As the scale and impacts of climate change become increasingly alarming, meat is a popular target for action. Advocates urge the public to eat less meat to save the environment. Some activists have called for taxing meat to reduce consumption of it.
A key claim underlying these arguments holds that globally, meat production generates more greenhouse gases than the entire transportation sector. However, this claim is demonstrably wrong, as I will show. And its persistence has led to false assumptions about the linkage between meat and climate change.
[Editor’s note: The contribution of animal agriculture, specifically methane emissions from cows, to climate change remains controversial. See these articles for an alternative perspective.]
My research focuses on ways in which animal agriculture affects air quality and climate change. In my view, there are many reasons for either choosing…
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Exposing the Big Game 
🙂 Instead, blame the trees.
I don’t blame the cows, and never have. I blame humans, and their overbreeding of themselves, making for ever more mouths to feed and beef eaters.
Herbivores to Omnivores (but not naturally, healthfully not Carnivores)
I don’t kill animals for meat, I am more of a people person. I wanted to say something like that to a grocery checkout clerk yesterday but restrained myself. I had gone shopping and bought all veggie things, including some fishless filets. The clerk remarked with a smirk that humans need meat based protein. I thought about saying, “I think redneck jerky might be good”. Instead I just said no we don’t, even many bodybuilders abstain from meat eating.
Meat eating in today’s world is mostly a choice, in the vast majority of places, especially in the developed world, a choice, not a need. We have been mostly conditioned by culture and advertising to demand meat. We do not need to hunt for meat, ranch for meat, animal farm for meat, fish for meat. It is a choice. It is a marketing choice and one of those destructive traditions. Most people give little to no thought to what they are eating. A burger is a murdered steer, or bacon is a murdered pig. Some people take pride in eating lean, wild meat. That is murdered wildlife. None of it is sustainable and it is very unnecessary.
Soylent Green.
Marketing: Human based wafers to feed an overpopulated, hungry populous. They know not what they eat. Bon appetit.
In a densely overpopulated, starving New York City of the future, NYPD detective Robert Thorn (Charlton Heston) investigates the murder of an executive at rations manufacturer Soylent Corporation. With the help of elderly academic Solomon “Sol” Roth (Edward G. Robinson), Thorn begins to make real progress — until the governor mysteriously pulls the plug. Obsessed with the mystery, Thorn steps out from behind the badge and launches his own investigation into the murder
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green
Man’s canine teeth, digestive system, and disease prone response to eating meat (cardiovascular, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and else) indicate that he is not a natural meat eater. So, we can do it at a price to our health, and the health of the planet. We are technically omnivores, but would be better off as herbivores. Man is not by tooth, or claw, or strength, or body cover, or health reactions to eating meat, a natural meat eater.
The Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, which occurred approximately 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous period, caused the extinction of all dinosaur groups except for the neornithine birds.
Dinosaur – Wikipedia
Wikipedia › wiki ›
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur
Man ancestry began about 65 million years ago with the opportunity of dinosaurs going extinct. There were still vast areas of Earth covered rainforest. The first primate may have been “Purgatorius”, small, a tree climber, and vegan. Over 10’s of millions of tears small monkeys to apes descended (evolved). They were still vegan/plant based eaters, maybe with occasional worms and insects.
Fifteen million years ago the primates diversified to eating hard seeds and nuts. Six million years ago with the emergence of a hominin,“Sahelanthropus”, our lineage with the apes and monkeys split. Sahelanthropus’ teeth were still way more suited for chewing and grinding plant based food, but he/she stood up on two legs, and ate fruit, flowers, tough fibrous plants, seeds, nuts, leaves, shoots, worms, and insects.
Australopithecus might have occasionally and opportunistically eaten some meat, but not much. But by 2.5 million years ago our ancestors had become meat eaters. Their guts had become capable, probably from eating nuts, rich in fats but poor in fiber, and it encouraged the growth of the small intestine and the digestion of lipids, and the shrinking of the caecum where fibers are digested. Man also had the plant eating tools used for crushing and grinding nuts, seeds, plants that could be converted to meat eating, and eventually hunting tools.
Around 2.5 million years ago, the planet started becoming drier and had far less flowers, less leaves, fruit and nuts. Rainforests opened up to savanna and more grazing animals. Australopithecus, sticking to a plant based diet, became extinct. Homoerectus evolved to Homo sapiens (us). Hominens, already omnivores, saw all those grazing animals, and both now had the tools and guts, and went for those herbivores.
Still largely hunters and gatherers, Homo sapiens lived in small tribes and groups until the dawn of civilization (10-20,000 years ago), and settled into larger communities and farming and ranching, and specialization. Ranching and farming led to the war on wildlife and pushing back the wilderness which goes on to this day. Hopefully now slowed by Conservation and reversed. Hunters made the transition from hunting, from subsistence hunting to supplementing farming and ranching to sport hunting, and joined farmers and ranchers and trappers in the war on wildlife.
