Is Meat Consumption Linked to a Higher Carbon Footprint?

The carbon footprint is the amount of carbon emissions a person, event, or product releases into the atmosphere. Everyone has a carbon footprint, but some have higher emissions than others. When it comes to people, our diet is one of the important ways that leaves a considerable carbon footprint. It is not so much the eating of the food that releases the carbon emissions as it is the journey necessary for that food to end up on our plate. From the processing plant that cultivated it, the truck that transported it, and the storage facility used to store it until the cooking of the actual product. All of these processes produce carbon emissions. These emissions are a part of your carbon footprint, and a switch in your diet can help lower your personal footprint.

Meat Agriculture

The food industry plays a pivotal role in releasing greenhouse gasses, but the meat industry takes a considerable proportion of that role. With the technology, fertilizer, and space required to house the animals, the food industry releases roughly 17.3 billion metric tons of greenhouse gasses. This number dwarfs the number of emissions the United States releases collectively.

Roughly 41% of the United States’ land is set aside for livestock. This 41% was once trees, forests, and bushes that have now been destroyed to make more room for animals to graze and for companies to move their harvesting technology. Additional land is also required to grow crops for the animals to eat. Deforestation is a highly publicized way of emitting carbon. Countries have been working hard to protect current forests from logging in hopes of lowering that portion of carbon emissions, but livestock needs land to graze on, which means some thriving ecosystems are cleared to make room. These companies also require water and other resources to be redirected from other areas to maintain their livestock which can lead to future problems. For example, this excess use of water could dry up rivers and aquifers when that same water was used for the local community, and if a drought was to occur, it could have devastating effects on that community. 

As mentioned above, companies also use some of this land to raise food for livestock, and most crop practices also contribute to carbon emissions. Harmful crop practices include dousing plants with an excess amount of toxic chemicals or fertilizer, which can find its way into a local water supply; if not manure is stored in a facility. Over time this manure will decompose and will begin to release emissions (like methane) into the atmosphere. 

The next stage in the emissions process is transporting livestock once slaughtered for store or restaurant purchases. Transportation as a whole contributes to 27% of U.S greenhouse emissions. The more a vehicle is on the road, the more emissions released. Most trucks transporting meat must travel long distances, often from one side of the country to the other. Such trucks often run on diesel fuel, which produce the most emissions compared to compact engines.

Lower Your Carbon Footprint

Above is a sample of the process before a piece of meat lands on your plate. These processes all contribute to your carbon footprint, but changing your footprint is possible by switching your diet. For example, if everyone who consumes meat were to decrease their meat-eating habits by 25%, they would be able to decrease yearly emissions by 1% percent, which goes a long way in the long term. Also, if fewer people ate meat, most companies who produce meat would have to lower their meat production, which would mean less land, less cropland, fewer trucks on the road, etc. Thus, it can help reduce carbon footprints dramatically. 

When you lower your meat consumption, there should be a replacement. If people are willing to step away from their meat consumption habits, switching to a plant-based diet would be advisable. But for those unable to make the switch, another way to help the climate while still eating meat is by buying local animal products.

The meat agriculture mentioned in the previous section is usually highly industrialized businesses that provide most of the country’s meat. However, if you buy local animal products, they will likely come from small mom-and-pop operations that don’t have the same resources as the big corporations, so they mainly rely on their private farmland and don’t expand into other areas. They also emphasize ecofriendly waste management and field techniques more than significant corporations. 

If that does not seem possible in your location, as mentioned earlier, you could adopt a plant-based diet. Plant-based food could ease the pressure applied to forests and help expand biodiversity within a particular environment. A University of Oxford study found that a person could reduce their carbon footprint by 73% if they merely switched to a plant-based diet. Again, it acts as a chain reaction; less of the environment and resources are required to maintain plant-based products, so once the food has reached your plate, it went through less of a carbon-emitting journey than a meat product would have.

Conclusion

Meat is a product that people have become accustomed to having in our diets; it is often mentioned as one of the leading food products to obtain protein. However, plant-based products offer the same macronutrients for a lower carbon footprint. For those unwilling or unable to switch to a plant-based diet, lowering your meat intake is an effective move.

Meat still can play a role in society, but we must be cautious about how big of a role that is. New companies have emerged in the recent decade with meat alternatives that can provide the same level of satisfaction without creating a huge carbon footprint. The combination of those who switch to animal product alternatives and those who lower their meat intake, buy local products, or adopt a plant-based diet can have a large impact. As a result, our collective carbon footprint could be dramatically reduced, which will have a colossal effect on climate change in the future.