There are a lot of fossil fuels involved in turning a cow into a steak. They eat a shit load of corn, which requires cultivation, harvesting, and transport. 284 gallons of oil are used for chemical fertilizer and machinery. When the cows riveting life of eating corn is over, the cow is 'processed' with fossil fuel demanding machinery, chemicals and labour. Then meat is shipped all over the place.
The average American consumes 114 lbs of red meat per year. That's a lot of energy production for something that we could live without.
Does being vegetarian help? Probably not much, by itself. Consumption of dairy products like milk and cheese still contribute to the emissions used in raising cattle for food. Cutting out animal products altogether would make a substantial difference. Dairy cows produce over twice as much methane as beef cows !
2 comments:
did you say being veg might not help much?!
i am shocked and appalled and slightly dismayed.
Eating animal products, regardless of if it is meat or not, really doesnt help the issue I reckon. Vegetarians still eat animal products - and dairy cows produce even more methane than those raised for beef production.
A diet that doesnt include any animal products at all, food with limited packaging, and only locally produced food would have a significantly smaller eco - impact.
But who knows? if the entire world converted to vegetarianism, we could see a difference.
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