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.
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.
#40: This is the crux of the matter. When people eat a lot of vegetables, especially legumes (beans), they fart (methane plus CO2) more than if they eat the fart producing cattle/buffalo/antelope. Vegans smell bad mostly because they’re always farting.
JCD asked:
“How does the beef industry manage to allow this sort of propaganda to continue?”
They’re still reeling from having lost their suit against Oprah.
Well, this has to be good for New Zealand produced Beef, because it’s ALL grass feed and no grain is used. Eco-Friendly Beef.
Personally speaking, this Greenie stuff is just bovine excrement.
How does the beef industry manage to allow this sort of propaganda to continue?
Because it’s true. It’s hard to squash the truth, unless you’re ExxonMobil.
#8 – Denis,
Thanks for the stats!
Yup, sounds like a load of bull shit to me.
Solution: .. All supermarkets out of business! When you waddle your fat ass down and buy a piece of an animal you needed someone else to kill and prepare for your table, you are the problem. Same thing holds true for a bag of spuds. People overpopulating the earth while performing no useful function upon it. Get your lard ass out in the field, survive a few winters beating baby seals on the head while fending off the competition in polar bears. Become a man! Instead of plopping your worthless tub of lard behind a desk and complaining because the world isn’t giving you enough, move to the South American jungle and spend your time trying not to become the local table fare. If your ass is so fat you need a hummer to tote it around, it’s to much and you are the problem.
By his appearance, I would say that Al Gore loves him some hummers.
Who says environmentalism isn’t a religion?
… and it demands sacrifice.
The best defense to this propaganda is to invite them to a nice cookout. Over charcoal of course, none of that prissy gas grill crap. Serve up a nice 1/2 burger with cheese, maybe a couple slices of bacon on top. If they turn down the burger and start lecturing you on the harm it does to the enviroment, shoot them dead. The worst that could happen is a hung jury.
Seriously, I heard one of these wingnuts on NPR. His only answer to every question put to the panel was “Eat nuts and berries like early man did on the plains of africa.”
WHAT!? YOU CAN’T HAS ME!?
But seriously, when will these stupid eco freak hippies get it through their hairy shit filled heads? NOT EVERYONE LIKES SALADS.
If I fucking want to drive a hummer and eat a triple stacker on my way to hell I will damn well fucking do it.
All this is based on guilt, fake science, and moar bullshit. Seriously, the idiots that support this crap always say they aren’t forcing someone to eat a certain way or live a certain way, but more and more you see these idiots proposals being used to force people to adopt to their ways.
First they were invading the local store with crappy mercury filled light-bulbs, now they are telling me that if I eat a burger I’m basically driving a hummer every week or so? FUCK IT.
Seriously. FUCK HIPPIES, FUCK VEGANS, FUCK ECO FREAKS, FUCK THE ENVIRONMENT.
FUCK FUCK FUCKEDTY FUCK.
#52, Cheesy,
50 billion flies can’t be all wrong. Eat shit!
You jerks closing your ears to science are going to cost me a fortune in taxes and leave huge debts for our kids to pay. So listen up.
The science is clear. Cattle are cooking the climate at the same rate that cars are, and the resulting warming is even worse than we thought.
We can all cut back on steaks and dairy without going vegan, so what’s your beef?
# 54 Heat is on said, “We can all cut back on steaks and dairy without going vegan, so what’s your beef?”
I already purchased beach front prop in Greenland. For my investment to pay off I need MORE warming. This winter has been far too cold…
It’s funny how in any debate about vegetarianism, 99% of all content from anti-vegan posters is jokes, derision, violent flaming… anything except serious argumentation. Yeah, it’s hard to argue seriously when facts are against you.
And the rest 1% are usually badly informed. For example, to #3: cattle would NOT “still be there” for much longer, not in any numbers approaching current populations, if humans didn’t raise them with modern farming techniques. Even the native populations of species like buffalos would pale in comparison to the current estimated 1.3 billion bovines, plus billions of chicken, pork etc.