One of the most popular meals in America is one of the most maligned.
Climate change is the biggest challenge of our lifetime, which we must address with urgency, but swapping out a hamburger once a month isn’t how we do it. While the burger does have an impact on our climate, which we’re working to reduce, it’s simply not the climate killer it’s made out to be.
Not only do exaggerated claims against animal protein such as meat distract us from major polluters, they blind us to potential climate change solutions.
By reducing the amount of food that’s lost or wasted, we can improve our greenhouse gas emissions while producing enough food to feed our growing population.
Marketing efforts distract us from the main climate change polluters by disproportionately blaming sectors such as animal agriculture and the products they produce such as meat and dairy.
Burger King has been adding lemongrass to cows’ diets in an attempt to cut down on cattle’s methane emissions. Given the greenhouse gas’ role in climate change, it’s a big deal. If nothing else, decreasing methane would buy us time to try and get a handle on carbon dioxide emissions, the No. 1 elephant in the room – and in the atmosphere.
Imagine if the same time and energy spent attacking livestock were instead spent on the largest climate polluters out there – or even supporting cattle as a part of a climate solution. Yes, cattle can help pull carbon from the atmosphere, and if we work together, we can feed a growing population while also curbing climate change.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us we’re in this together. A united, global effort stands the best chance of eradicating this deadly virus. Same goes for the all-important charge to keep our planet from overheating to the point of no return. Climate change solutions are possible, with the right approach.
The comparison between livestock and aviation has many nuances, and many times those details get lost in conversations around climate change. The impact of emissions from cattle is often overstated, while aviation's effect on the planet's warming is understated.
This is yet another example of misleading data that is misinforming the public and even worse, perhaps affecting public policy in a way that is detrimental to achieving climate change solutions. Eliminating meat from our diet is not the answer to slowing the planet's warming.
While the world is rightfully focused on the demise of the Amazon, no one is mourning the loss of the ancient forests that live below the surface of the earth. The ones we call fossil fuels and which we are burning at the expense of a warming earth. This is the real climate change emergency.
While the world should be concerned with the tens of thousands of wildfires that have hit the Amazon wonder, the amount of misguided rhetoric that has sprung forth is disappointing. Of the most confounding beliefs is that U.S. beef consumption is to blame for the blazes.
The “universal healthy reference diet” proposed by the EAT commission drastically reduces the amount of meat – especially red meat – and animal products, giving us something that is about as close as one can get to veganism without being all-out vegan. Exaggerating cattle's impact on the environment is only leading us further from climate change solutions.
