The Demand of Meat
Global demand for meat has multiplied in recent years. This is due to factory farms that consume enormous amounts of energy, pollute water supplies and generate significant greenhouse gases.
- Total meat supply has gone from 71 million tons to 284 million tons from 1961-2007
- Per capita consumption has more than doubled
- In the third world countries the demand for meat has risen twice as fast, doubling in the last 20 years
- Total world meat consumption is expected to double again by 2050. That’s 568 million tons!
In America, we are eating close to 200 pounds of meat, poultry and fish per person a year. This is a 50 pound increase from 50 years ago. All of this meat eating puts around 110 grams of protein a day in our bodies, about twice the government’s recommended allowance. What’s scary is most of us would be just fine on 30 grams of protein a day. We can get that all from plant sources.
Meat and Greenhouse Gases
As we burn down rain forests for crop grazing land, we are not only destroying our best source of oxygen, but we are helping the fifth largest contributor to greenhouse gases. That’s right, livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases. This is larger than transportation!
If global agriculture and food consumptions continues, we will have significantly increased non-carbon dioxide emissions. However, if we change agriculture techniques and reduce the demand for livestock products by 25% percent each decade until 2055, we will have lower non-CO2 emissions by 84%.
How can small changes have big results?
- By reducing meat consumption by just 20 percent it would be like switching from a standard sedan to the ultra-efficient Prius
- 2.2 pounds of beef is responsible for the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide of a 155 mile car trip or leaving a 100-watt bulb on for nearly 20 days
So by simply not eating meat and dairy, you can help solve the climate epidemic. Seem too simple? Since meat and dairy factories create a large amount of methane and nitrous oxid, you will be helping cut two greenhouse gases that are far worse than carbon dioxide.