Beef is Bad for Our Climate but Giving It up Is Tough
Denver, Colorado
So, maybe you know that meat and dairy production has a negative impact on the earth’s climate but you love the taste of charcoal-grilled hamburgers and filet mignon. You might be aware that producing a pound of beef creates more than 25 times the greenhouse gas emissions than producing an equivalent weight of wheat. This fact bothers your conscience but, hey, you can’t live on bread alone and need your protein, right? You may have heard that the methane produced by cows burping and their manure traps 28 times the outgoing planet-warming radiation than the equivalent volume of carbon dioxide. But how are you supposed to suddenly given up the central part of the diet that has sustained you all your life?
My answer to you is this – don’t suddenly give up meat. Because you are going to feel really deprived and you will soon give up on a vegetarian or vegan diet just like my ex-wife, Genie, many years ago when she tried to lose weight on a diet of hard-boiled eggs and grapefruit.
Source: Center for International Forestry Research -
CIFOR
But if you recognize
that meat and dairy consumption (especially from cattle) is one of the
significant drivers of climate change, I have a suggestion. Try doing like I did starting about 40 years
ago. In the early 1980s, I had a
vegetarian girlfriend for a short time who introduced me to meatless
dishes. Over the next 10 years, I became
more receptive to veggie meals. Then in
1993, I met Judy, a vegetarian who gradually became a vegan, and we’ve been together
ever since. During the past 30 years, I’ve
learned about preparing us tasty vegan meals.
Along the way, I’ve discovered meat analogs like veggie burgers and
protein-rich substitutes for meat like beans, lentils, and nuts. I’ve come across some delicious gourmet cheese
substitutes like those from Myokos. My big
complaint about processed vegan food is that much of it is a bit heavy in salt,
something I’d like to cut back on for my health. And I will confess to having a slice of pizza
with real cheese from time to time as I LOVE good pizza. However, I have gradually lost my craving for
meat over time to the point that eating a beef hamburger or a steak no longer
appeals.
The point is that I never consciously gave up meat. Instead, my diet gradually evolved over time. Presently, my food consumption habits are not only better for the environment than they were 40 years ago but they are better for my health (for example, beef and processed pork are known carcinogens). I also feel better knowing that my diet doesn’t involve cruelty to animals, especially those produced by “big ag” which confines chickens, turkeys, and pigs to tiny, dark living spaces and separates calves from mother cows right after birth so that their milk can be used for dairy products and some of the calves can become veal cutlets.
Here’s what I’d suggest you think about if you’d like your diet to contribute to the future health of the planet:
- If you are a regular
meat eater, try incorporating a few vegetarian meals into your diet. Also, gradually switch your diet away from
beef and dairy to less-impactful meat products such as free-range chicken and sustainably-raised
fish. The carbon footprint of these
latter two options are greater than for plant-based proteins but much less than
for beef.
- If you already eat a largely vegetarian diet, try eating more cheese-less meals. That’s easy if you like Asian food.
Consider this: If Americans skipped meat one day a week, they could save 100 billion gallons of water and 70 million gallons of gasoline (and associated greenhouse gas emissions) each year. They would also save three million acres of land which could be planted with billions of trees thereby removing billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere.
Cutting back on meat
consumption isn’t about being “virtuous”.
It’s about making a personal dent in humanity’s carbon emissions along
with the side benefit of improving one’s health and being kinder to fellow
sentient beings. Not a bad trade off in
return for your better physical, mental, and spiritual health.
It’s time for me to head off to the kitchen to prepare a mild Thai curry with noodles, raw cashews, and crispy veggies.
Don't think I'll ever give up meat, although I eat a whole lot less than when I was young. Can't beat a burger when you're craving one, or a very occasional steak or exquisite sushi. I DO try not to think about how that burger ended up in my mouth. I guess I'm a damn hypocrite; I could not POSSIBLY kill a cow, much less bleed it, gut it, and chop up its corpse. Little story: I went trout fishing just once, in the Sawatch range. Presently I hooked and pulled a nice trout out of the water. Well, there he was on the ground, flopping, obviously miserable. My friend said, "You gotta kill it. Here, take these pliers and whack it on the head". This was decades ago, and I still remember how horrible it was to smash the skull of that beautiful innocent creature. END of fishing career for good, right there. Robinson Jeffers (greatest American poet) wrote once: "I'd sooner, except the penalties, kill a man than a hawk" Don't know if I'd go that far, but I know EXACTLY where he's coming from.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of when I was 13 living in rural Kentucky. I shot my BB gun at a bird on a telephone wire and to my amazement, I hit it. It didn't kill the bird but broke its wing. I carried it to the porch, my mom helped me make a box for it, and we attempted to feed it and give it water. After a couple days, the little bird died and I felt horrible. Since then, I've never had any interest in hunting.
DeleteI eat a vegan breakfast, then lunch and dinner fish/chicken maybe 25% of the time. Red meat maybe once a month, if that! I tried being all-veggie and just couldn't digest the plant proteins 100% of the time after some 16 years of vegetarianism. Finding a balance between the environment and my own digestive system's needs.
ReplyDeleteI'm not there, Will, but your writing has me thinking about it. I love Asian food, but lack the cooking skills. A few times I had the opportunity to live primarily on Asian diets and always lost a lot of weight - only to gain it back again when I had to start cooking for myself again. Thanks for the well-crafted article that is even more evidence that I have some changes to make.
ReplyDeleteJudy Greenfield provided me the following link which clearly shows the connection between a plant-based diet and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/friday-favorites-which-foods-and-diets-have-the-lowest-carbon-footprint/?subscriber=true&utm_source=NutritionFacts.org&utm_campaign=4ec216b171-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_7_26_2022_12_48_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_40f9e497d1-4ec216b171-23691057&mc_cid=4ec216b171&mc_eid=5c1e1a2557
ReplyDeleteIn this eleven-minute video titled "Which Foods and Diets Have the Lowest Carbon Footprint?" Dr. Michael Greger discusses how greenhouse gas emissions could be dramatically reduced if people switched from a diet heavy in meat to a plant-based diet. This M.D. is no crank with an axe to grind. His videos and writings are well-documented with peer-reviewed scientific studies on the benefits of plant-based diets.
Irrigation for growing alfalfa and grass hay to feed livestock accounts for 23% of all water usage nationally, and 56% of the Colorado River’s flow goes to livestock.
ReplyDeleteJudy
Denver