources.
Carbon footprint of beef
Once you understand the amount of greenhouse gases associated with the serving of beef you are about to eat, it may not surprise you that beef has the highest carbon footprint of any food. However, you may be surprised (as I was when I first saw this comparison) at the scale of the difference.
A kilogram of beef emits 60 kilograms (kg) of greenhouse gases. By comparison, the same amount of poultry emits 6 kg, wild fish emits 3 kg, and a kilogram of peas emits less than one kilogram of greenhouse gases. Those are very significant differences!
Most of the greenhouse gases associated with beef (and most other foods) come from land use change and from processes at the farm stage. Transport is a relatively small contributor to emissions. This means that eating locally grown beef won’t reduce the carbon footprint of beef very much.
What about protein?
We are obsessed with protein and the beef industry has done a remarkable job of making us believe that beef is the best, maybe even the only, source of protein. While it is true that beef has protein, lots of other foods have protein, too. Let’s look at the greenhouse gas emissions per 100 grams of protein (the target for someone on a high protein diet).
The production of 100 grams of protein from beef would create 49.9 kilograms of greenhouses gases. By comparison, you could get 100 grams of protein from many sources with significantly less environmental impact: pork (7.6 kg), poultry (5.7 kg), eggs (4.2 kg), or tofu (2.0 kg of greenhouse gases).
Think about it: if you got your 100 grams of protein from chicken you would have released about 11% of the greenhouse gases that you would have if you had eaten beef. That is a massive difference! And it would have been even greater reduction if you’d have chosen nuts (0.26 kg) or peas (0.44 kg) as your source of protein.
Is beef healthy?
Beef can be high in saturated fats which can clog arteries. Beef can be high in cholesterol which is bad for cardiovascular health. Beef can create blood pressure fluctuations.
High consumption of beef, especially processed meat, may increase your risk of cancer (especially colorectal cancer), diabetes, heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, liver disease, and Alzheimer’s.
We treat cattle very badly
Cattle experience joy, loneliness, frustration, fear, and pain just like dogs and cats. Despite this, the beef industry subjects cattle to unspeakable cruelty.
We think of cattle leisurely grazing in an open green pasture, possibly with mountains as a backdrop. The reality is that most cattle spend their life in factory farms, or a substantial part of their life in feedlots. These animal prisons are crowded and filthy.
Cattle are subjected to excruciating procedures such as dehorning, branding and castration. They are often given growth hormones to make them grow faster and antibiotics to prevent disease in these unnatural conditions. Finally, these gentle animals are packed onto trucks and sent to slaughterhouses where they are subjected to violent deaths.
Role model
When we think of the future, we think of our children and our grandchildren. We should be role models for the next generations by acting on our knowledge about the relative environmental impacts of various foods.
We shouldn’t be perpetuating our culture’s obsession with eating beef. We should raise children to be aware of the environmental impacts of all lifestyle choices, including the food we eat.
After all, we are worried about what kind of future we have given the negative impacts of the biodiversity and climate crises. We should be even more worried about what kind of world our children and grandchildren will inherit. Let’s help the next generation get on a better path.
Final thoughts
Not eating beef is an easy-to-grasp concept that will reduce your individual carbon footprint more than other food or lifestyle choices. You may not be ready to adopt a vegan, vegetarian or even pescatarian diet, but you can, with one simple change, make a positive contribution to fight against global warming.
Quit eating beef now!
Overcrowding of livestock promotes the spread of disease among both people and animals, increasing the risk of future pandemics. The overuse of antibiotics to accelerate animal growth and preemptively treat the infections anticipated as a result of living in unclean and overcrowded conditions promotes antibiotic resistance.
Livestock accounts for more than 14% of all global emissions, with meat making up nearly 60% of all greenhouse gases from food production. Major cuts to meat and dairy consumption – particularly in wealthy nations – are essential to meet international climate goals.
DeSmog says:
A long-awaited UN food and climate plan failed to recommend cuts to meat-eating. The meat lobby called it “music to our ears.” Scientists, however, called it “bewildering.”
By denying, derailing, delaying, and deflecting meaningful discussions around the sector’s key issues, the agriculture industry is using the same tactics as the tobacco and fossil fuel lobbies. Deception is working: A recent survey revealed that over 40% of the US public believe that beef is better for the environment than plant-based alternatives. In reality, plant-based substitutes have on average around half the climate impacts of meat options.
It really bothers me that eating steak is still depicted in popular movies and television shows as macho and quintessentially American.