How Eating Less Beef Can Help the Environment

Did you know you can make a positive effect on the world’s environment simply by eating less meat? You may not be ready to become a complete vegan like your neighbor or even switch to a Lacto-Ovo vegetarian lifestyle, but cutting down your food intake to one or two meatless meals per week and limited the amount of meat in your other meals can have a tremendous impact on the environment. Here’s why.

Raising Meat Makes Our Planet Sick

Meat consumption takes a serious toll on the environment because the production, processing and distribution of this product require fertilizer, pesticides and more that can be harmful to water and soil, along with the release of greenhouse gases that are harmful to the air. The production of beef and lamb, for example, can be responsible for releasing 10 to 40 times the amount of greenhouse gases into the environment as do vegetables and grains.

You don’t need to adopt a meatless diet tomorrow, but if you care about the planet, you should try to develop a meat consciousness and shift to more plant-based food to help combat climate change, soil, air and water pollution.

Why Livestock is Bad for Our Planet

Cows, pigs and sheep typically eat corn, soybeans and other grains which use much fertilizer, pesticides, water and land for growth. Usage of such materials generates inordinate amounts of nitrous oxide, which affects the atmosphere more than carbon dioxide. Additionally, the amount of methane output from cattle generates approximately 20 percent of methane emissions in the United States. In addition, livestock in the United States consume five times as much grain as what the population in this country does.

Meat consumption affects other environmental problems too. A study conducted in 2009 indicated that 80 percent of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest could be linked to cattle ranching. Water pollution from factory farms where animal are raised in tight quarters can produce as much waste as a small city. The antibiotics used to keep them healthy has led to antibiotic-resistant bacteria strains, which ultimately affect the health and well-being that threaten everyone’s health in addition to the environment.

Nearly 50 percent of water consumption in the United States goes toward raising animals for food. while foods such as potatoes or wheat use fewer than 200 gallons per pound to reach maturity, nearly 2,000 gallons of water are necessary for a pound of beef. Additionally, farms and processing facilities require a lot of land to operate, reducing the amount available for crops.

What You Can Do

Eating a vegan burger instead of one made of beef or turkey is one solution. Reductionism is a practical way for those who are concerned about the environment but still want to eat meat to address this situation. When you learn to eat less meat, you can help save water, energy, land and other vital resources while also improving your own health at the same time.