People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) , the Humane Society and other groups, are pointing fingers at what we’re eating. They argue that the meat industry is more detrimental to our environment than any other practice we engage in – including burning fossil fuels.
The problem I have with this argument is that the U.N.’s findings do not take into account greenhouse gases generated from power plants, and other forms of electricity generation. I also do not think people will sacrifice eating meat on a large scale – and our energy, no real pun intended, should not be spent trying to change this. Rather, changing our modes of transportation seems like a much better way to spend our time, and the prospects for progress are very good. On that note, as Congress reconvenes in September they will be conferencing the energy bill…
That being said, the meat industry is horrifying, and anyone who has read “Fast Food Nation” or the “Omnivore’s Dilemma,” knows that the large-scale meat industry does terrible things to sentient animals, and to our environment. I do agree that environmentalists should minimalize their meat intake, and I do not eat meat on a daily basis. Environmentalists should also only consume cage free/free range meat and dairy products – not only for the sake of the animals and the environment, but for your health as well. There are scary hormones in meat that is mass produced.
While these choices may seem to be more expensive, the prices more accurately reflect the true cost of good food. Somehow, the notion has evolved that all food can be cheap – but the pricetag of cheap food is even higher.
August 29, 2007 at 11:24 am
I don’t think anyone could follow the chain of events that leads from someone having a Filet Mignon and causing a global warming event. Completely ridiculous concept. I know people want to blame something – they just can’t find what to blame – I’m sure vegans are accusing meateaters.
June 27, 2011 at 5:20 pm
Read the report before saying something is a ‘ridiculous concept’
October 17, 2016 at 11:26 am
dont
August 29, 2007 at 11:56 am
Maybe one of my friends who is more well versed in meat farming and its environmental impacts can help me out, but for now:
I don’t think the chain is impossible to follow, at all. If you’re producing meat to be slaughtered and served, you are operating on a higher trophic level. Meaning, you are serving grains, which could be fed to people, to another being, which you will eventually consume. And this process requires a ton of energy… and is not efficient because you are putting a lot of energy towards this animal, which will then yield energy to you – instead of just eating the grains.
Besides grains, animals need water to survive and grow until they are slaughtered.
One pound of beef requires an input of approximately 2500 gallons of water, whereas a pound of soy requires 250 gallons of water and a pound of wheat only 25 gallons.
Meat production is inefficient as it requires the consumption of an extensive amount of resources over many months and years before becoming a usable food product. With the water used to produce a single hamburger, you could take a luxurious shower every day for two and a half weeks.
SOME STATISTICS:
1.3 billlon people could be fed wlth the graln and soybeans eaten by U.S. livestock. The U.S. populatlon is only 255,600,000.
80% of U.S. corn and 95% of our oats are eaten by livestock.
90% of protein, 99% of carbohydrate and 100% of dietary fiber is wasted by cycllng grain through animals.
64% of American agricultural land is used for livestock feed.
An acre can yield 250 pounds of beef vs. 40,000 pounds of potatoes.
Thanks for your comment.
the link to the stats: http://navs-online.org/question.html
August 29, 2007 at 11:58 am
and… soy alternatives are pretty delicious!
I’m not advocating zero meat, at all, or trying to make anyone who eats meat feel guilty.
But I am advocating spending a little more to consume meat mindfully – meaning buying free range and organic wherever possible. And, that we should change the ways in which meat products are produced in our country because they’re pretty fucked up.
August 29, 2007 at 1:13 pm
And it’s not just what goes into cows, it’s what comes out of them, as well. I agree with the Environmental Defense spokesperson quoted at the end of the article — it’s better to eat less meat, but we should be focused on getting Congress to reduce our national emissions.
August 30, 2007 at 9:34 pm
We’ve been talking quite a bit about this here at NRDC. It’s a clever campaign, if all you want to do is generate cheap ink and easy pixels. The problem is that on some not-too-subtle level, it’s actually counter productive. The practical result, if there is one, is far more likely to be consumer confusion and another subliminal excuse to stop trying – the last thing anyone needs.
There’s a fuller discussion here:
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jcoifman/go_pluck_yourself.html
September 20, 2007 at 6:00 pm
Commenter #1, Mr. Paul, has clearly decided to cast aside his brain. I am therefore ignoring him.
