https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20180328/are-meat-eaters-contributing-to-climate-change#1
By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, March 28, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Climate change scientists have a beef with all the steaks and burgers Americans are eating.

Beef is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions associated with food production, the researchers said in a new study.

They found that one-fifth of Americans account for nearly half of all U.S. food-related greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

And America’s love affair with beef is the main reason, said Martin Heller, the study’s first author.

“Reducing the impact of our diets — by eating fewer calories and less animal-based foods — could achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the United States,” said Heller, a researcher with the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability.

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“It’s climate action that is accessible to everyone, because we all decide on a daily basis what we eat,” he added.

For various reasons, “the production of both beef cattle and dairy cows is tied to especially high emissions levels,” Heller and his colleagues said in a university news release.

These bovines eat lots of feed that involves use of fertilizers and other substances manufactured through energy-intensive processes. There’s also the fuel used by farm equipment.

“In addition, cows burp lots of methane, and their manure also releases this potent greenhouse gas,” the researchers said.

Heller’s team created a database on the environmental effects of producing more than 300 types of foods. They linked that to data on the diets of more than 16,000 U.S. adults.

The researchers found that on any given day, 20 percent of Americans were responsible for 46 percent of all food-related greenhouse emissions in the country. Those with the greatest impact were linked with eight times more emissions than those with the lowest impact.

Beef consumption accounted for 72 percent of the difference in greenhouse gas emissions between the highest and lowest groups, according to the study.

The researchers only looked at emissions from food production. Emissions from processing, packaging, distribution, refrigeration and cooking of food would likely increase total emissions by 30 percent or more, according to Heller.