Carbon footprint
The real problem of meat, beyond ethics or if it is healthy, or even the ruthless handling of animals, is the carbon footprint. Beef in particular is the worst offender.
- Cows release a lot of methane, which causes global warming 10x faster than CO2.
- Some 3/4 of the water we process goes just into growing animals for food.
- Huge areas of land previously occupied by biodiverse forests are now cultivated, which endangers the resilience of life and the intricate symbioses in the ecosystem, which ultimately threaten our ability to grow food for ourselves and any animals we farm.
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| https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local |
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| https://www.waterfootprint.org/resources/Vanham-et-al-2013_2.pdf |
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| https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46459714 |
A vegetarian or vegan diet, at least if you only do it some days and not every day, means demand for meat will go down, and we can return land to nature. Also, limiting consumption of beef, and instead having meat that produces less CO2, like chicken or fish, would drastically reduce the damage.
Health
Meat is also not necessarily healthy, too much red meat causes high blood pressure, and processed meats like bacon, sausage and pepperoni cause cancer.
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| https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2021/03/17/bacon-salami-and-sausages-how-does-processed-meat-cause-cancer-and-how-much-matters/ |
Vegans also live longer than omnivores:
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| https://www.purdueexponent.org/nation_world/article_ba11a723-6959-568d-85a6-ee64cda22ae3.html |
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| https://plantyou.com/do-vegetarians-really-live-longer-than-meat-eaters-the-shocking-truth/ |
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| https://www.mdedge.com/obgyn/article/105574/heart-failure/vegetarianism-may-protect-against-heart-failure |
Ethics
On ethics, cows especially are mistreated. Calves are taken from their mom right after birth, fed and milked to exhaustion like a machine, fed and washed in strong chemicals, killed without question if unhealthy or past their use, extremely bloated, trapped inside for most of their lives (they might get one day a year they are allowed to go outside, they actually jump and hop around like dogs when they are free to roam a grassy field), and it's clear they feel suffering.
What do I eat instead?
- Huel (£10 off first order)
- Quorn
- Nuggets are especially good, just cook on a higher temp so they are more crispy
- Pepperoni is also really good
- Impossible burger is probably the best, cannot tell the difference
- But many decent ones are also out there
- Linda McCartney's vegetarian sausage rolls are also excellent
Find out more
- "Cow" (2021). The up-close footage clearly shows the cows scared, in pain, restless, worn down, and bellowing for help. Cows are not nurtured, they are treated like industrial tools.
- "Gunda" (2020). In particular, the ending.
- "Seaspiracy" (2021)
- David Attenborough's "A Life on Our Planet" (Netflix, 2021)
- Climate change food calculator: What's your diet's carbon footprint?
- Kurzgesagt on YouTube:
