Benefits of Eating Less Meat

I recently read an alarming magazine article in Ode titled “Meat is Methane.”

Did you know that “livestock farming produces more greenhouse gasses than all forms of transportation combined”?

The article also mentions that “…producing chicken, lamb, pork and beef takes up one-quarter of the Earth’s surface.”

Here is another shocking number: “A single cow can produce as much as 132 gallons of methane per day.”

Are you at all worried about climate change and want to make a difference and reduce those numbers?

You don’t have to be a vegetarian like me — just eat less meat!

There are health benefits and environmental factors that play into meat consumption. A mostly plant-based diet is healthier, and by eating less meat, you would positively impact the decrease of:

• on-farm fossil fuel use
• artificial fertilizers
• manure
• deforestation
• nitrous oxide
• carbon dioxide
• methenane
• water use

Consider this:

• If every American went meatless just one day a week, it would be the equivalent of ½ million cars taken off the road each year.
• It takes approximately 2,500 gallons of water to produce one lb of beef — it takes only 50 gallons of water for a plant-based meal. This is the equivalent water savings if you didn’t shower for six months.

The good news for meat lovers is that there are so many products out there now that taste just like meat. [Read more…]