When it comes to global warming, hamburgers are the Hummers of food, scientists say.
Simply switching from steak to salad could cut as much carbon as leaving the car at home a couple days a week.
That’s because beef is such an incredibly inefficient food to produce and cows release so much harmful methane into the atmosphere, said Nathan Pelletier of Dalhousie University in Canada.
Pelletier is one of a growing number of scientists studying the environmental costs of food from field to plate.
By looking at everything from how much grain a cow eats before it is ready for slaughter to the emissions released by manure, they are getting a clearer idea of the true costs of food. The livestock sector is estimated to account for 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and beef is the biggest culprit.
Even though beef only accounts for 30 percent of meat consumption in the developed world it’s responsible for 78 percent of the emissions, Pelletier said Sunday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
That’s because a single kilogram of beef produces 16 kilograms carbon dioxide equivalent emissions: four times higher than pork and more than ten times as much as a kilogram of poultry, Pelletier said. If people were to simply switch from beef to chicken, emissions would be cut by 70 percent, Pelletier said.
How does the beef industry manage to allow this sort of propaganda to continue?
Found by Eric Trytko.
John,
It doesn’t mean that you have to eat only Chic-fil-A. You need to go out and kill a steer every once in a while to feel like a Robert Mitchum style man.
A side from my cheap shot this may be the time when all countries have to get used to the notion that the times are changing.
And “no” I am not a vegetarian.
#15 Paddy,
And they should be sacrificed like the animals raised for their fur: with an electric prong up their anuses
Haven’t these vegans idiots learned from Linda MacCartney that you CAN get cancer and die from it even if you are a strict vegetarian?
If ever a great natural disaster happens that shuts down the food industry, we can always switch to feeding on grain-fed vegetarians. Who knows? With a little bbq sauce it might even taste like good pork.
I’m afraid this is backed by science. Check out the the book by the Union of Concerned Scientists
The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/Consumers-Guide-Effective-Environmental-Choices/dp/060980281X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234823074&sr=8-1
It isn’t about climate change per se, although thats part of it. Beef is pretty much the worst thing to eat from an environmental perspective (land use, water consumption, pollution + carbon usage). Pork is about half as bad, and chicken half again. For lowest impact being a vegetarian is the best.
I’m not a vegetarian, and have no intention of becoming one. But I have cut down on beef, and to a lesser degree pork. Its not hard – and it’s better for your health, and the world.
Why a large group of people throw their hands up and say there is an ‘anti meat agenda’ when someone points out this stuff is kinda sad. It’s childish. It’s throwing your toys out of the pram when someone tells you something you don’t like. Jeez – grow up.
I don’t care. I am still going to eat steak because it tastes good.
If they ban meat, I will just start my own religion where steers are grilled (I mean sacrificed) on an barbecue (I mean altar). Maybe the diners (I mean worshipers) can enjoy a cigarette (I mean holy communion stick) after the meal (I mean service).
I’m afraid this is backed by science. Check out the the book by the Union of Concerned Scientists
The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists (Paperback)
It isn’t about climate change per se, although that’s part of it. Beef is pretty much the worst thing to eat from an environmental perspective (land use, water consumption, pollution + carbon usage). Pork is about half as bad, and chicken half again. For lowest impact being a vegetarian is the best.
I’m not a vegetarian, and have no intention of becoming one. But I have cut down on beef, and to a lesser degree pork and chicken. Its not hard. It’s better for your health. It’s also better for the world.
Why a large group of people throw their hands up and say there is an ‘anti meat agenda’ when someone points out this stuff is kinda sad. Or all the ‘brilliant’ eating vegetarian jokes. Yeah, nice one.
It’s childish. It’s throwing your toys out of the pram when someone tells you something you don’t like. Jeez – grow up. Much like the whole climate change discussion frankly…
Vegans: The new red meat
“Kill it, Skin it, Eat it!”
Found on a cave wall in France
If I switch from meat to vegan beans and rice, my methane emissions are going to soar.
So the extinction of the mega fauna should have caused the planet to cool off and the death of the great bison herds should have done the same?
I don’t think we have any more big plant eaters around today than six hundred or a thousand years ago.
#10 – Olo
>>Is it just me, or is the Recent Comments
>>thing on the right side of the page fouled
>>up?
No, the Recent Comments thing on the right side of the page is fouled up.
I was going to complain about it, but decided to count my blessings instead. At least I don’t get a “DATABASE ERROR ESTABLISHING CONNECTION” every time I come here, like I was getting a while ago.
i take it the hindus are on this guy’s shit list too???
I think we should eat less meat, but this guy is a loon. Really, this whole thing is really short sighted; l
eather shoes use far less energy than nylon/vinyl ones, because they are made from plants as their core input, and they are more durable.
#19, Bob
Yes bow to me my little zergling. Although, I have no idea why I welcome your slavery. Apparently a little reading hurts and they rather bow to someone who can
I love this country!
There is an article in the Feb. issue of Scientific American on this also. Interesting read.
Really you guys will be just as happy without meat. There are plenty of healthy and tasty alternatives, and millions do just fine without the heart clogging stuff.
This is why a ‘green house tax’ will not work. It would kill dairy and cattle farms.
I guess you could put a methane fuel cell on their ass and charge batteries in a back pack. But they also burp methane.
This is a serious issue that red necks and older people will joke into the ground. It is the Spotted Owl all over again.
Hearing this, I will be eating many, many more cheeseburgers. I am so fucking sick of the asshole leftists telling me what to do to prevent global warming, climate change, blah, blah, blah. How much global warming is caused by 1000 rounds of 45 ACP??? Well, I’ll be contributing that much every week… Fuck THEM!
EAT MORE VEAL!
Cattle emit methane because they are vegetarians.
In a world of six billion vegans, the methane load would be enormous. Hell, I already contribute about twenty times a day. Ooops! There goes another dose.