You may equate cold days of winter with roasts and big meals. But for your health and that of the planet, we should all be striving to eat less red meat. Here are ten reasons why.

You may equate cold days of winter with roasts and big meals. But for your health and that of the planet, we should all be striving to eat less red meat. Here are ten reasons why. 

 

Climate Change

The production of livestock is estimated to account for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists have called the hamburger “the Hummer of food”, because beef production creates the most emissions of all food, followed by lamb and pork. The average American eats 90 kg of beef a year, making food the third largest contributor to the average U.S. household’s carbon footprint after driving and utilities. Save Forests
The current pace of rain forest destruction is shocking. The World Wildlife Fund has found that to create grazing land, an area of the rain forest larger than New York State is destroyed every year. According to the United Nations, 70% of forests in the Amazon basin have been cut down to raise cows.

 

Save Water

 

Studies have shown that it takes 600 gallons of water to produce one hamburger. This number takes into account the watering, fertilizing and harvesting of the land needed to produce 2 pounds of grain, and the slaughter, processing, freezing, transporting, and cooking of a quarter-pound of beef.

 

Clean Water

 

The EPA has found that agriculture (most of which is supplying grain for livestock feed) is responsible for nearly three-quarters of all water quality problems in the country. Further, the massive amount of manure created at livestock farms is a dirty business. Untreated animal waste is often stored at conventional farms, at some of which these “lagoons” of manure are as big as several football fields! In addition to creating enormous amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas, this excrement leaches into ground water and the water supply.

 

Clean Air

 

On top of losing the forests we need for oxygen production to make way for cattle farms, certain gases produced at livestock farms have been found to be toxic and to contribute to overall air pollution levels. Ammonia, a toxic form of nitrogen released in gas form from animal excrement, can be carried more than 300 miles through the air before being dumped back onto the ground or into the water, where it causes algal blooms and fish kills. Livestock farming has also been shown to produce large quantities of airborne particulate matter harmful to human health.

 

Feed More People

 

It takes two pounds of grain to produce a quarter-pound of meat. Imagine how much more food could be produced if that same two pounds of grain and the resources used to grow it were used to produce grain-based food such as bread and cereal.

 

Be Kind

 

It is not new information that many livestock animals and dairy cattle are raised in cruel and inhumane conditions. And to fatten animals up fast, conventional farms feed them grain rather than their natural diet of grasses. Because this causes gastrointestinal problems and disease in cattle, they must be injected with antibiotics. Livestock require so much medication that 70% of antibiotics made in the U.S. are made for cattle.

 

Save Money

 

With all the resources required to produce one burger, it is no wonder that the beef, lamb, or pork you put in your shopping cart will be your most expensive item. Forgo these meats and spend instead on organic fruits, vegetables, and grains and free-range organic poultry and eggs.

 

Avoid Drugs

 

Along with the antibiotics given to livestock and dairy cattle, two-third’s of the world’s beef is fattened up with injections of steroids, progesterone, and testosterone. Conventional meat producers often process their products using chemical additives and preservatives like phosphates and sodium nitrites. You will ingest all of these drugs with the meat you eat.

 

Live Longer

 

Diets high in red meat have been linked to higher incidences of heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Studies have attributed the preservative sodium nitrate, which is often added to processed meat, to colon cancer.

 

— Rye Garden Club Conservation Committee