One kilo of beef creates 60 kilo equivalent of CO2, because of cows burping methane.
One kilo of pork creates 7 kilo equivalent of CO2.
One kilo of chicken creates 6 kilo equivalent of CO2.
Why are we still eating so much beef? This seems like a very easy minimal cost win. Keep eating meat, just, beef only rarely instead of regularly, replacing with pork and chicken.
Is beef being eaten at this point just for the liberal tears?
Beef, good beef, that is, not beff (“Cheers” ref.), is pretty froggin expensive these days. Was just a local meat market (hello, ladies!) and prime filets were $40/lb. I’ve certainly cut back, though I did buy a tri-tip there (2.5lbs, already being marinated for tomorrow night) for about $28. Down to eating beef about once every two weeks or so. Then again, I’m old, so gotta watch the clogging-arteries foods.
Have you had beef? It’s delicious.
And I do very little to mitigate my co2. People should stop ordering on amazon and taking cruise ship vacations if the want some impact.
Have you had pork? It too is delicious.
Like 10x the impact is more than I think most people realize.
The relative impact of beef compared to eating other stuff is correct. Vegans use this argument all the time.
Unfortunately, the relative impact of anything I eat is pretty much 0 against all the other stuff going on that I can’t impact. I eat beef, I don’t eat beef, there’s no change in anything other than I’m not eating beef.
Shut down all the boomers taking ocean cruises will likely have orders of magnitude more impact than if everyone stopped eating beef. Source: Posterior extraction method.
It’s the same thing people are saying when they complain about having to use paper straws while Taylor Swift jets around in her private jets.
People will realize the 10x difference once the cost reflects that.
Related, I had a life insurance agent connect with me on linkedin. Sure, I accept. Then my feed’s full of vegan stuff. I’m not interested in reading it on linkedin, I’ve read it all before. So, I unmatched.
The guy actually called me and grilled me for a half an hour about veganism. Why I’ll eat a cow but not a dog, etc.
Still unmatched. I hope he doesn’t call again.
And things won’t change until the supply matches the demand. I mean, how much beef is thrown away at stores for being past their expiration? Price has to increase (via taxes or per-cow-owned levies or something), the quantity demanded will decrease, few cows will be (re)produced, and voila.
Effect would probably take a few years.
Oh, and meat-profiteers and employees will be very unhappy at the microeconomic- level, and might have a you-know-what over it with Congress-cattle.
Point is, shifting the demand curve by, say, disseminating information on climate damage, has not worked for quite some time.
I don’t think dog tastes as good, but not sure.
I like beef more. Also, pigs are a lot smarter than cows, and commercially raised pigs are treated much worse than cows are treated. I’ve mostly eliminated pork from my diet. And except for what’s in the hot & sour soup at my local Chinese restaurant, i mostly only buy pastured pork. And do that rarely.
Lamb is also delicious, and less likely to be mistreated. I don’t know what its greenhouse profile is like.
“Well we’d have to be talkin’ about one charmin’ motherfuckin’ pig. I mean he’d have to be ten times more charmin’ than that Arnold on Green Acres, you know what I’m sayin’?”
Sorry, that’s what popped in my mind.
They’re working on methods to reduce methane emissions from cattle. UC Davis give them a small amount of seaweed in their diet and can reduce it by more than 80%
i eat beef to help get rid of all those farting cows
I agree, it’ll have to actually be priced in to have an effect. Antagonizing people for purchasing beef won’t accomplish that.
BTW, I most recently paid 10.42€/kg including sales tax for organic ground beef at Costco. (Units chosen to taunt any Europeans out there)
Interesting take. Pigs are noticeably smarter than cows. As long as cows are clean and dry, they’re happy. I suspect pigs are bright enough to know they’re cooped up in small spaces.
Watch it!
Tastes good.
I recycle and compost, pick up litter when I see it, but I realize my small good deeds are paltry compared to billions of others, many of whom are either selfish (like my family who throws away everything) or are in a worse economic condition and can’t really afford to care.
Global warming is a global problem to be solved in an international fashion. In the meantime, my actions might turn the dial back on global warming by a few seconds.
That said, most of the time if a menu has a good-looking veggie/vegan option at the same price as other things, I’ll go for that half for environmentalism and half for health (though sometimes veggie options can be packed with cheese, etc. and not be healthier anyway.)
I get throwing your hands up on the air and saying nothing you do matters.
Replacing beef just seems so simple though. There’s a negligible lifestyle impact, and a significant climate impact.
Beef in their pre feedlot phase also use a lot of space, so cutting beef opens that back up for other uses.
Lamb is better than beef impact wise, but worse than pork.
Depending on where you live, good beef is a lot easier to get than good lamb. Says someone who eats very little of either – I tend not to eat mammals. Not that factory poultry farms are remotely good, but even though I have friends who own chickens, I don’t have much empathy for birds.