Alisha said:
I… do not think people will sacrifice eating meat on a large scale – and our energy, no real pun intended, should not be spent trying to change this.
Excellent point. You tree-huggers have got to find lines of dialogue and reasoning (they exist!!!) that will appeal to the less environmentally-inclined among us. The animals we eat are not the answer.
January 11, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Hilarious you go to a web page about global climate change when they are not environmentally inclined. Alisha, Cage Free does not mean free of hormones or chemicals and does not mean that they aren’t slaughtered and raised in harmful ways. Being that the animals can’t walk anyway because their bodies are to heavy and muscles to weak it seems more like a marketing scheme than an actual practice. I see nothing but bias overtaking reason. Why focus on alternatives of transportation when faced with a bigger problem that’s easier to solve. If you really did care your diet would reflect that. Have you ever thought baout the CFC’s from refrigerating the meat? There are many things, many including the transportation. And eating vegetarian doesn’t seem to be a dilemma for people I know as far as costs. Two pounds of uncooked rice and two pounds of uncooked beef. I buy 2 pounds of rice for about 20 cents, pounds of ground beef costs about 3 dollars and it will shrink and lose like 1/4th of it’s weight. While 2 pounds of rice will swell to about 4 or 5 pounds. I don’t think it is that costly. Now soy substitutes are different. What I’m really asking is do you think your beliefs come from your rational mind or your primal mind? Do you really love beef, pork, fish, and poultry on more than your planet?
June 10, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Diet seems to be the number one impacter of our environment. But details are being glossed over. If changing our modes of transport is a viable way to combat global climate change then how does using staples such as soybeans, rice and corn for fuel fit into this scenario? What I mean is how does cutting down rainforest’s to plant crops for fuel production instead of human consumption fit into this? Or how does the diversion of staples of human consumption to be used for fuel production fit into the fight hunger and fight climate change roadmaps? Also, what will be the impact of the mono cultural ecosystem that will come out of vast numbers of people growing the same crops for fuel use? And finally, will it be possible to feed and fuel the planet without using GM crops? As to meat, is small scale meat production with grazing animals actually better for the land then farming (“organic” and “factory”)? These are all interesting questions that seem to be popping up.
As to animals, animal protein has been identified not as a “primal” love but a physical need that on a small scale (or, a population supported by far flung food networks) can be completely replaced by the intelligent use of plant protein. However, on a much larger scale (or localized, isolated populations) plant protein must be complemented (notice i say complemented) with animal protein. So, many people eat way too much (and the wrong kinds) of meat then is good for them.
August 29, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Doug:
“Two pounds of uncooked rice and two pounds of uncooked beef. I buy 2 pounds of rice for about 20 cents, pounds of ground beef costs about 3 dollars and it will shrink and lose like 1/4th of it’s weight. While 2 pounds of rice will swell to about 4 or 5 pounds. I don’t think it is that costly. Now soy substitutes are different.”
I am a vegetarian and I agree that anyone who can should give up or at least cut back on meat, especially with all the environmental issues piling up. However, you cannot expect people who cannot afford to give up meat to live off of rice. Rice is not a good source of protein and many people cannot afford to pay for soy substitutes. So (imo) people who can go veg should, people who can’t should not be punished.
September 21, 2008 at 2:51 am
Oh dear. One must remember what causes higher brain function. That would be high quality protein. Ruminate animals remain as prey and therefore low-thinkers. High level carnivores remain as predators, cunning, problem solving, inventive, consumers.
Just play it out. Nothing last forever.
February 2, 2010 at 6:20 pm
Ligumes and nuts and soy products contain a high amount of protein. You don’t have to give up meat but you can realize the pitfalls of having such a mass production of animals. They do contribute to the issue.
October 27, 2008 at 6:57 am
Hi, Do something to help the hungry people from Africa and India,
I added this blog about that subject:
in http://tinyurl.com/6p6lb8
April 21, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Brave Word:
“Oh dear. One must remember what causes higher brain function. That would be high quality protein. Ruminate animals remain as prey and therefore low-thinkers. High level carnivores remain as predators, cunning, problem solving, inventive, consumers.”
