Why is Eating Meat Unsustainable?
By Hannah Brookes
I always talk about how eating a plant-based diet is one of the most impactful things we can do as individuals, to help lower our impact on the planet and combat global warming. But how exactly is the meat and dairy industry bad for the environment? What is the impact of this industry on our planet, and will us changing our diets really do anything to stop global warming? Here are a few of the biggest reasons why the meat and dairy industry is bad for the planet, that will hopefully encourage you to think about reducing the amount of animal products that you consume.
Production of Methane
Livestock such as cows and sheep create large amounts of methane as they digest food (in other words – they fart and burp out methane). Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, which is much more efficient at trapping radiation in the atmosphere than CO2. The comparative impact on global warming of each molecule of methane released is around 28 times greater than the impact of each molecule of CO2. As a result, even adding small amounts of methane to the atmosphere can have a significant impact on how much, and how quickly, the planet warms. We are farming animals on such an immense scale it is hard to fully comprehend. To put it in perspective, on the planet right now animals raised for slaughter outnumber all other wildlife 15 – to – 1. In other words, for every single wild animal there are 15 farm animals. When we imagine the sheer number of animals this amounts to, and how much methane each animal is releasing, it is easier to understand the huge impact this is now having on our environment.
Driving Deforestation and Wildlife Extinction
Industrial meat production is the single biggest cause of global deforestation. Forests are cut or burnt down to make space for grazing land for cattle, or to grow industrial animal feed, like grain and soya, for use in farms all over the world. This deforestation not only releases huge volumes of CO2 and black soot, it also reduces the planet’s ability to absorb CO2 out of the atmosphere, as our forests are the second biggest carbon sink, after the oceans. Deforestation also contributes to huge losses of animal habitats and biodiversity, making the agricultural industry a major driver of wildlife extinction.
Inefficient Use of Water
The production of meat is extremely inefficient when it comes to water. 70% of the world’s accessible fresh water is used for agriculture. This is not a small proportion, and therefore by adjusting our diets to less water greedy foods in developed countries, we could have a substantial effect on reducing water scarcity in other areas of the world. 1kg of beef requires over 15,000 litres of water (not even accounting for the water used to grow the crops the animals are fed), whereas 1kg of vegetables only requires around 500 litres to produce. That equates to 30 times less water for vegetables compared to meat. Soybean farming (a major crop used for animal feed) is also extremely inefficient in its water use, which just compounds the problem. The meat industry also contributes to polluting water sources and supplies, as manure disrupts the fragile ecosystems of coasts, lakes, and rivers globally.
Inefficient Use of Resources
Only 55% of the world’s crop calories are used to feed humans. Most of the remaining 45% is fed to animal livestock, who then use most of that energy during their lifetime. So by the time we eat the animal, we are only getting a tiny proportion of the original amount of energy. As a result, eating animals is extremely inefficient in terms of calories. (Google ‘food energy pyramid’ if you want a visual representation of this idea). Using an example to demonstrate this; for every 100 calories of grain we feed a cow, 97 of those are used in the cow’s metabolism and growth and so from those 100 calories of grain we only get 3 calories of beef. We could have just eaten the 100 calories of grain.
Additionally, half of the world’s habitable surface is now used for food production. Animal grazing is a very inefficient use of this land, which cannot really be reduced whilst maintaining the current meat supply, unless we move more towards battery farms and ‘mega dairies’ which are horrifically unethical. (This is compared to crops which can have increased yields without increased land use, by utilising technologies such as vertical farms, GMO crops, hydroponics, pesticides etc.)
So the meat and dairy industry is unsustainable for two reasons. Firstly, it is a massive contributor to global warming and climate change, and we cannot continue with our current global emissions without severely damaging our environment beyond repair.
Secondly it is unsustainable in the more traditional sense of the word, being ‘unable to be maintained at the current rate or level’. We currently have a rising global population and are predicted to have an extra 2 billion mouths to feed by 2050. The demand for meat and dairy in developed countries, as well as the rising demand for animal products in developing countries, that are just rising out of food poverty, means that globally there is increased pressure to grow more feed for cattle, pigs and chickens, and therefore to increase overall food production. This double whammy of increasing population and richer diets means that by 2050, we will likely need to have doubled our global food production to be able to feed everyone. Given how much of the rainforests we have already destroyed, and the fact that half of all habitable land is already used for agriculture, it is doubtful whether this is possible, without complete environmental destruction. However, these statistics are all assuming that the global population continues to demand the current levels of meat and dairy products in our diets. If we all decided to adjust to a more plant-based way of eating, we would only need 25% of the land we currently use for farming to feed the entire world. In other words, we could get rid of food scarcity and double our food production without needing any more land than we are already using.
The way we eat in the developed world is unsustainable. It would be impossible for the entire population to eat like we do, and it is harming the natural world. It is unsustainable for the planet, and it is unsustainable for humans. In order to make sure we can continue to feed ourselves as a global community, to help abolish food scarcity and global hunger, and to protect the environment and help fight climate change, we must start rethinking the way that we eat.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brown, Natalie, ‘7 reasons why meat is bad for the environment’, GreenPeace, accessed 21 September 2021, https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/why-meat-is-bad-for-the-environment/
Foley, Jonathan, ‘A Five-Step Plan to Feed the World’, National Geographic Magazine, accessed 21 September 2021, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/feeding-9-billion/
FutureLearn, ‘Is eating meat bad for the environment?’, 2021, accessed 21 September 2021, https://www.futurelearn.com/info/blog/eating-meat-bad-for-environment
Gabbatiss, Josh, ‘What is the climate impact of eating meat and dairy?’, CarbonBrief, 2020, accessed 21 September 2021, https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/what-is-the-climate-impact-of-eating-meat-and-dairy/