{"id":303872,"date":"2024-02-22T18:18:26","date_gmt":"2024-02-22T17:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=303872"},"modified":"2024-02-22T18:18:29","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T17:18:29","slug":"climate-dieticians-push-americans-to-cut-beef-for-the-sake-of-the-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=303872","title":{"rendered":"Climate Dieticians Push Americans to Cut Beef for the Sake of the Planet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay by Eric Worrall<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026 Replacing beef with a different protein \u2014 even for just one meal \u2014 can cut the emissions footprint of a person\u2019s diet that day by as much as half. \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

One Simple Change to Reduce Your Climate Impact? Swap Out Beef<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Replacing beef with a different protein \u2014 even for just one meal \u2014 can cut the emissions footprint of a person\u2019s diet that day by as much as half. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Zahra Hirji<\/a>
21 February 2024 at 20:00 GMT+10<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next time you\u2019re out for lunch, try playing a little game: Without looking it up, can you find the most and least climate-friendly options on the menu?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike a meal\u2019s price, the greenhouse-gas footprint of food isn\u2019t typically spelled out. But you don\u2019t need to ask a climate scientist to find out either. There\u2019s one simple trick for identifying the highest impact item on almost any menu: If there\u2019s beef, that\u2019s probably it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to become a vegan to have a big impact on your carbon footprint,\u201d says Diego Rose, a professor and director of the nutrition program at Tulane University. \u201cYou just have to swap out beef.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beef\u2019s footprint is especially outsized. For one, there are roughly 1.5 billion cows on the planet. About 13 million square kilometers (3.2 billion acres) of land is used to raise all that cattle, along with buffalo, and their food \u2014 one-quarter of all land used for agriculture, according to a 2017 paper<\/a> in Global Food Security<\/em>. Then there\u2019s the methane. Cows and other ruminants have a unique digestive system that allows them to turn grass into fuel, but in the process their special gut bacteria releases methane, a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the US, most of us eat more beef than what\u2019s considered healthy for us,\u201d says Stephanie Roe, a climate and energy lead scientist at the nonprofit World Wildlife Fund. \u201cSo that\u2019s low-hanging fruit because then we can improve our health outcomes in addition to environmental ones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Read more: https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/features\/2024-02-21\/the-diet-shift-that-makes-the-biggest-impact-on-climate-change?embedded-checkout=true<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I have a big problem with the anti-beef push.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a reason cowboys herded cows in the old West, and why the African Maasai<\/a> and many other peoples still do, and why beef cattle are chosen when other crops would in theory produce a much higher yield per acre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cattle can be raised in harsh regions which are far too unforgiving for other farm produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suggestion raising beef is taking far more land than other food production, with the implicit suggestion that land dedicated to beef production could be repurposed for other produce, in my opinion verges on a lie by omission. I\u2019m sure some cattle land could be used for other purposes, but a lot of it couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In places where beef production is the only option, abandoning beef would mean abandoning food \u2013 dramatically reducing the total food available for people to eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even in places where other food choices are available, the anti-beef push could impact food supplies. Stopping beef production would not automatically equate to increased production of other food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a world where\u00a0just under 800 million people go to bed hungry every night<\/a>, attacking the supply of food in the name of the alleged climate emergency in my opinion should be viewed as a crime against humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a big problem with the anti-beef push. In a world where\u00a0just under 800 million people go to bed hungry every night, attacking the supply of food in the name of the alleged climate emergency in my opinion should be viewed as a crime against humanity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":303874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"I have a big problem with the anti-beef push. In a world where\u00a0just under 800 million people go to bed hungry every night, attacking the supply of food in the name of the alleged climate emergency in my opinion should be viewed as a crime against humanity","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691827109,691819743,691827108,691818366],"class_list":["post-303872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-climate-diet","tag-climate-propaganda","tag-cut-beef","tag-methane","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/00beef.jpg?fit=1920%2C768&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1h3a","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":329529,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=329529","url_meta":{"origin":303872,"position":0},"title":"Is Beef Production A Major Contributor To Climate Change?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/21\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Undoubtedly, by this time in your life you have read a hundred times, or maybe a thousand, that beef production is a \u201cmajor contributor\u201d to climate change. 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Probably, you have had no reason to question\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Beef production\"","block_context":{"text":"Beef production","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=beef-production"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0-beef-production.jpeg?fit=1200%2C677&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0-beef-production.jpeg?fit=1200%2C677&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0-beef-production.jpeg?fit=1200%2C677&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0-beef-production.jpeg?fit=1200%2C677&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0-beef-production.jpeg?fit=1200%2C677&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":443252,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=443252","url_meta":{"origin":303872,"position":1},"title":"Copenhagen\u2019s City Govt. 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Meat produced from cultured cells could be 25 times worse for the climate than regular beef unless scientists find ways to overhaul energy-intensive steps in its production.","rel":"","context":"In \"3D Printed Steak\"","block_context":{"text":"3D Printed Steak","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=3d-printed-steak"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00screen_shot_2021-10-20_at_2.59.17_pm.webp?fit=1200%2C696&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00screen_shot_2021-10-20_at_2.59.17_pm.webp?fit=1200%2C696&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00screen_shot_2021-10-20_at_2.59.17_pm.webp?fit=1200%2C696&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00screen_shot_2021-10-20_at_2.59.17_pm.webp?fit=1200%2C696&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00screen_shot_2021-10-20_at_2.59.17_pm.webp?fit=1200%2C696&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":440634,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=440634","url_meta":{"origin":303872,"position":4},"title":"New Food Pyramid: Another Blow to Climate Activism","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/20\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Once again, the self-interest of consumers in a free economy is at odds with the agenda of the Climate Industrial Complex. 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