January 30th, 2009

Meat and Global Warming

by Jessica Jensen

We’ve written before here at Low Impact Living about the relationship between meat consumption and global warming.  The sad truth is that the raising and distribution of meat is a major contributor to our global warming crisis. 

However, beef is by far the worst of the meats from an environmental perspective.  According to an excellent new article in Scientific American, beef contributes more than 13 times as much to global warming as do the gases emitted from producing chicken. And it’s even more shocking when you compare beef to potatoes– the multiplier is 57.

The article, by Nathan Fiala, highlights some other alarming facts. For example:

• Producing the meat eaten by an average American each year produces the equivalent greenhouse gases as driving a car 1,800 miles
• Meat production is responsible for between 14 and 22 percent of the 36 Billion tons of greenhouse gases we produce on Earth each year

Please read the entire article How Meat Contributes to Global Warming here.

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