In modern times man in most places have become heavy meat eaters, and overpopulated the Earth, to the point of The Anthropocene Extinction of biodiversity, to the point of overfishing the oceans, over animal farming the land, to the point of over polluting water, atmosphere, and land.
But we pay a price for heavy meat eating, not only in animal extinctions, animal cruelty, but with the price of meat eating. Heavy meat eating is associated with diseases: heart/cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, bad cholesterol, obesity, stroke, acne, erectile dysfunction, Alzheimer’s, and shorter life span.
We can turn things around. Obviously, as evidenced by the diseases of meat eating we are still better suited for plant based/vegan diets. We are omnivores not carnivores, which means we have a choice. A plant based diet would be better for the planet, the wild, animals in general, and human health.
References:
“It is now called “Little Foot” and it is probably around three million years old. It was named Australopithecus prometheus which has since been placed within A. africanus. Other fossil remains found in the same cave in 2008 were named Australopithecus sediba, which lived 1.9 million years ago.
Australopithecus – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/risk-red-meat
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11795/
http://www.pcrm.org/health/cancer-resources/diet-cancer/facts/meat-consumption-and-cancer-risk
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/your-diet-and-heart-disease-rethinking-butter-beef-and-bacon/
https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/heart-disease/
http://www.mercyforanimals.org/here-are-the-top-10-health-concerns-linked
https://www.quora.com/Were-humans-meant-to-eat-meat-Is-it-natural
https://www.peta.org/living/food/really-natural-truth-humans-eating-meat/
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/02/when-humans-became-meateaters/463305/
https://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2018/04/27/third-of-early-deaths-could-be-prevented-by-everyone-giving-up-meat-harvard-says/
Vegetarian Foods: Powerful for Health – Multitudes of studies have demonstrated the remarkable health benefits of a vegetarian diet. http://www.pcrm.org/health/diets/vegdiets/vegetarian-foods-powerful-for-health
What We Eat Has Bigger Consequences for the Planet Than We Ever Thought – Shifts away from animal products could cut land use for agriculture by about 2.5 million square miles and slash carbon emissions by billions of tons. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/04/21/what-we-eat-has-bigger-consequences-for-the-planet-than-we-ever-thought/
We’re Finally Waking Up to the Horrific Ways in Which We Treat the Animals We Eat – Animals reared on factory farms live in horrible conditions and most of the animals are slaughtered while still less than one year old. https://www.aspca.org/animal-cruelty/farm-animal-welfare/animals-factory-farms
https://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2018/05/19/grass-fed-beef-is-bad-for-the-planet-and-causes-climate-change/
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Stance on Vegan and Vegetarian Diets – Vegetarian and vegan diets are healthful, may prevent and treat chronic diseases and are better for animals and the environment. http://www.pcrm.org/research/research-news/academy-of-nutrition-and-dietetics-publishes-stance-on-vegan-and-vegetarian-diets
https://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2018/05/19/the-new-carnivores-humans-who-eat-only-meat/
https://www.veganmotivation.com/vegan-b12-truth/
We used to get it from leaves, have contact with the soil and water, not over washed fruits and vegetables
“The study, published in Science Friday, set out to assess the environmental impact of different farming practices and agricultural products. Researchers studied 38,700 farms in 119 countries and 1600 processors, packaging types and retailers and considered the impact of 40 foods they produced and processed—accounting for 90 percent of all foods consumed worldwide—on five environmental indicators: land use, water use, greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution (eutrophication) and air pollution (acidification.) They found that even the least impactful meat and dairy products, including grass-fed beef, hurt the environment more than the most intrusive vegetables and grains.”
https://www.ecowatch.com/vegan-earth-
Spirulina Benefits: 7 Reasons to Try It (& 1 Major Caution) Wellness Mama
https://wellnessmama.com/4738/spirulina-benefits/
Wellness Mama › spirulina-benefits
May 18, 2018 · Spirulina is a natural “algae” (cyanbacteria) powder that is incredibly high in protein and a good source of antioxidants, B-vitamins and other nutrients. When harvested correctly from non-contaminated ponds and bodies of water, it is one of the most potent nutrient sources available.
https://www.veganmotivation.com/vegan-b12-truth/
We used to get it from leaves, roots, eating insects, have contact with the soil and water, not over washed fruits and vegetables, do to sanitation behaviors we do not pick it up naturally any more, so best bet is supplements, although some plants (algae) have it. Or, get your hands dirty with a home garden. Eat clay, dissolve a little in glass of water. B12 is produced by microorganisms. Animals get it because their noses is often in the dirt and they eat leaves and grasses, and drink dirty water.
