“You Asked” is a series where Earth Institute experts tackle reader questions on science and sustainability. In honor of Climate Week NYC and the Covering Climate Now initiative, we’re focusing on your questions about climate change.
The following questions were submitted through our Instagram page by our followers. The answer was provided by Maureen Raymo.
What is the real role of vegetarianism? Does it really help in terms of carbon footprint?
What would happen if everyone went vegetarian or vegan?
When it comes to vegetarianism or going vegan, this is a decision that would definitely help the environment and climate. CO2 and methane emissions would decrease and fertilizer and water usage would decrease. However, you can achieve most of these benefits by just reducing your beef consumption. I appreciate that food choice is a personal and cultural decision. The point I want to make is that cutting your beef consumption by half, by 90 percent, or even completely are all thoughtful, scientifically informed, good-for-the-planet decisions that an individual can make.
Our diet-related environmental burdens are in no way minuscule. These burdens include using almost half of the land that spans the United States, whilst emitting more than 70 percent of the nitrogen runoff that can choke rivers and streams. To produce all the food we buy regularly, 40 percent of the country’s fresh water is continuously extracted from underground stores. All in all, agriculture produces 20 percent of the nation’s greenhouses gas emissions.
Numerous studies have found that beef production contributes to about 90 percent of the above mentioned environmental problems. This is because vast areas of land have to be taken over and converted into grazing grounds. Also, beef production uses the most irrigation water and emits far higher greenhouse gases (41 percent) than other types of meat.
The average American eats around 460 grams of beef every week. We have found that cutting that down to 200 grams instead could make the U.S. beef industry much more environmentally sustainable and friendly.
While vegetarian diets are seen as far more sustainable, recent studies are finding that a diet which includes small portions of meat can have a lower carbon footprint. In 2016, we launched the website HoldtheBeef.org, which includes facts and figures from a 2016 study carried out by the graduate students of the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs. This is another great resource to gain a better understanding of the impacts of different types of meat, vegetables, and dairy products as well.
To answer the question on whether going vegan helps in terms of reducing carbon footprint, the short answer is: yes. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, after beef production, cattle milk is responsible for the most emissions (20 percent) on a commodity basis. The two major greenhouse gases that are being emitted due to animal agriculture are methane and nitrous oxide, because of manure storage and the use of fertilizers, respectively.
So, while going vegan would certainly help the environment, it is also unrealistic for most people to follow a dairy-free and meat-free diet. Almost as good is to consume meat and other animal products in moderation. And most especially, hold the beef!
It is really disappointing and irresponsible when experts acknowledge the tremendous benefits a vegan diet would have for the climate and environment, then in the same breath say with a shrug, “But don’t worry, that doesn’t mean you should go vegan!” Or, in the case of this author, “So, while going vegan would certainly help the environment, it is also unrealistic for most people to follow a dairy-free and meat-free diet.” What is this obsession with moral pandering? If you know it’s the right thing to do, a good thing to do, why not simply stop short at saying, “Yes, a vegan diet is enormously helpful for the environment and climate.” Or better yet, be responsible and encourage it. If you were writing about the importance of recycling, would you end by saying, “But it’s unrealistic to think everyone will recycle, so don’t worry about trying to recycle whenever you can.” ?
A statement like “it is also unrealistic for most people to follow a dairy-free and meat-free diet” is not only unscientific, it’s a facile (and fallacious) use of cynicism that is frequently employed by people who know the more ethical choice is one they could and should adopt, but who would prefer to continue indulging their own moral laziness, so project this same inertia and apathy onto everyone else. It is not “unrealistic for most people” with plentiful access to plant-based foods to adopt a plant-based diet; on the contrary, the numbers are growing significantly. That’s an empty and self-serving overgeneralization, and is especially irresponsible coming from a specialist in the field with the power to influence others.
Exactly what I thought after reading this otherwise excellent article. Very disappointing with the soft….”unrealistic for most people to follow a dairy-free and meat-free diet” statement.I find that kind of sentiment really common when I am in conversation with most people….”I only eat fish,chicken,cheese,dairy products,shellfish–but try to cut down on my meat consumption….”.At least the message is getting out there.After all,I spent most of my life just ignorant,too.
Why would it be unrealistic “for most people” to go vegan, at least your average audience in the West? We eat “vegan” staples all the time (tofu, nuts, rice, bread, beans, lentils) and plant based specialty items are sold in all major grocery stores, with the market continuing to grow quickly. If these diets are significantly more environmentally friendly, as we know they are, please refrain from sharing inaccurate justifications for not partaking in that behavior. If everyone made an effort (perhaps through encouragement by leaders in the field) to be more plant based, the food industry would respond by providing more meat-free options to suit our evolving tastes and that would be a win win for everyone, to include future generations.
Yeah I had the same issue and you see this type of thinking often in articles like this. Good info is presented, and then when you get to the part where the author can really make a statement and encourage a very helpful (and healthy!) change in diet, they back off. Going vegan or vegetarian is not at all unrealistic. It’s easy enough to do but people just don’t want to give up their burgers.
