As greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise many people are looking for an easy one-size-fits-all solution to our climate problem. One of the trendiest options is going vegan. Over recent years people have raised questions about the impact of eating massive amounts of meat and suggested that everyone going vegan could solve our climate crisis.
So, what’s the real environmental impact of our meat, and can going vegan really save the environment?
Many are concerned about the amount of water and food it takes to produce a pound of beef, but the reality is a typical cow’s water footprint is 94% green water. This means that 94% of a cow’s water footprint is just rainwater, and of course, once that water is used it’s not gone forever. It’s urinated out and cycled back into the environment. In fact, almonds end up using less green water than beef.
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Additionally, many are worried about the amount of food it takes to produce a pound of beef. Couldn’t we be feeding more people with all that food? More than 85% of livestock feed is non-human edible, and in the end, 4.3 billion kilograms of non-human edible food gets fed to livestock.
In a recent “What I’ve Learned” video the narrator goes into many of the common problems with the carbon footprint of our meat and why it’s actually more nuanced than you might think.
At the end of the day, the government and big businesses need to be held responsible for their role in destroying the environment. The role of fixing the environment does not fall on the individual consumer, but rather, the producer. If you’re curious about how eating sustainable agriculture stacks up against going vegan check out this article.
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