http://www.newsweek.com/meat-proteins-heart-disease-risk-plant-based-diets-benefit-cardiovascular-869896
https://mercyforanimals.org/here-are-the-top-10-health-concerns-linked
https://www.riseofthevegan.com/blog/largest-study-to-show-link-between-meat-and-disease
http://creationislove.com/humans-are-frugivores-were-designed-to-eat-mostly-fruit/
http://kitchenoflove.org/sentient-vegetarian-diet/herbivores-or-carnivores/
https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/05/19/478645426/humans-are-meathooked-but-not-designed-for-meat-eating
https://www.quora.com/Are-humans-vegetarian-or-non-vegetarian-evolutionarily
https://freefromharm.org/photo-galleries/9-reasons-your-canine-teeth-dont-make-you-a-meat-eater/
https://www.peta.org/living/food/really-natural-truth-humans-eating-meat/
The Hamburger of the Future Is Here, But Will You Eat It?
Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-09/the-hamburger-of-the-future-is-here-but-will-you-eat-it
“Non-stop business knowledge Get more on The Bloomberg App Despite a long love affair with red meat, more Americans than ever are turning toward plant-based imitators at restaurants and grocery stores. Not the hockey puck veggie burgers in the back of your freezer, mind you—these are plant-based patties engineered to mimic the taste of real meat. But making vegetation seem like flesh has always been tough. To create something that satisfies carnivores, Silicon Valley decided you have to use the meat”.
https://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2018/09/15/jane-goodall-and-alec-baldwin-discuss-importance-of-plant-based-diet-at-global-climate-action-summit/
https://www.takeextinctionoffyourplate.com/meat_and_wildlife.html#species
“The study, published in Science Friday, set out to assess the environmental impact of different farming practices and agricultural products. Researchers studied 38,700 farms in 119 countries and 1600 processors, packaging types and retailers and considered the impact of 40 foods they produced and processed—accounting for 90 percent of all foods consumed worldwide—on five environmental indicators: land use, water use, greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution (eutrophication) and air pollution (acidification.) They found that even the least impactful meat and dairy products, including grass-fed beef, hurt the environment more than the most intrusive vegetables and grains.”
https://www.ecowatch.com/vegan-earth-
Vegetarian Foods: Powerful for Health – Multitudes of studies have demonstrated the remarkable health benefits of a vegetarian diet. http://www.pcrm.org/health/diets/vegdiets/vegetarian-foods-powerful-for-health
What We Eat Has Bigger Consequences for the Planet Than We Ever Thought – Shifts away from animal products could cut land use for agriculture by about 2.5 million square miles and slash carbon emissions by billions of tons. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/04/21/what-we-eat-has-bigger-consequences-for-the-planet-than-we-ever-thought/
We’re Finally Waking Up to the Horrific Ways in Which We Treat the Animals We Eat – Animals reared on factory farms live in horrible conditions and most of the animals are slaughtered while still less than one year old. https://www.aspca.org/animal-cruelty/farm-animal-welfare/animals-factory-farms
https://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2018/05/19/grass-fed-beef-is-bad-for-the-planet-and-causes-climate-change/
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Stance on Vegan and Vegetarian Diets – Vegetarian and vegan diets are healthful, may prevent and treat chronic diseases and are better for animals and the environment. http://www.pcrm.org/research/research-news/academy-of-nutrition-and-dietetics-publishes-stance-on-vegan-and-vegetarian-diets
The author is an animal husbandry expert pushing meat now and for the future developing countries and expected demand. That is like a reearcher working for a cigarette company. Ranching is taking up more and more of the Earth’s land. It is not sustainable. Forests and jungles are being cut down for ranching. Wildlife habitat is being destroyed, usurpted for ranching.
We are just waking up to the horrors of animal farming, ranching, transportation, and slaughterhouses. None of it is necessary or desirable. Humans do not need meet. Meat carries several health risks: cardiovascular, cancer, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure. A plant based diet provides many health benefits, the opposite of a meat diet in all the aforesaid areas.
The author is wrong, misleading about the impact of ranching and animal farming on the environment. He is wrong, misleading on the value, need for a meat based diet.
We should not only promote meatless days, less meat, but for the sake of human health, Earth’s health, wildlife, we should promote a meatless diet seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Spot on, Roger. Felids (all species of cats) are obligate carnivores because two of their essential amino acids are only found in meat. Humans have no such claim, all essential amino acids are available from plant sources.
The pedigree of the author, affiliations, and funding lead back to Big Ag, as Roger noted. An article like the posted one still serves its purpose if it fails to convince, but causes some confusion or doubt. While cattle ranchers (and apologists such as the author) will exclaim how a loss of well less than a percent of a cattle herd to predators is a devastating emergency requiring lethal measures, those same people are telling us that only a 3.9% contribution (their number) to global warming is scarcely worth a second glance. I for one, look forward to the author’s research on clean tobacco, and how with the addition of menthol, it can Kool your throat and prevent lung cancer commonly caused by coyote dander. GMAFB!
Great observations.