That’s funny, because I ran across an article that found vegetarians to be smarter than meat-eaters: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23378331-details/Vegetarians+are+more+intelligent,+says+study/article.do
October 27, 2009 at 8:51 am
you guys are all stupid meat is not the cause it is probably gas or pollution or something but meat so all of u are all stupid so get a life and stop this you are all mental
July 11, 2012 at 12:09 pm
you’re ignorant.
October 27, 2009 at 8:55 am
you guys are all mental meat is not the cause it is probably gas or pollution or something but meat so all of u are all stupid so get a life and stop this you are all stupid
this is messed up u guys need to get a life
October 27, 2009 at 8:56 am
you guys are all mental meat is not the cause it is probably gas or pollution or something but meat is not one of them so all of u are all stupid so get a life and stop this you are all stupid
this is messed up u guys need to get a life
May 31, 2011 at 1:52 am
Unsuccessful troll is unsuccessful.
October 27, 2009 at 8:58 am
get a fucking life
October 27, 2009 at 8:58 am
get a fucking life u retards
December 29, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Leave it to a PETA website to blame meat consumption on global warming when in fact it is just the opposite. If there wasn’t meat consumption then the animals would be alot more plentiful and produce alot more waste and consume alot more food. And all this assumes that global warming is real when that isn’t even a proven fact. The earth has had greater periods of warming without any humans even being present. Consider the source before you believe every thing you hear or read.
May 31, 2011 at 1:48 am
I don’t think you understand global warming…at all. The fact that you think that MORE animals producing more waste will result in less greenhouse gasses is a little odd to say the least.
These animals (and the excessive amount of food required to raise them) require land. Much of that land is natural forests that help fight greenhouse gas emissions.
I’m not even going to get into it about whether or not global warming is real. Let me just say that as a youth, who will be alive to see the massive effects of global warming, I am infuriated by your ignorance. It is quite real, the evidence is indisputable and the amount of scientists who would refute it are minimal.
As someone who will soon be adopting this earth and wants his future children to live in a beautiful, pristine planet, I beg you to please learn about climate change and what you can do about it. Please help take care of my children’s future home.
February 2, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Well, I think that PETA may be alittle crazy. But think about it. There really are so many animals being produced. Think about how much meat that peopel (Americans) consume. It’s alot. Mindblowing.
February 3, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Amazing how all of you doubt this truth. And why not? You all are meat eaters.
But the truth is, methane gas tears up the atmosphere and the number one cause is from cows. And it’s NOT PETA who came up with the research, it’s the United Nations. Meat is worse for the environment than all the cars- put together.
Remember, meat is only food. Food is not here to make us happy. It is here to nourish us. That’s it. So please read the science and kill the meat.
Here’s the full document, in it’s entirety.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.HTM
October 31, 2010 at 6:26 am
there are lots of cheap foods on the market that taste like crap but there are good quality ones too *
May 2, 2011 at 3:50 am
[…] are fearless to share love and once a bond is there you have a friend for life. Livestock is the number one cause of global warming, where animals live in extremely cruel conditions and are later sent to be killed […]
May 31, 2011 at 1:41 am
There is something to be said for the positive environmental impact of going vegatarian or vegan. The fact is that 16 pounds of grain are used to produce just one pound of meat. Much less of our planet’s vital, carbon crushing, natural habitat would be destroyed in the production of our food if we simply ate grain directly.
Not to mention the positive impact this would have on the global food crisis.
I am not a vegan or a vegetarian, but the argument that PETA makes is a good one, and it has had me doing some research. I am considering becoming a vegetarian (at least limited to fish and wild game) because of what I have heard from PETA (an organisation I usually find to be extremist and polarising)
June 6, 2011 at 10:11 am
Given that there were an estimated 60 to 100 million bison in the usa in the 1800’s (The current American bison population has been growing rapidly, and is estimated at 350,000 compared to an estimated 60 to 100 million in the mid-19th century. from wiki). There is currently about the same methane being produced by livestock now than was the case then from Bison. USA also has about 100 million livestock. If the bison herds were left to multiply they might have been much larger by now, so its seems by hunting them almost to extinction we delayed global warming by several decades?
We should tackle the Serengeti next -there are still large herds of million + producing methane there -we could easily wipe those out? How’s that for a short-sighted solution?
The earth will regulate us in any case -there are too little resources left to keep our population growth going for another 25 years- so the difficult times are only beginning – buckle up.