The Beyond Meat and Impossible burgers are completely meat free and super tasty too so you don’t necessarily have to give them up to go vegan/vegetarian! I am curious as to the impact of a pescatarian diet – is that as helpful?
A Pescatarian diet is helpful in terms of the climate-changing gases that are typically caused by standard agriculture (i.e.
methane, nitric oxide) but the oceans are full of plastics and the microplastics are found in many fish today. The ocean is simply being over-harvested to the point that it is changing the aquatic ecology. The best way is to be a leader in climate change is to start making a shift to 100% whole plant-based diet. But learn as you go otherwise many people will fail and not make the changes that are healthy and sustainable. Lifestyle changes take time and continuous effort. But isn’t the planet worth it? Is being around your family for longer and being more productive worth it?
“Robbie Williams: Eating fish almost killed me! | Entertainment | insidenova.com” https://www.insidenova.com/lifestyles/entertainment/robbie-williams-eating-fish-almost-killed-me/article_c9d30007-52f5-560c-aa9c-718c86f287af.html#:~:text=Robbie%20Williams%20almost%20died%20after,build%20up%20in%20his%20bloodstream.
I’m not reading all of that.. Pescatarian (to me) is the way to go!!!
watch COWSPIRACY on Netflix – for every 1 pound of fish caught for consumption, 5 pounds of non-target are also caught. shark, dolphin, whales, turtles etc
how can that be sustainable or helpful? we will just wipe out our oceans. again this article shows clear data about how vegan is much more sustainable and probably our only realistic way out of the of the environmental trap we are building, and the author abdicates
a person doesn’t need to eat the chemical stew of “Beyond Meat”… Just eat veggies, plain and simple. All these people eating poison just to say that they aren’t eating meat is ridiculous.
Through research I have found that going vegetarian or vegan doesn’t do much for the environment. Though emissions from beef have been seen to be “…linked to emissions of between 40 and 210 kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilo”(Richard Young). There is more to look at. If we all become vegetarian or vegan those lands used for beef farming can’t all be used for plants, and the land that could see environmental problems such as erosion. The land that would be necessary to grow all the plants to feed a plant based community would put a strain on the land and the process of harvesting land needed and the crops is substantial. The newly acquired land would make less room for natural live to take place as well as increased erosion into waterways. “The removal of hill and riparian forests for agricultural pasture increases the amount of rainfall running off the land into streams and rivers.”(Marie Brown). The ability for others to go vegetarian or vegan is unlikely as Richard Young says,”…animals put on flesh in the better years and provide a substantial buffer against starvation, since they can be slaughtered and eaten one by one over significant periods of time in drought years.”(Richard Young). Animals are more reliable for those who have to make a decision on what to use their land for. If a drought comes along the defisit from plant loss would be too great to come back from. Although the thought of everyone going vegetarian or vegan to help save the environment would be nice sources I used in this show, that its not that easy to just go green. Cutting back on meat eating could help, but then there will need to be more plants grown to make up for the meat that isn’t being consumed for a diet, and for those who cant put all their eggs in one basket it is impossible. Thus as Marie Brown says this could end some problems we have now, but new problems would arise.
https://climateandcapitalism.com/2018/06/26/why-avoiding-meat-and-dairy-wont-save-the-planet/ (Richard Young)
http://www.environmentguide.org.nz/activities/agriculture/environmental-impacts-of-agriculture/
(Marie Brown)
Agreed. People also don’t understand the human power needed for agriculture. A beef farm has a couple workers year-round. Vegetable farms need a massive amount of people to work them whom all breathe (respirate CO2) and eat high protein/bean diets which gets them as flatulent any ungulate. All these people drive to work every day as well the countless machines needed for harvesting. These quantities are never added to vegetarian or vegan totals. As well there is a human toll. Vegetable prices are kept lower via the high use of illegal immigrants which don’t get a proper wage, work comp benefits or healthcare.
I also agree, glad to find who shares my opinion, although there are huge debates on both sides I like to think simply that the ecosystem is all about balance, how could everyone consuming plants be good for the environment in the long run? It is no secret the damage of expanding farming lands globally at the expense of forests, jungles, and wetlands, everything in life is about balance , we need herbivores and carnivores to sustain the food chain. That is how I view it.
Its interesting that most arguements for veganism state lowering cattle would improve co2 emissions. Where are the comparrisons with vegtable growing problems? The rainforest is being cut back not for cattle but for palm oil. Vegtables take a lot more land to grow than cattle. Rice fields also increase the amount of methane in the air. Intensive farming of vegtables are removing the minerals from soil, farms are using precious stone resources to replace them. These resources once gone will destroy the planet. None of this is in the vegan reports when they compare the destruction of the earth. Wake up, its not only meat destroying our planet.
Vegetables take a lot more land to grow than cattle! Are you serious? The cattle are fed on corn and soy and most of that protein does not end up in their flesh. Most agricultural land is used to feed animal. This is wasteful. You need to get your facts straight if you want to be taken seriously.
I find this article to be cowardly; the author backs away from the obvious conclusion and there can’t be any other reason except that they fear pushback.