December 8, 2012 at 8:50 am
Just cut out animal products- period. Free range, grass fed, etc. These are just marketing terms people. Can this kind of farming sustain huge populations? No, it never will. Animal agriculture will not be sustainable into the future because of all the natural resources needed for it. Not to mention all the grain that is exported to western countries from poor ones in order to feed animals being prepared for slaughter. That grain could have been fed to hungry people. Animal products are not good for our health, the environment, and ethically speaking they are immoral. You can’t call yourself an environmentalist when you eat meat.
November 17, 2013 at 1:01 pm
Yeah, I am saying real environmentalists don’t eat animals. You wanna eat meat, go right ahead, I’ll send you a list of people who need to be killed, you can eat them! “Meat”- short for someone was killed…wrongly.
Some animals protect us, some carry us around, others keep us company.
And in our great wisdom “we” decided other animals are
our food? There is no health benefit to eating flesh.
The “complete protein” reasoning is invalid.
If it were, how do cows gain 400 lbs lean muscle mass in one year,
On grain and hay? How do I still function after 20 years on a Vegan diet?
Why don’t you people “reach back” and take a leap and stop eating animals
and see if you can survive? Step off that ledge, take a chance!
Do it for the sweet innocence of the animals you know you are eating every day. Just because they are killing them far away doesn’t mean they are not screaming in pain and terror. You are eating mothers and sons,
Animals have family, just like us! How would you feel if somebody ate
Your baby, sister, mother, best friend? And not just killed them,
but put them in conditions that are truly worse than a concentration camp?
A life so awful that the best part is death?
Ya, don’t get all “crazy” and quit the flesh addiction, that won’t help anybody,
Right? Seems like the scene at any slaughterhouse is too extreme for me,
but for you actually going beyond lip- service “humane raised meat and not every day” feel good b.s. is just too hard! Wha! How will we live without
Our corpse addiction? Well, start by watching what really happens to
Animals on their way to your stomach. All the pictures and videos are there
For you to see, but you wanna ignore that and close your eyes and go back ba ba ba until it goes away. Bury your head in sand.
But let’s hope afterlife isn’t a farm animals life for you, because there won’t be any sand to hide in.
Weak minded people go with the flow, in this case the flow is going down the drain. Wake up, hippocrites!
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May 26, 2014 at 10:50 am
Let’s go biblical. Apparently”flesh of the lamb” is okay and “I for an I”is also cool.
The bible says the weakest, most innocent babies can, even should be, killed and eaten. I guess if I decide to get revenge for the lamb, that’s okay too.
What you all are doing is hiding behind the ” groupthink” because it’s always easier to go with the toilet flush flow. I have “survived” without eating corpse-flesh since 1987…..if you had to just watch, not listen, to the slaughter each time you reached for a mcdeath sandwich, would you keep doing it?
If each burger had a name, a sweet voice recording, a few snapshots from a life taken too soon, would you line up for “seconds”?
If we really were carnivores, we would eat animals raw and wriggling.
Would you do that? Try not ignoring you conscience. Little lamb is screaming in terror…..that’s fuckin’ COOL to you, hu
May 26, 2014 at 10:57 am
Let’s go biblical. Apparently”flesh of the lamb” is okay and “I for an I”is also cool.
The bible says the weakest, most innocent babies can, even should be, killed and eaten. I guess if I decide to get revenge for the lamb, that’s okay too.
What you all are doing is hiding behind the ” groupthink” because it’s always easier to go with the toilet flush flow. I have “survived” without eating corpse-flesh since 1987…..if you had to just watch, not listen, to the slaughter each time you reached for a mcdeath sandwich, would you keep doing it?
If each burger had a name, a sweet voice recording, a few snapshots from a life taken too soon, would you line up for “seconds”?
If we really were carnivores, we would eat animals raw and wriggling.
Would you do that? Try not ignoring your conscience. Little lamb is screaming in terror because she knows she is about to be cut up, that’s fuckin’ COOL to you, huh? Ya, tasty.
May 29, 2014 at 9:04 am
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July 10, 2014 at 4:17 pm
I agree that we should all eat healthier and be mindful of where our food comes from. In my mind, however, I have not made the leap to what we eat could be the cause for Global Warming.
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October 26, 2016 at 10:54 am
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